I just heard that NSync is probably coming back so if that's the case LP is about to go head to head with one of the biggest pop bands of all time. Mike got to lots of work to do
My friend who used to hate LP because of all the screaming and heavy guitars loves the new song. I don't know how to react.
Exactly! I'd much rather have them make music they enjoy than not. Yes its polarising by the looks of the reaction but i'd much rather have them make music they enjoy because usually it's not bad. If they made music they hated i'm sure it'd resonate in the music. I personally really enjoy the song. I think it brings freshness to LP's discography and you could tell in the livestream they enjoyed it.
Delayed on this, but I mentioned wanting to respond properly... This song actually still is Linkin Park to me... because Chester's in it. (I'm kidding there's more)... mainly for me it's the sounds in the background, the instrumentals that are less at the forefront. I think if there was an instrumental-only version of this song you might see what I mean (maybe not, maybe you already know what I mean and don't think it sounds like them). Though I can agree it's most likely the furthest they've ever sounded from themselves, or at least (because you then go and remember songs like Until it Breaks) Heavy at least might the biggest candidate to point at as "It's not Linkin Park". I can see that. I completely agree people have the right to express themselves. I apologize if anything I said ever sounded like I was trying to wave off that idea. Never intentional. As I've said a few times I just don't believe in labels and genres, but at least you mentioned alternative, which is implicitly more broad and open-minded than just saying rock, or pop. For a while, if I had to categorize Linkin Park as anything, I probably would've also called them alternative. Though I've said all my life when asked what music I'm into, with a bit of a smile because I know it's a vague and not-very-helpful answer, "Whatever sounds good", before elaborating that it's not affixed to any genre, I've liked songs from almost all genres (rarely country though...) though yeah, I guess the higher percentage would be rock or alternative. Though I can see you're saying that regardless of genre, you don't like how this sounds -- and that's fair. If I had to choose or had any say, I'd probably prefer LP more often stick to alternative too, the slightly grittier side of things. But I actually also like that they switch it up and actively try to bust out of any labels people try to place on them. I also think it's pretty cool that they get people who are fixated on categorization to almost try to come up with new words or genre names to describe their music. Shows me they're doing what they set out to do. I've heard "Cinematic Rock" lately, and I've heard some accredit that to Linkin Park of the last few albums/years. Some people feel the need to be able to call everything by some distinctive word, just like some like to think there's a reason for absolutely everything in the world. I may not be on that page, but I still understand it, and to each their own. I honestly don't think having a guest vocalist on it takes away from it being personal. I'm slightly fuzzy on the exact story, so anybody feel free to correct me, but I think the case with Breaking the Habit was that Mike wrote it and it was about him and his experience, but he insisted Chester was the only one to sing it, because of how emotional it would've been for Mike to do it? I might have that backwards... anyway, something along those lines, where somebody didn't want to perform or sing because it would be hard on them. Granted yeah, that's within the band and not bringing in a guest vocalist, but there could be a multitude of reasons for bringing her in that aren't flat out "Because they wanted a radio hit and we said fine whatever" I mean look, full disclosure, I would've taken Heavy on a different path if I was at the helm. When I first heard the first few teaser clips, I had ideas in my head that I think I would've preferred over what they gave us. My version would've been a little less upbeat (in the general sound, lyrics aside) and had more soft, slow, piano with more of a build-up, and a grittier bridge and finish where "Holding oooo-oooon" would've been borderline yelled (though not screamed). But at the end of the day, I'm asking for no bad songs from this band... and I can honestly say I don't think this song is bad. I was never asking it to be my favourite ever, so I'm not disappointed that it isn't. I'm not even disappointed that it probably wouldn't crack my top 10 or even LP songs. I'm just glad on the "Not bad" count they're 1 for 1 with 9 more to go, and I hope I don't think any of the other 9 are bad either. Finally, you mention Radiohead and Metallica... my personal opinion is their music isn't very good. Especially Metallica. To me there's a difference between how talented you are as musicians (mostly speaking to Radiohead) and the final product you put out on albums, and the latter, the final product, hasn't often been very good to me. I find it a little odd that some who criticize LP for basic lyrics in choruses (not saying you've done this, just speaking to other comments I've seen) can just be totally cool with "I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo, what the hell am I doing here?" from Radiohead and say that's fine. I was once told the Sheepdogs were awesome because they can play a mean guitar and whatnot...chord progressions were brought up... that's great for them, but that doesn't mean you have to constantly show it off and include that in your final album/studio tracks. Sometimes that stuff isn't all that listenable -- a word I like to use more often than accessible. Like guess what, Justin Bieber is pretty talented too, the little bastard can play piano, guitar and I hate to admit it is actually not a bad hockey player to boot... but that doesn't mean what he puts out on his album is good music (at least not to me). I find most of what he puts on albums to be un-listenable. I can say the same for the majority of Metallica's material and a good amount of Radiohead's material. (Disclaimer : No, I'm not, at all, trying to compare Metallica or especially Radiohead to Justin Bieber...lol)
The facebook likes were decreasing each day anyway before even releasing the song , and they are increasing now anyway thanks to heavy. they haven't lost anything , calm down
There's a film critic who writes some really insightful articles called FilmCritHulk. He takes on the character of The Incredible Hulk while writing these really captivating essays about movies, pop culture, all sorts of stuff. Your post, and the discussion here in general, reminded me of a passage he wrote: I don't think anyone can argue that, at best, Linkin Park look hypocritical at the moment. Almost by definition, they were either bullshitting 3 years ago or bullshitting now.
I'd argue it, by saying that The Hunting Party and its sound and direction were what they wanted at that time. I don't remember them saying "This is what we want now, and forever, going forward, so look forward to everything we do from here on out sounding exactly like this" or anything along those lines. By all means if I'm wrong let me know, I'm just saying I myself haven't seen quotes from the band to that effect. If they exist I haven't seen them. They wanted rock for that album, and they delivered rock for that album.
Talking absolute rubbish back then probably. I mean the bands worked with Steve Aoki twice and Mike's got a song with Martin Garrix. I can't see them working with other pop writers or artists if they were being honest back then
Man, 100k people is 100k people. Losing followers is the worst that can happen. With all those changes over the year, LP just won followers (much more people joining than leaving). This time is different until now... You guys are all full of this irony like "wow, so much hate, i'm wiping the tears with my money". But those are statistics and they have to be looked at. The video is filled with dislikes, the facebook page is losing followers for the first time ever... you seem to be thinking this is a joke, but it's serious business. Those are signs that something is wrong. But some of you are standing on your pedant high heels, forcing yourselfs to don't see what's the public response. The views are high, yeah, but the bad criticism is equivalent. I'm certain the band already expected negative reviews, but not that much i hope. Because if they knew that it would be HATED by the fans, then it's a sign they don't give a shit for us (even with them saying lots of times in the recent interviews they love the fans for everything, almost like apologizing because they knew that the song would let us down)
If you're talking about the Final Masquerade acoustic version, you can find it on YouTube, yeah. Or if you're talking about the recent stream they did with the acoustic Crawling, Heavy and Burn It Down, you can find it there too.
Holy essay man! Love it when people Put this sort of effort into their comments! I disagree about Radiohead/Metallica (although I definitely much prefer LP to Metallica), but I agree with the sentiment (although using Creep is a bad example, even Radiohead don't like Creep ). Especially the part about labels. Heavy is just as much LP as In The End or The Catalyst. The instrumental screams Shinoda to me. Already made a few big comments myself, so I won't say much more, just wanted to say a few things after that behemoth of a post haha.
The band. Does. Whatever. They. Want. Regardless of the overall reactions to their songs. They make the songs they want to make, not what you or any of us want them to make. How many times do people need to point this out for you to finally understand?
Haha yeah, I'll admit there are times I just want to get out some thoughts and it ends up in writing a lot. Though in this case I was replying to somebody who gave me a well-thought out and somewhat lengthy message, so I wanted to give the same effort back. I appreciate your comment though for sure, and that you can see where I'm coming from and agree with the sentiment and about labels. Couldn't agree more that the instrumental is quite common of Shinoda and the less obvious sounds going on in the song are what I know and love from LP. and yeah Creep was just the first thing that came to mind lol. I think both Radiohead and Metallica (especially Radiohead) have some good songs, but generally speaking Linkin Park, over their career discography, have put out a lot more that stay on my playlists. A lot more.