I've always liked Linkin Park's music, but I have a real problem with the way they've been marketed and a lot of dipshits from both sides have taken the bait.
What I'm talking about is that ever since In The End became a hit, everyone on both sides reacted ignorantly, pretty soon lots of kids who would normally listen to shit like the Backstreet Boys or whatever picked up on the band, all the alternative radio stations and media that I hear of pretended they had nothing to do with them, and started saying shit about them such as accusations that they're a boy band and are a corporate band in an attempt to dilute heavy music in it's tamest form. And the reason this pisses me off is because not only is it not true, it's not even close to the truth, and as far as the standards of nu metal go, they're very much on the top end. And because of this I'm afraid to tell people that LP is one of my favourite bands because now people will think I'm like one of those losers or I've been misinformed, and I now can't accuse bands I think that actually do fit the above description (not prepared to name name's at this point) without the fear of being called a hypocrite. And I can't stand being called a conformist for being myself, because they're the ones that have their facts wrong (hey, if you dislike somethhing for the same reasonas those losers who only listen to wahts marketed to them, you're just as bad as them).
I read at the Livid festival, where LP headlined, an Australian pop punk band called Frenzal Rhomb slagged them off on stage, telling people to stay tghe hell away from them because, as he puts it "I imagine they've got corporations paying them peercentages for everyone who sees them for their product placement" (real justice eh?),.
I've done a bit of research though, and I've made a discovery: I don't think it's the bands fault, I think it's the record companies. How did I work this out? I read an interview with Kurt Cobain from Nirvana (when he was alive, obviously) about their feud with Pearl Jam. He said that he slagged them off because he didn't like the band. But he then went on to say that it was his own fault, and that he should've been slagging off the record company and not the band. What had happened was, Pearl Jam had been marketed, not probably against their will, but without realising they're being pushed into the grunge bandwagon (anyone who knows about the band recently will know that Pearl Jam are now getting revenge on their past).
I'm almost certain the same thing is happening to Linkin Park. (if you replace grunge with nu metal) I've seen the band in interviews, I know the sort of people they are, if you ask me they're very much the Pearl Jam of the nu metal generation, they seem like the same sort of people to me. The way things are being done, the recent thing I read about how the band have sued their record company after being offended about the idea of playing in front of the New york Stock Exchange, and the way everything's going, the criticisms of charging too high ticket prices (which was also the case with Pearl Jam), Kurt Cobains comments about how PJ are a safe band that tries to get everyone to like them and a million more things I don't have time to list here, it seems to be going down the same path.
I don't think LP are aware that they're used as a pro corporate tool by the record company, and everyone on both sides is taking the bait. The record company seems to be trying to wash LP down in the sewers with the likes of shit such as Good Charlotte and Evanescence, and the band seems to be unaware of whats going on. Like this case with them doing an album with Jay Z, i think the bands problem is that they don't realise the real reason they're being asked to do an album is due to their attempt to market them to a more teenybopper audience, and they're taking advantage of the fact that LP like Jay Z (when I first heard about the album being made I was pissed off about it until I actually heard it, it was actaully very good IMO, but the probelm isn't so much that than is the real reason why they're getting thele offers).
Linkin Park have to stop trying to come to a compromise with the record companies, as least they're not stupid enough to do everything they say, but it seems to me that whenever a record company makes a suggestion they seem to try and come to a solution they can both agree on, and that's what's destroying they're career. If I was them, I'd sue the band double of what they're suing now, because of the record companies attempts to destroy them.
I don't know whether you people will either agree with me or miss the point, but at least I've given you something to think about. i think what I said above answers a lot of questions about the band. But I'd appreciate what you think about this.
Oh and one more thing, hi I'm new here.
Reply With Quote
