Though Pantera were groove metal kings in the ’90s, their music tastes ventured beyond all things heavy and Nickelback bassist Mike Kroeger has shared one of Vinnie Paul’s surprising musical loves during a recent podcast appearance.In fact, Kroeger revealed one particular pop star that Paul tried to sell him on during one of their trips to the famous Clubhouse strip club in Dallas.Who Did Vinnie Paul Play En Route to the Strip Club?Kroeger was a guest on The Meep Meep Podcast with Ryan Rainbro when he addressed Nickelback’s long running friendship with Pantera. Within the discussion, Kroeger shared that despite Pantera’s status as metal icons and Nickelback’s place at that time as one of the most popular rock radio bands that was crossing over to mainstream radio, there was no second thoughts about what others might think.“He was a huge fan. He was a big, big fan of my brother [Chad Kroeger] …. both of those guys – Vinnie and Dime – were both unapologetic fans too. I’m sure that there was more than a few times when some the metal standard-bearers were probably like, ‘What do you mean Nickelback? What are you talking with them for? Who gives a fuck about those guys?’ And they loved it, and they loved us,” said Kroeger.It was then that the bassist used another example to show the brothers unapologetic love toward all types of music.READ MORE: Vinnie Paul’s Long-Awaited Cookbook Finally Released”I remember riding in a limo with those guys from a gig in Dallas to the Clubhouse one time. And Vinnie was just like, if you could do backflips in a limo, he would be doing backflips in a limo for Christina Aguilera,” recalled Kroeger.”He was like, ‘Listen to this shit!’ And he would just crank this Aguilera stuff, Like, Ok, wow, what a Twilight Zone episode man,” remembered the bassist. “Like, I got one of the most influential metal drummers in the world, ever, playing me Christina Aguilera songs, on the way to a strip joint.”Nickelback’s Mike Kroeger on The Meep Meep PodcastVinnie Paul’s Love of Christina AguileraKroeger’s account of Vinnie Paul’s love for Christina Aguilera checks out, as the drummer had shouted out the pop star on multiple occasions in the media. During a red carpet video for Fuse asking hard rock and metal musicians their guilty pleasure songs, Paul, then a member of Hellyeah, remarked, “What a Girl Wants, what a girl needs. All day and all night, come on.”In a separate 2014 interview with NYS Music, he commented, “I don’t think there are any big ‘secrets’ as to something in my [music] vault that you don’t know anything about. I love female singers. I like Christina Aguilera.”He went on to shout out Heart’s Wilson sisters, Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale and Pat Benatar as favorites as well within that piece.15 Rockers Who Are Huge Fans of Pop ArtistsThese rock and metal musicians are big fans of quite a few different pop artists.Gallery Credit: Lauryn Schaffner
