In the bipolar world of pop music, every trend eventually produces an equal and opposite trend. After a few years of pierced, tattooed rap-metal mooks yelling about nookie, we now have the antithesis - a whole swarm of mature, serious alt-rockers like Train and Stain and 3 Doors Down, who sing about real life with real emotions. Canada's contribution to this boomlet consists of Vancouver's Nickelback, a band whose new CD Silver Side Up will go just fine next to Pearl Jam in your CD changer. Dour singer-guitarist Chad Kroeger writes earnest lyrics about abusive men and deadbeat dads, then sings 'em in an angsty, big-lunged Eddie Vedder bellow while a guitar-rock trio dishes up brawny post-grunge brood music from the PJ slush pile. Admittedly, they're just as good as all the other blue-collar outfits around this year. Even so, we won't be sad to see the next rebound trend.

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