Does the band have any problems or shortcomings you DON'T blame on WB?

I've noticed a lot of criticism of the band by it'd dedicated fans always seems to be pushed off on WB "making it" that way; Meteora was too samey? WB pressured them into a carbon copy. MTM was too different and mainstream flavored? WB insisted they crank out a few adult-alternative hits. Living Things was done on orders from WB to make an album full of nothing but potential singles, their live offerings suck because WB picks bad songs, the singles aren't doing as well these days because WB won't promote, they're doing video game commercials because WB makes them.

It seems incredibly convenient that every shortcoming of the bands seems to be caused directly from their label, but is there anything Linkin Park is dropping the ball on that you blame on the band and just the band?

 

I definitely blame WB for the failed releases of their LIVING THINGS singles, and that goes for any releases, but asides from that, I really doubt they had little to no say in the music LP makes. I mean, its not like you watch the making of videos and notice a WB representative standing in the corner telling them what to do and what not to do. I do blame LP for the crappy set list changes throughout their last tour. That was them being purely lazy. It was more of Recap tour than LIVING THINGS Tour.

 

Well if anyone blames the live sets on Warner, they're wrong. Warner has nothing to do with the songs the band plays live.

I'm still confused as to why they've only performed 5 out of the 12 songs from Living Things and it's been 9 months since the thing was released (and before anyone brings it up, no, they haven't performed Until It Breaks or Tinfoil live). And it's not like every show has all 5 of those songs either.

 

I think it's pretty clear that the band likes playing music that they know the crowd will love. 90% of the people there want to hear songs from their first three albums and they just can't seem to resist pleasing them. What they don't get, in my opinion, is that if they actually play more of their new stuff people might leave the show going "hey, that new stuff sounds pretty good. Maybe I should listen to their new album." I mean, isn't that the entire fucking point of going on a LIVING THINGS tour? It makes no sense to me.

 

Am I the only one who thinks they should make the setlist longer? They've been doing the hour and a half thing since Meteora came out, maybe it's time to make the concerts 2 hours long.

 

- Minutes to Midnight's tracklisting
- The Messenger
- Living Things remixes
- Stagnant setlists
- Mike's new flow
- The videos to BITS and LITE

 

i liked the BITS video and the messenger, why are they bad things?

 

Well, I guess we'll see how influence they had if the band doesn't resign with WB. I do think meteora and LT were products of label pressure. Which also contributes to the live set. Maybe the band just doesn't want to play LT for that reason. This of course, is pure speculation. I think the amount commercialism on this cycle is also probably due to WB. The NBA playoffs at the very least was all WB.

 

Chester's receeding hairline...

Nah, seriously though, while I think a lot of things I don't like could be traced back to label pressure, ultimately the buck stops with LP. It's up to them to put their collective foot down if they don't like what's being asked of them.

 

Apparently Mike does actually play guitar for Tinfoil offstage. You can see him in some recent videos.

 

LT tracklist being in caps lock.

That's all I got, I lost my complaining steam in the last complaining thread.

 

played it onstage in Sydney.

 

LITE should open shows. First track on the album they're supporting.

 

Agreed. LITE intro is amazing, and I don't like the track that much either...

But, I correct myself: if I got to go on one of their concerts, I'd definitely love it if they opened with APFMH. It's an amazing track (one of my old LP favorites), great live and the intro just opens the show perfectly.

 

MTM is good as it is, just as The Messenger and BITS and LITE's video is good. They're just different.

 

I'm one of those who believe that all of the choices that Linkin Park has made have been made internally by members of the band. I think Warner Bros. benefits from them regardless of the direction they take. They're one of the most popular "rock" acts today. Meteora reflects where the band was at the time and the music that THEY wanted to make. MTM was what they wanted to make, but as you suggest, it wasn't as super-groundbreaking as people here sometimes are led to believe. It is, in fact, an adult alternative album with safe songs that could be played on any pseudo-rock/adult radio station.

Despite weaker sales figures for ATS and LT, they are still a huge draw for WB. Album sales have gone down across the board anyway, it's no longer the yardstick for popularity that it once was. Linkin Park has always made the music they wanted to make, whether mainstream or not. Does anybody really believe that LP did not want Meteora to capitalize on the success of Hybrid Theory? That does not necessarily mean that they compromised themselves artistically, it's just the kind of music they wanted to play.

That's what I think about their career so far.

To think otherwise is pure speculation. Nothing has ever been confirmed to be label pressure.

EDIT: It is really quite strange that they have only performed 5 of the 12 tracks live off of LT, isn't it? I am constantly checking the set lists to see if they have FINALLY performed the other songs. If I went to a show during this cycle, I would be pretty disappointed. They're not even playing some of the best songs off of the album: Powerless, Roads Untraveled, Until It Breaks...

 

Well shit. Then I wish they'd just make it a full on performance. I really like the mood of Tinfoil. It's kind of random that only the guitar is live.

 

I just wish they'd play Powerless with it. Its practically the same song anyway