Remember when Linkin Park was good?

[Go Web Go!]

Or at least listenable?

I was really big on these guys when I was younger, but Minutes to Midnight was such a disaster that I quit listening to them altogether after that. Then a few days ago I hear that they're releasing a new album later this year. I figure I'd look up the single, which was released today. Behold:

[YT]<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/keB-5P_zNDQ&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/keB-5P_zNDQ&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>[/YT]

Minutes to Midnight wasn't a fluke. They still suck. I don't know what they're trying to accomplish here, but it seems the longer they take to release an album the worse the material is. You guys let me know when you're through experimenting with this "uhn-tiss, uhn-tiss" techno BS and pick up the guitars again.

 

[imaperson2]

What the ****? Yeah, the things I liked were definitely before Minutes to Midnight too. Heck, I could probably still sing all the Hybrid Theory songs by memory.

 

[Go Web Go!]

I'm telling you. Hybrid Theory and Meteora were both solid. I mean, I've outgrown both those albums in terms of my musical taste and I can still say that. I bought Minutes to Midnight once it was released, popped it into my car's cd player and on the 10 minute drive back to work from the store I had deemed it completely worthless. I re-wrapped it and gave it away the same day. Such a disappointment after waiting 4 years since their last album and this one doesn't seem to be bucking the trend.

 

[Karelia]

Eh, I actually like a few songs off MTM. I use to listen to them all the time, now I occasionally will listen to them. I'll still pick up their new CD. I'm curious to see what they will be putting out. Mike Shinoda said it's "Genre Busting," but artists always say everything positive before their new albums release, so meh.

I try to give everything a fair shot though.

 

[ChickenScratch]

Just had to come in out of curiosity, I'm not a fan.

 

[Ipodman]

Hybrid Theory and Reanimation was the best. The only good song in Meteora was Numb tbh. And thats already not LP-ish.

 

[Go Web Go!]

Reanimation was whatever. I wasn't really counting that one among their releases since it's just a bunch of rehashed material.

 

[Ipodman]

Reanimation had lots of good guest appearances, and most of the songs had new vocals added in. A really good effort if you asked me...

 

[Karelia]

I actually like Meteora a lot. I tend to listen to more songs from it than HT.

I wasn't a big fan of Reanimation. The artwork is awesome though!

 

[Go Web Go!]

Reanimation had lots of good guest appearances, and most of the songs had new vocals added in. A really good effort if you asked me...

Wasn't bad. Wasn't great. Still like a few of those songs over the original Hybrid Theory versions, mainly "With You"

 

[Ipodman]

Mike Shinoda was great in his Fort Minor stint. Should have stuck to that.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

 

[Max J Power]

Reanimation had lots of good guest appearances, and most of the songs had new vocals added in. A really good effort if you asked me...

When Reanimation came out, I thought it was stupid to release a remix album after only having one regular album. But now it's my favorite thing they ever released.

 

[MadVillainy]

I liked their earlier stuff better. I didn't hate Minutes to Midnight, but it did take more than 1 listen to start liking it

And yeah that Catalyst song is garbage

 

[Ipodman]

Is that the song for Transformers 3? O.O

 

[Scourge2099]

Linkin Park was cool when I was , like , in High School.

 

[KenK]

I never bought Minutes to Midnight, thinking it was bad, but the singles released ultimately grew on me.

This new song is fairly chaotic, but again, like when "What I've Done" was released, and everyone seemed to hate it, I didn't see that much wrong with it that I was willing to write off the whole band.

And what kills me is, like a lot of music fans in general, if they're into a band that does, for example hard rock or metal, and they switch things up with something more experimental that doesn't rely on what they did before, the fans jump to proclaim that this band sucks and they'll never listen to them again.

I still remember how pissed people were when RJD2 came out with The Third Hand, and everyone was so mad 'cause it wasn't hip-hop, and he wasn't sampling.

And what's more, is that certain fans have the audacity to act all shocked and betrayed, as if they couldn't see it coming. LP's always been a band that incorporated some techno sensibility into their music, Reanimation being a perfect example of that. They took their entire first album which leaned heavily on the rock/metal side, and side, let's make some of these songs sound more like techno, let's make others more like hip-hop. So the idea that you can't accept them doing something more techno or hip-hop driven now is kind of ridiculous. To say nothing of the fact that you're taking one song, and jumping to the conclusion that their entire new album will suck. God forbid you wait until you hear a few more songs before you decide they're completely not worth your time anymore.

