AltWire Reviews One More Light

Discussion in 'News' started by Derek, May 13, 2017.

  1. Blake

    Blake Leave a Trace LPA Super Member

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    To be fair that new Selena Gomez track is better than anything on One More Light :thumbsup:

    Oh and can't forget Justin Bieber's AMAZING feature on I'm the One :thumbsup:
     
  2. Moridin

    Moridin Death Contagious Deity

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    I think that's because of all the arbitrary genre hopping. In the quest for each album to sound nothing like the last means they also haven't actually settled on a sound long enough for it to take root in the mind of the media/general audience and override the HT/Meteora days. They were Nu Metal for what, 7 or 8 years, an EP & 2 albums, high profile for most of that. That was a very distinct sound that they had for a long time.

    I remember Dave saying something back around '01/'02,
    "Mike always says, ''oh we would never want to listen to a song and have it be like here's your Hip Hop verse, here's your Hard Rock chorus and here's the bridge that has an electronic feel to it. Instead have you listen to it and say '''I know that sound, that's LP''". (7 minutes in):


    I think it's very interesting how they started out wanting to blend genres to come up with a unique sound, but what they've ended up with in the last 7-10 years is so far in the opposite direction. Now it's broadly "here's your electronic album, here's your hard rock album, here's your pop album".

    They've actually stripped themselves of a readily identifyable sound or distinct identity. OML sounds generic, like anything else on the radio. How many outside writers did they have on this album?

    They sound lost.
     
  3. Derek

    Derek LPAssociation.com Administrator LPA Administrator

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    Wasn't that their goal all along though? To never have a core sound and just do their own thing?
     
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  4. Alexrednex

    Alexrednex Well-Known Member

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    Eh, I think if you boil down LT and ATS to just being "electronic" albums then you might as well not even talk about music genres at all.

    Even THP goes in so many subgenres in the rock spectrum that a single label fails to acknowledge (thrash metal, raprock, pop rock, alternative rock, punk rock, SOAD inspired rock).

    I also think if you have already dismissed OML as a generic pop album (despite only hearing 4/10 studio songs (remember when we thought all songs on LT would be firecrackers?)) you are probably going to be pleasently suprised by the rest of the album.
     
    Last edited: May 15, 2017
  5. Sasuke

    Sasuke Modern Prog enjoyer LPA Super Member

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    LMAO which genres? all the songs except BTH sound exactly the same!
    Are there hardcore songs (Given Up/War) are there folk inspired songs? (COG, RU) are there prog songs? (TC, MTG) are there metal songs? (Qwerty) or are there industrial rock songs? (Blackout)...
     
  6. Brandon

    Brandon I was Ree's 100th follower on Twitter.

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    I still don't understand this. Nu-metal fans might take up a large section of the Linkin Park fanbase, but as a part of the general music-listening population they are a tiny fraction. Linkin Park is now making music that will appeal to a group of people that is extremely bigger than the nu-metal crowd. Why is this being presented as a risk? They are literally aiming for the bigger pool of people. The band has always said they don't mind if they lose some fans along the way. Why is it that this time it's such a big deal?

    Why does this small sub-section of vocal fans have to define everything the band does? Because they were here first? Who cares? If Linkin Park is making music that 49 people can easily enjoy, but 1 person is sad about it, that's a risk because the 1 person is a Linkin Park OG? I think that's silly.
     
    Last edited: May 15, 2017
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  7. Chris loves LP

    Chris loves LP Well-Known Member

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    And these same people obviously listened the shit out of Keys to the Kingdom. :kappa:
     
  8. Blake

    Blake Leave a Trace LPA Super Member

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    You act like the masses will just eat up new Linkin Park.

    Hint: Mainstream music listeners aren't looking for Linkin Park in 2017 regardless of what genre their album is.
     
