"the state" was recorded in 1998. in september 1998, "the state" was released independently with a blue album cover. in september of the next year, it was reissued on emi canada, with a re-formatted version of the original cover (the words "nickelback" and "the state" were originally in yellow, in the same size near the right edge of the cover, on the emi reissue, the word "nickelback" was made into a bigger font and "the state" rendered in white, at the top of the cover). in 2000, it was reissued again on emi canada, this time with different artwork featuring a young boy in a jail cell. this was also the artwork used on the american, european, and australian releases on roadrunner records. in 2000, "the state" reached the "billboard" 200 peaking 130. to support "the state", nickelback toured with creed, sevendust, 3 doors down, and stone temple pilots. in early 2001, the band played its final dates with everclear. in march 2001, nickelback won its first juno award for best new group.