Know your mainstream: the mystery of Three Days Grace

A rock act based in Toronto sold over 93,000 albums across the continent last week. Chart-topping Pearl Jam, by comparison, moved 210,000 units — could their exclusive deal with Target stores in the United States mean Walmart shoppers are inherently more receptive to Three Days Grace? What’s certain is that their appeal has nothing to do with the opinion of newspapers, even free ones. Why do the Toronto Star, or even the Sun — or, for that matter, even Metro — still find it necessary to print that Three Days Grace’s third album, Life Stars Now, fails to reach an artistic standard of excellence? Should not a mainstream newspaper be assigning a reporter to the task of learning how something becomes mainstream? Besides stating their objection to receiving it in the mail? Not that the sound of 3DG is so critically defensible, but their previous stuff reached the heights of radio airplay charts, and the single singer Adam Gontier did with Finnish cello band Apocalyptica, “I Don’t Care,” was really huge. Gontier also starred in a 2007 documentary about overcoming his addiction to OxyContin that aired on MuchMusic — in this world of niche entertainment, their art obviously connects with more than a few, even if the sector of mass media obsessed with trendwatching lacks the curiosity to find out who, and why, and how. Three Days Grace will perform for this silent majority throughout their forthcoming Canadian arena tour, including December 17 at the Air Canada Centre.