  9. eunyoungg

    eunyoungg Well-Known Member

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    While I do see the same structure in some pop songs nowadays, I don't see them in the songs released by the band so far. Some users here keep repeating that the album sounds like everything that is playing on the radio right now but I still can't find the similarities. I was listening to some pop tracklists recently and I did hear the same formula over and over again, but they don't fit in OML? I don't know.
     
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  10. Brandon

    Brandon I was Ree's 100th follower on Twitter.

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    I'm aware that Linkin Park aren't a part of the pop culture zeitgeist in the same way that Drake is, but are we really now saying that Linkin Park is not mainstream?
     
  11. Blackee Dammet

    Blackee Dammet Feminism Is My God Now

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    Yes and no.

    They're very obviously still "mainstream", but they're not really at the peak of popularity anymore. Everyone knows who Linkin Park is, but that doesn't mean they're interested in what Linkin Park does.
     
  12. brady

    brady I am the LPA LPA Super Member

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    They certainly don't resonate with the mainstream crowd nearly as much as before, or even at all.
     
  13. Brandon

    Brandon I was Ree's 100th follower on Twitter.

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    Right. I don't think mainstream audiences are holding their breath for the new Linkin Park songs in the same way they are Drake or Bieber. But the music still does well enough. Heavy is being played all over the place. All sorts of songs from their catalog get played on radio to this day. They have in no way faded into obscurity.

    Which, if you ask me, makes the decision to make a super poppy album like OML the antithesis of a creative risk. Once-mainstream-powerhouse-now-past-their-prime-mainstream-band-makes-pop-album-with-todays-pop-songwriters is not the stuff of bold artistic vision. And no one's saying it has to be. But let's call it what it is. The band seems to be enjoying it, so that's cool. Invisible is a great song.
     
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  14. zazofazo

    zazofazo Well-Known Member

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    They are not mainstream anymore in terms of resonating with people . If "Heavy" was released by any real mainstream artist it will be #1 hit but it's not and the only reason it charted high is because of presence of female singer .
    This album will be the biggest risk they have ever done not because of it's sound but because of the name associated with the sound so your argument makes no sense here because you assume that people care about LP in 2017.
    Trust me , if you are in a band this old you Better try to stick to your guns if you want to sell any copies and it will be a miracle if the album sells rather than selling well.
     
  15. Minus

    Minus ohai LPA Addicted VIP

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    There's this super weird disconnect that a lot of fans on here and other fansites have. So many of us like to think that the band is nowhere near as mainstream as they were before, and in a way that IS true. You'd be right to say that singles aren't being shoved down the throats of the average radio listener. But we also seem to forget that even though the band isn't necessarily at rabid Meteora levels of popularity now, they still are pretty much shoe-ins for headlining festivals when they're on one. Their most recent touring cycle was easily their most successful. They ARE the most liked rock band on Facebook, and are in the Top 10 liked musicians of all time on the platform. The next biggest rock band by number of likes is The Beatles, who trail by 19.5 MILLION likes.

    Everyone seems to think LP have fallen from grace and are past their primes, which we could argue about for days on end. And, to be fair, we have been for the past 10 years. But you have to recognize that even if the band is past their primes, they are still undoubtably one of the biggest bands in the world and, if you argue they are past their prime, have been for over a decade and a half.

    And again, everyone seems to be under the impression that the band set out to create a super poppy album, which is not true. The band set out to write an album in a way they haven't done before, namely a lyrics/vocal melody-first approach. They contacted some songwriters who are friends of theirs and learned how they approach lyrics, which makes sense considering they did the same with the guests they had on THP, and everything the band learned about producing was through working with Rick Rubin. It's not new for them to bring someone in with a better grasp of the knowledge LP wants to learn, and I don't get why people are up in arms about it NOW. Especially when you consider the nearly unanimously agreed-upon principle that Linkin Park lyrics are, at their absolute best, a B, and at their absolute worst, a Meteora.

    It just so happens that this particular approach made really accessible pop music. Which isn't a bad thing at all, unless you want it to be a bad thing.

