This week in November of 2005, Nickelback’s song “Photograph” was in an epic battle with Kayne West’s “Gold Digger” for the #1 spot in the US. “Gold Digger” would go on to win a grammy; “Photograph,” after charting at #2, would eventually become a meme numerous times over. So many times, in fact, Nickelback itself parodied the song for Google Photos in 2020.
If you are part of the music elite, go ahead and take “Gold Digger” and put it on the list of all-time greats. But I’ll take “Photograph,” every time, thank you. In my view, “Gold Digger” may have won the battle. But “Photograph” won the war. How can I possibly say that? It’s simple—elementary, really. “Photograph,” if I may be so bold, is so bad, it’s good.
Allow me to explain.
When Nickelback released "Photograph" back in 2005, little did we know it would become more than just a karaoke favorite and meme fodder. It would become, in its own way, a metaphor for the American economy and political climate. The song’s longing for a simpler time feels good to those with student loans or those who have found the price of gas to be way too high these days. Viewed in this light, the song’s most famously bad lyrics, What the hell is on Joey’s Head?, becomes philosophical punctuation mark on the uncertainty of a post-pandemic, high-interest rate, stuck-in-inflation era.
Not buying it? Not buying that a bro-rock, grunge-for-frat-boys singer from Alberta, Canada could belt out a song that holds the socioeconomic secrets to a 2024 America? Okay, well then consider this—despite being the most hated band ever, Nickelback is the 2nd highest-selling foreign act of all time in the US. There’s a little band in front of them you may have heard of. They are called The Beatles.
This month’s economic indicators are a lot like that—the philosophical punction mark you didn’t know you needed. That’s because we’re back to record levels of low unemployment, wages that are growing twice as fast as the costs of housing (and triple that of overall inflation), and consumer spending last month was over $900 million in Rapid City. Additionally, airport passenger and building permits ticked up for the first time in a few months, signaling that we are very likely on the other side of the inflation puzzle for good. And the time of this writing, it appears as though the Fed believes that to be the case as well, cutting the overnight rate by a quarter percent.
These indicators are still far from perfect. For example, primary jobs are down, vacancy rates are still higher than normal (specifically, office vacancies), and despite interest rate cuts, the 30-year mortgage actually rose slightly. Also, we’re still not excited about the levels of consumer debt. But overall, you can’t argue with this economy. We’re not calling it a soft landing (let’s not jinx it, after all). Maybe we’ll end it by quoting another Nickelback lyrics so you don’t take our economic forecasts too seriously:
Never made it as a wise man…couldn’t cut it as a poor man stealin’…
Stay safe and God-speed.
Tom
