Nickelback released All The Right Reasons on October 4, 2005. Their fifth studio album was the first with drummer Daniel Adair, and its songs ranged from the hometown memories of “Photograph” to a tribute to Dimebag Darrell and the exaggerated wish list of “Rockstar.”
Adair had joined from 3 Doors Down, replacing Ryan Vikedal. His arrival also changed what Nickelback could do vocally. Speaking with musicOMH in 2005, Chad Kroeger praised his ability to add harmonies and counter-melodies the band had not previously been able to perform. Adair could play guitar and bass as well, but his singing gave the group another resource alongside his drumming.
Working with co-producer Joey Moi, Nickelback approached the sessions with a determination to keep revising until they were satisfied. That process could move at wildly different speeds. Bassist Mike Kroeger told For Bass Players Only in 2020 that “Animals” was written, recorded and completed within a single 24-hour stretch. “Savin’ Me,” by comparison, took six to eight weeks. The band had an established working method with Moi, but Mike recalled that their insistence on getting everything right could still drive them to frustration.
“Photograph” found its subject in experiences Chad already knew. In a 2017 CBC Music interview, he described writing about childhood friends, school, first love and the distance that develops when people leave home. “You can’t go back to your childhood,” he said. The photograph he held up in the video was the actual picture behind the song: a New Year’s Eve snapshot of Kroeger and Moi, with a champagne chiller balanced on the producer’s head. Filming in Hanna, Alberta, returned Kroeger to the places the song recalled. He remembered finding closed shops and missing landmarks, while friends still connected him to the town.
Other songs took the album away from that reflective mood. Billy Gibbons contributed to “Follow You Home” and “Rockstar” after Nickelback and ZZ Top crossed paths at a state fair. Kroeger told musicOMH that “Rockstar” was intended to have fun with the fantasy of wealth and celebrity, including a little self-mockery. Mike’s bass part required experimentation of its own. He told For Bass Players Only that an organ player Chad invited into the sessions encouraged him toward an unfamiliar, sliding approach, and they tried several versions before settling on the part.
“Side of a Bullet” grew out of a very different relationship. Looking back in a 2020 interview published by Guitar World, Mike described the Pantera musicians as friends who had supported Nickelback early in their career. Following Dimebag Darrell’s murder, the band wanted to record a tribute that included his playing. Chad explained to musicOMH that they initially worked with unused material from their earlier collaboration on “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting.” When there was not enough, Darrell’s brother Vinnie Paul supplied additional recordings, allowing Nickelback to assemble a solo from his unreleased performances.
The album’s success kept Nickelback on the road well beyond its launch. Mike recalled two years of touring in the Guitar World interview, with repeated trips around the world. On March 3, 2017, the RIAA certified All The Right Reasons Diamond for 10 million U.S. album units.
