I just recently made an account here although ive been following this amazing site for awhile now I'm just wondering if anyone else this way...I LOVE everything they have ever put out. All their music has really spoken to me throughout my life and helped me through a lot. I listened to Hybrid Theory and Meteora a lot when I was younger, got a little older and loved Minutes To Midnight, and then I was REALLY into A Thousand Suns. That is an amazing album. I think it just might be my favorite LP album right next to Meteora....Now, these two new songs from Living Things really aren't clicking with me. Sure, they are catchy after a few listens but that is really all there is to them, at least for me. BURN IT DOWN sounded very pop-ish, now as you can tell Ive loved all their sounds cuz it still was real but something is off here. I mean seriously "Were building it up, to bring it back down, Were bulding it up to bring it down, we can't wait to burn it to the ground". Sounds like somethin off Foster The People. And the little rap on it felt so out of place. It wasnt even that good. LIES GREED MISERY is growing on me but the rapping is terrible, and the beat sounds like some wannabe Black Eyed Pease stuff. Chester was on fire ofcourse but the rapping was just...ughhh. I can't help but cringe when I hear it. Again, I LOVED A Thousand Suns ! One of the best albums I have ever heard.
I LOVE all the albums they put out. And i'm really excited for Living Things but as you said, Lies Greed Misery made me cringe in the beginning aswell but now i really like it and i love that the lyrics are like dark and the beat is more uptempo and happy. That's a very rare combination and i love it like that. But the one thing i also like with Living Things is that it also combined everything from their older material and to ATS so we will get a great mix of everything. There is something for everyone in that album i think.
I wouldn't give up hope on this album. The best tracks on their albums are never the ones they preview beforehand, at least in my opinion.
The fact that Burn It Down and Lies Greed Misery sound like they belong on entirely different albums to begin with, I think it demonstrates the scope and range that Living Things will have. Not one song will sound the same as another, yet they'll all share that Linkin Park vibe we've all come to love.
I do feel a lot of the same stuff you feel. Burn It Down and Lies Greed Misery are both pop jam songs that, if I'm in the right mood for, are fun to listen to. Both songs, especially LGM, are great work-out music. But that's about it, they're hype songs. They aren't songs I'd want to listen to if I'm in a real music mood. But, they are essentially the lead singles for the album. And lead singles usually are the hype music to get you ready for the album, so I haven't given up on Living Things yet. Still very excited.
I don't get why people don't understand that In The End was one of the poppiest "rock" songs of the last decade and that Numb was almost as bad. I get that 80% of LPs fanbase now showed up in like 03 or 04, but c'mon. LP were always a pop/pop "influenced" group. They just got far more brazen about it as the years went on.
I understand that completely, and I don't like those songs either. I was 9-11 years old when those came out, I thought the Black Eyed Peas were pretty cool back then too. This is why A Thousand Suns was a step in right direction, and it's also why I'm nervous that they seem to be taking steps backward on this album. They've shown they're very capable of stepping out of that pop influence, I just wish they'd embrace it. Not necessarily completely, Linkin Park still has to make a Linkin Park jam sometimes, sure. But they can do a lot more too.
Well you are completely right about that, but i think to many those are the songs that got them into the band. And neither In the end or Numb followed the popular structure that was going around at the momment.(they aren't true nu-metal either) What i think is kinda cliche-ish, about LGM and BID, is that they both follow the mainstream pop culture structure(every massive pop hit, needs a rapper on it) and they both need to be uptempo with average/not so deep lyrics(LGM has kinda stupid chorus, and the chorus and rap part on BID is meh). Even though In the end and Numb sounds like teenage angst songs, they were GOOD teen-age angst songs, they described exactly how i felt as when i was younger. And to me they meant somthing. I can't see how these two songs is gonna mean anything to anybody, other than as damn fun songs to rock out to
Alexrednex...I agree with you 100% ! Finally someone else who see's it the way I do. Also Meteora had some great lyrics if you understand what they are talking about. Better lyrics then the one's on BURN IT DOWN and LIES GREED MISERY. Also has anyone else noticed how in past interviews Mike would always seem really excited about the new things they were doing on the album while this time he really doesn't seem to energetic about it. Could be just me.
I'm not sure where you stand, Spitz, but wherever it may be, thanks for making my point much more spot on.
If you think Meteora has great lyrics, you've either never listened to another album in your life or you're twelve. Here's what the songs are about: Don't Stay: Dad, you suck. Somewhere I Belong: Home sucks. Lying from You: My friends suck. Hit the Floor: My friends suck. Easier to Run: I suck. Faint: My friends suck. Figure.09: My friends suck. Breaking the Habit: Drugs suck. From the Inside: I suck. Nobody's Listening: I suck. Numb: Dad, you suck.
"Remember all the sadness and frustration, and let it go!!!!!!" is as genius as "I want to heal, I want to feel Like I'm close to something real" for me. One is ridicously angsty and negative, the other is ridiculously positive and naïve. 50/50. + Under some circumstances, people have the right to be angsty or to think things sucks. Not everyone has a happy life. Chester had a quite difficult past, I see no reason why he should have writen about positive things back then. Lyrics about feeling bad are not necessarily bad, and lyrics about feeling good are not necessarily good (see all the "party, fun fun fun" stuff) I must precise, I'm not angsty or whatever. But I'm not ridiculously condescending to the people who are angsty. Some of them have valid reasons, some not, but ok.
I've been seeing a therapist for depression for the past few months, but that doesn't keep me from recognizing poorly-written lyrics when I see them. I'll grant you that Chester in his twenties had some things he needed to get off his chest. That doesn't excuse what he wrote from being so one-note, though.
It's all opinion. Objectively, Meteora lyrics were simple and angsty. That is all. Then subjectively, some people can consider simple angsty lyrics as poor, other can considerate them as good lyrics they can relate too. Look at the ATS lyrics which are less vague, relating to nuclear problems, and more "mature". Some people can think "mature" lyrics around nuclear problems are good, others can be pissed off by those kind of lyrics because they don't agree with what is being said or because they don't like "moral lessons". Seriously, for the most part, judging lyrics is super subjective.