We've been saying Chad Kroeger's name wrong this whole time...

21 September 2022, 12:10 | Updated: 21 September 2022, 12:14

Chad Kroeger performs in 2019 — Chad Kroeger has revealed the true proncounciation of his surname. Picture: Kimberly White/Getty Images

By Jenny Mensah

The Nickelback frontman revealed in a recent interview that his name has been pronounced differently than it was intended.

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Chad Kroeger is best known as the lead singer of Nickelback and, though the Canadian band have been going strong for decades, their frontman has revealed his second name has been mispronounced for just as long.

While most of us think the How You Remind Me star's name is pronounced Kro-ger, it's actually pronounced Kroo-ger, just like Freddy Krueger, the fearsome character from 80s horror Nightmare on Elm Street.

Speaking to Loudwire Nights host Toni Gonzalez, he said: "It's [Kroo-ger], don't trust the internet".

Though the name has been pronounced wrongly pretty much since the band formed in 1995 he explains he usually gets so far into an interview that he can't be bothered to look like a diva by correcting people.

The guitarist and vocalist said: "It's so far in by the time I get to say something, I don't actually... Because if I just stop and go, 'Actually, it's Kroeger,' I'm gonna look like such a [expletive]. So I'm just like whatever, I don't care,".

Kroeger also remembered the time he was doing an interview alongside Alice in Chains' Jerry Cantrell in the early noughties, where the guitarist jumped in and corrected an interviewer on his behalf.

"I sort of looked over at Jerry, and he goes, 'It's your name, dude. That is your last name. Tell that dude across there how to say it properly so that he stops saying it wrong into that microphone and misinforming people. That is your last name, brother,'" Kroeger recalled

"And I was like, 'Wow you really care about this shit!'"

It's fair to say Nickelback have taken their fair share of stick over the years, fighting everything from being called the worst band ever, to worse than Donald Trump.

Back in 2016, Royal Blood even got in on the action, sharing a post suggesting that the band were a devastating combination of Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton.

However, they gave as good as they could get, replying that Nickelback jokes "are like @royalblooduk, they were a lot cooler a couple years ago."

NIckelback jokes are like @royalblooduk, they were a lot cooler a couple years ago. 🇨🇦 Don't drink and tweet fellas. Stay safe. XO https://t.co/Gb1IizED4c
— Nickelback (@Nickelback) October 8, 2016

Nickleback weren't even safe in their own country among official bodies. In the same year, Canadian police took a pot shot at the band, raising awareness for drink driving by promising to put perpetrators in the back of their van and force them to listen to Nickleback's music.

While the post generated a few laughs, it also garnered plenty of outrage by those who accused the authorities of being irresponsible by both making fun of the band and light of drink driving.

Constable R. Hartlen - who created the original post, eventually apologised - writing: "So what do you do when you use a joke to carry a message, but the message turns into the joke?

"The other day I created a post in the hopes of bringing awareness to Drinking and Driving and in doing so I suggested that I would be playing Nickelback in the back of my cruiser for those that made the ill advised decision to Drink and Drive and had been apprehended for the same. At the time I thought this was a great idea, all pure intentions, get the message out"

.He added: "Well, as we have seen, our little post became an international story. And somewhere in the noise, the message of Don’t Drink and Drive was overshadowed by negativity towards the band I said I would play if you did."