 

[Raiden]

I still like Linkin Park.

 

[Karelia]

I heard their new song "The Catalyst" today... Not a fan. I don't even think their was any guitars in the song at all. It seemed kinda bland.

 

[Heretic]

A few things:

I've never "outgrown" an album. Since I'm not a trendhopper, I have only listened to music that I actually enjoyed, not what some trend told me to like, and therefore I still like every album I have ever liked.

Secondly, Linkin Park has been around for a good while...and people change...to expect them to sound like they did on their first album is kind of silly.

Third, this new song sucks. Linkin Park has been trying to stay relevant by trend hopping...not surprising since they were jumping on a trend when they first came out...the industry in general has been predicting a huge techno wave for the past few years, and the public keeps rejecting it for the most part, but Linkin Park likely figured they'd jump on board just in case.

 

[KenK]

A few things:

I've never "outgrown" an album. Since I'm not a trendhopper, I have only listened to music that I actually enjoyed, not what some trend told me to like, and therefore I still like every album I have ever liked.

Secondly, Linkin Park has been around for a good while...and people change...to expect them to sound like they did on their first album is kind of silly.

Third, this new song sucks. Linkin Park has been trying to stay relevant by trend hopping...not surprising since they were jumping on a trend when they first came out...the industry in general has been predicting a huge techno wave for the past few years, and the public keeps rejecting it for the most part, but Linkin Park likely figured they'd jump on board just in case.

What was your ultimate point, I wonder. Especially on your last point about the industry predicting a techno wave that the public keeps rejecting. Because the last Black Eyed Peas album sold so poorly, and most certainly didn't win any major music awards.

To say nothing of the fact that whatever techno music exhibited LP's latest song hardly falls in line with the kind of techno music the industry is pushing. Contrary to popular belief, Techno music doesn't begin and end with guys like LMFAO and David Guetta.

 

[Go Web Go!]

God forbid you wait until you hear a few more songs before you decide they're completely not worth your time anymore.

Made that decision after listening through half of Minutes to Midnight. I was hoping that with news of a new album, that they'd go back to their heavier roots but after Shinoda's comments on the record being more of a concept or genre breaker/buster and then actually listening to this new song...yeah, not interested.

 

[Cmill216]

I don't mind the song, nor do I mind a band trying to take their music in a different direction.

The real problem is, this is a ****ing terrible choice for a single. "What I've Done" and "New Divide" were great examples of how you sell mainstream rock on the radio. Big, glossy, anthemic numbers with solid hooks.

This, however, doesn't fit the bill. A limp neo-electro thumper with an awkward structure that builds into some post-U2 climax. Again, it's not completely awful. It's just a terrible way to sell an album. It's borderline chaotic.

I'll wait to check out the full record. But I'm hoping, with all of this "evolution" jive, that there's a smidget of a return to more of their roots (i.e. more rapping).

 

[Mario_Galaxy]

I loved Linkin Park back in middle school, and even now I don't mind hearing an old song on the radio even though my tastes have evolved. But Minutes to Midnight was a massive fail, yet another band trying to go political.

 

[Heretic]

What was your ultimate point, I wonder. Especially on your last point about the industry predicting a techno wave that the public keeps rejecting. Because the last Black Eyed Peas album sold so poorly, and most certainly didn't win any major music awards.

To say nothing of the fact that whatever techno music exhibited LP's latest song hardly falls in line with the kind of techno music the industry is pushing. Contrary to popular belief, Techno music doesn't begin and end with guys like LMFAO and David Guetta.

Um...yeah.

Notice that I didn't say "The Black Eyed Peas = a trend". No, what everyone I know in the industry keeps telling me is how huge bands like Kill Hannah, Mute Math, Shiny Toy Guns and tons of others were going to be. This is not typically what is techno...but instead what the industry has decided to push as techno, kind of a watered down pop/rock mix with some electronic influence. These types of bands were supposed to be dominating the charts right now...but the public has rejected the trend for the most part. A few have done well, but every "bigwig" type I know was predicting this stuff to be the new Emo type trend, and it fell flat.

Yes, I'm aware that it isn't real techno, not even close...but it was often packaged and promoted as techno, and moron label execs dont know musical genres anyway.