Has LInkin Park sold out?

[Mark]

Didn't read that wall of nonsense, but isn't taking a huge departure from the sound that got you more than 20 million album sales the exact opposite of selling out? The band had perfected the formula on radio-friendly nu-metal. They could have continued cashing in on that check for the better part of the decade.

Evolving as a band and pushing creative boundaries has come at the expense of airplay (slightly) and fans (majorly). Seems to me like the band just wants to continue challenging themselves creatively instead of worrying about album sales or popularity.

People are stupid.

[Adam.]

1) Are you seriously enlisting this forum to help you sound smarter in an argument with this guy? I'm just curious how much of our responses you're reposting.

2) Any band worth their salt in the public world has sold out dozens of times. The Beatles were the very definition of sell outs and that unleashed their creative genius on the world. Linkin Park absolutely avoided going down with the Nu Metal ship, if they'd stayed with it they'd be in the same place as Korn and Limp Bizkit—where are their tracks on the billboard ratings now? Any objective listener of Linkin Park's music today will admit it is of a wholly different quality than their earlier work and anyone who's giving them shit for not being nu-metal is experiencing some sort of early mid-life crisis.

[Xero21]

People have no idea what the fuck "selling out" is. Just like the word "epic", that word has been bandied about with such flagrant disregard to its actual definition that it's completely meaningless. See, this is exactly why I look down on nu-metal fans. They like crappy music and don't use their tiny brains to accurately pinpoint why they don't like anything else. So they do anything to feed into their little persecution complexes. "Well, electronic music's popular now, that must mean the band's a bunch of sell-outs for putting synths in their songs!" For Christ's sakes, they recorded a trip-hop song before they were even famous. Just because it doesn't use guitar distortion to fulfill your arbitrary definition of "heavy" doesn't mean it's not good music.

This is honestly why most I've completely shut out most bands heavier than Deftones. Aside from the fact that metal is now boring to me, the fans are the fucking worst. They only seem to be concerned with flying the metal flag and being condescending towards anyone with tastes more broad than Pantera or Burzum or some other nonsense like that.

I love all your posts.

As for the guy on the other forum, Hybrid Theory sold 10 million units in the U.S. alone. Linkin Park has been a mainstream band since day one. Mike Shinoda loves electronic music, you'd know that if you bothered keeping up with his personal blog. He makes music like that because he enjoys it, regardless of current mainstream appeal. Is the timing maybe not the best? Sure, I'll give you that. But don't mistake his intentions.

[Blackee Dammet]

I had all their underground stuff, even when they were Xero when their old manager (Mark) was the vocalist before they discovered Chester. Super Xero and all those old songs

Implying liking their Xero material is something to be proud of.

[lilj4425]

Almost TEN years later and idiots like this still can't get over the fact LP changed their sound? This makes me question the future success of the human race. I'm willing to bet the squirrel I saw in my backyard earlier today is smarter than at least half of the human population that currently inhabits Earth.

[Tim]

Didn't read that wall of nonsense, but isn't taking a huge departure from the sound that got you more than 20 million album sales the exact opposite of selling out? The band had perfected the formula on radio-friendly nu-metal. They could have continued cashing in on that check for the better part of the decade.

Evolving as a band and pushing creative boundaries has come at the expense of airplay (slightly) and fans (majorly). Seems to me like the band just wants to continue challenging themselves creatively instead of worrying about album sales or popularity.

People are stupid.

This. So hard.

And their change in sound wasn't that drastic. The band has had some growing pains, but their evolution has been smooth for the most part. Some of you guys act like they went from playing death metal to polka.

[Cookie Monster]

Lol at "techno", and saying that the music they make now is like what's popular now. Only time I have heard an LP song along with pop artists was when WFTE was a single. And that song isn't exactly pop. Sounds like an angry 14 year old.

[PT37]

1) Are you seriously enlisting this forum to help you sound smarter in an argument with this guy? I'm just curious how much of our responses you're reposting.

No, just wanted to show you guys this guys post. I could really care less.

[Lazarus]

I don't know what to say, everything has been said, so, just:

[11:54]

Staying with their original sound would be selling out.

[LPChris]

I will personally poop on any person's face if they say that Linkin Park has sold out. Linkin Park has done the exact opposite.

[11:54]

I will personally poop on any person's face if they say that Linkin Park has sold out. Linkin Park has done the exact opposite.

Way off topic here, but if that's you in your sig I'd let you poop on my face.

[CylockDNB]

Yarp. You can add "amazing" to that list, too.

Add "I love you" and "Fuck you" to that list then, as well.

[Bennington_Hahn]

is this guy the ultimate troll or what? If it wasn't bad enough him calling QWERTY "Behind your lies", he had to go on to say that burn it down - the most mainstream song off LT - is the only redeeming feature on the albums. Jeeze, when will these people just disaper? Either like it or GTFO

[arbiter]

I agree with most of what he said, except LP being a sell-out. They're loosing fans much faster than gaining them, and they're aware of it. That is by no definition a sell-out. I understand why MTM had to happen, and I see why they did ATS (which is perfection), but I simply do not like LT. It's fine. That's it.

I don't want my favorite band to be doing fine, when I know they're able to blow people's heads off with their melodies and sound. LT is a let-down in that way and they really should take it easy, because constantly changing the vibe will eventually steer away even the hardest of fans. Simple math. But no, they haven't sold out.

There is nothing mathematical about that statement. And there is no such thing as the "hardest of fans". And changing their style here and there and mixing things up will cause them to loose some fans but they also attract new fans with each new release because an album may not work for one person, but it will be another person's favourite album.

No they didn't sell out! I always believe that they may change their music style and do lose some fans but those "fans" always get replaced by new fans!

This is more of actual reality than anything written by that sad person.

I listen to NIN and they're not to be compared with LP's 'evolution'.


If you love whatever they do (not to be mistaken with 'if you love all their albums thus far), you're idolizing. And don't take me the wrong way, like I said, they're #1 in my book. But I just listened to HT, Meteora, ATS and Underground8 in a row and that just owns LT and its vibe. For me at least. But we're off topic.

Condescending much? I could say the same thing about you in terms of their first two albums and that genre with a dose of nostalgia. It is very possible to like every single album Linkin Park makes without it having to do with idolizing. It's not the end of the world if Living Things doesn't hit that spot for you. It doesn't make you better than the person who every album does hit the spot for them.

[minuteforce]

Guy loves HT & Meteora, claims LP went mainstream with Living Things, except Burn It Down, the most obviously-aimed-at-radio song on the album, is good.

In the context of everything they've said, the fact this person considers "Burn It Down" to be the new album's "saving grace" is, like,

[Elaine]

I smell a troll.

[minuteforce]

I smell a troll.

Go and take a shower, then.

[mastae]

If you want to talk about "selling out," which, in my mind, is compromising the music for moneys sake, then Meteora is the only album LP "sold out" on.

[Philsfan]

Sellout = Hybrid Theory Part III.