    The final product isn't necessarily a creative risk. It's a financial risk and a risk to the standing with their fanbase, sure. But it isn't a creative risk.

    What IS a creative risk is the approach. A band known for having meh-at-best lyrics deciding to start with a lyrics-first approach. A band who has always had a foot in the angst puddle and wanting to make songs that their fans can relate to deciding "I'm going to write about this really specific thing that is personal and relatable to me." I mean, this is the first studio album with a fully sarcastic track on it. Good Goodbye is about someone on the away team of a basketball game fouling out and taking the walk of shame back to the locker rooms. There's a track about raising your kids, being away because your job requires it and having to explain why this is for their benefit being written by a very private out-of-the-spotlight Mike Shinoda. Seriously, how much have we heard about Mike's family? Chester has gone on interviews talking about his kids from a previous relationship, his youngest children, and all that jazz. The most we've seen from Mike is when he was helping promote his wife's book. I didn't even know he had kids. Such a closed-off figure writing about a part of his life he tries to keep out of the spotlight, that's pretty risky. And a brave step to take.

    TL;DR The final product is a risk, though not necessarily a creative one. The creative risk is how the band purposefully set out to write the album, which flies in the face of every method the band has found to be tried and true thus far.
     
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  16. Blake

    Blake Leave a Trace LPA Super Member

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    They are still mainstream and fans will still go to the shows but One More Light won't gain as many new fans as a lot of us like to think.

    As someone said earlier, a lot of people view Linkin Park as a joke. I posted on KTT I was going to see Linkin Park and people flamed me with responses like "in 2017? LMAO".
    The masses know Linkin Park but the masses aren't actively checking out Linkin Park. Linkin Park is still insanely popular because they were so huge to begin with and has staying power within that fanbase.
     
  17. Mark

    Mark Canadian Beauty LPA Administrator

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    I think you're looking at this from the wrong angle. It's not about appealing to the pop masses. The band has been immensely successful and did not craft this album to appeal to a wider audience. What makes this album risky is how they've stepped out of their comfort zone to challenge themselves to create something fresh and unique and foreign within the Linkin Park catalog AND to challenge their core fans' expectations of what they should sound like. This band is addicted to not being pigeon-holed.

    Based on the songs we've heard, I think once people hear this album they're going to have a tough time saying any of the songs sounds like anything Linkin Park has ever put out before.
     
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  18. Minus

    Minus ohai LPA Addicted VIP

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    To be fair though, what you're really saying is "members of Kanye To The were being needlessly sarcastic." Which is about as groundbreaking as saying "the sky is blue."
     
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  19. Anthonychrisstar

    Anthonychrisstar Member

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  20. Brandon

    Brandon I was Ree's 100th follower on Twitter.

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    I pretty much agree with this post. My main issue is: if we're not talking about whether or not the final product, the art itself, is a risk, then why do we care? Artists gain and lose fans all the time. ESPECIALLY Linkin Park. Losing your old fans because you're doing something different isn't anything to write home about at this point.

    Headline: "Linkin Park Makes Album Nu-Metal Fans Don't Like"
    Other Headline: "Man Walks On Fucking Moon"

    The band might not have specifically set out to make an album to appeal to the pop masses, that would be super cynical, but if that's what they end up doing at the end of the day...if the shoe fits, you know?

    I just don't think Linkin Park making music their original fans don't like is worthy of praise anymore. That's been the majority of their career at this point. And during this album cycle, it's kind of being used as a crutch to explain to people why the band doing full-fledged, derivative pop music is actually a stroke of genius. And I think that's dishonest. This is a safe pop album written by the people who have written some of today's chart-toppers. It's going to do well. That's not a crime. But I think we all need to be comfortable calling this a safe album. There's nothing wrong with it. The band has been super relaxed this cycle, I know we've all noticed that. I don't blame them for it.

    If this were 2007 and we were talking about Minutes to Midnight, I'd totally be on board. But that was 10 years and 4 albums ago.
     
    Last edited: May 15, 2017

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