Well there goes my dream of hearing Brad rip some massive solos on this record. I think he's the weakest instrumentalist in the band. His main contribution imo is probably dealing with the legal and business aspects of LP. It's a shame too because I think he's a good guitar player, but you can't force someone to do something they don't want to.
Okay, I listened to the actual interview. It's stated much better in there. He actually said play what would INSPIRE the 16-year old you to brad to pick up and learn guitar. Which IS a good thing. Implies the exact opposite of what I was worried about. Bolded because it shapes the discussion much better.
I can totally agree. I really wish Mike would shut up and release music without the bull shit hype. It's even worse now than it was for previous albums.
I love mike in every shape or form but, lately I can say I agree with this. Its such a drastic change in less than two years. Just last album cycle he was listening to some indie and folk music. I'm kind of confused.
I think what Mike might have been meaning is that Brad has been a lot less inspired by Guitar lately so even though Brad is the main Guitarist in the band Mike had been playing it on recordings. So for Mike to make that comment he is basically asking Brad to play something that he would have wanted to do when he was still inspired by the idea of playing Guitar. He is not asking Brad to play like a 16 year old but to play with the desire and hunger he used to have and to play the stuff be wished he could play when he was 16 with the talent he now has as an experienced guitarist. Also didn't Chester tweet that Brad was killing it on Guitar in the studio? This is a very good sign. This now even makes more sense as to why we have less LP guitar based music recently if they main guitarist in the band didn't want to play Guitar. This leaves it very hopeful that this will be a guitar heavy album. Hopefully all the BS has been cleansed from the system now that Recharged has been released.
I already told my opinion on this before and these interviews and Mike's new statements prove my point. I wonder what happened with just making music and being yourself, not giving a fuck of what's happening outside of that bubble that is "your band"? Who honestly gives a shit what the music sounds like, as long as it sounds good and interesting and takes you, as an artist, to a new place creatively (no template songwriting like on most of LT)? That's the Mike that inspired me back in the day. This, however, is the exact opposite of that. And it's sad. Genres are fucking ridiculous to begin with, just labels put on music. Want to make something "heavy" and br00tal? Go ahead, be my guest! But please, leave this bs marketing talk out of it. And inbefore "stop judging Mike": !
Again, my post has literally 0% to do with how the album sounds. Unless by ya'll you meant Mike and the band, in which case I agree completely.
I think it is possible, I mean 2013 was a horrible year for music in general. I mean the departure from guitars was a nice breath of fresh air because a lot of songs where saturated with the same instrument and same chords and it was time for a different sound, but now everything went from fresh and new to boring and physically sickening. 2 years ago I would have added this album they're making now to my already large playlist of awesome new rock tunes, but now I'm listening to the 80's goth rock and Industrial music and am paying more attention to the world of animation than the world of music because I love straight up rock music, but I've looked everywhere and literally couldn't find good new rock music in 2013 barring just a few songs that I thought were good enough. Rock IS boring now.
I also just listened to the full radio interview and can confirm what Elaine has already stated. It's apparent that Brad was lacking in drive and inspiration for guitar playing but has once again found it for this album. I hope this means that we will be hearing memorable riffs or solos from Brad and maybe even uniquely structured rhythms as well. Regarding Mike's comments in the first interview, I'm not sure he was intentionally trying to downplay other types of music that are considered "soft" or "herbivorous". I think what he means is that mainstream rock in particular doesn't have enough energy and intensity but, of course, this is his opinion. He even stated in the first interview that he really enjoys listening to "mellow" music so I don't think he's completely dismissing soft music, on or off the radio.
Criticizing the state of rock music as a listener: totally fine. But when you're Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park and you call out random bands as being "soft", then making a tour with 30 Seconds To Mars and AFI claiming to be "a real rock and roll tour",it's just arrogant and cocky.