Linkin Park's ''Sound''

Discussion in 'Linkin Park Chat' started by Virgocore, Jul 10, 2017.

  1. #1
    Virgocore

    Virgocore Well-Known Member

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    I think Linkin Park is finally done experimenting and evolving. I think they've finally found their ''sound'' with One More Light. They all seem to be very proud of the album, and they've made it clear that it's each band member's favorite album that the band have ever done. I think they'll continue on with the sound of the album in the future, until the end of their career. I think this album was a rebirth of sorts, like it's the first album of the new Linkin Park. They've also changed a lot with their image, logo, and how the band presents. I think this is really a big album for the band and they finally feel like they've found who they are. Didn't Chester say that the band has always been a pop band since the beginning of the band? Maybe they finally realized that collectively and this is what they want to do.
     
  2. #2
    Deliveranze

    Deliveranze Well-Known Member

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    K
     
  3. #3
    minuteforce

    minuteforce Danny's not here, Mrs. Torrance. LPA Team

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    The band says that about every new album, and the imagery always changes with each cycle. I wouldn't say either represent anything permanent this time.
     
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  4. #4
    Louis

    Louis Message me if you need to talk. We love you all. LPA Team

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    Don't do that again. Someone's trying to start a genuine thread and that's not at all an appropriate way to respond. If all you're going to say to someone's thoughts are "K," then spare everyone the post. Thanks.

    - - -

    Anyway, I don't think I agree. The real question for me has been, for a long time, is if Linkin Park is done really experimenting. I get the sense that, after A Thousand Suns, the band just didn't bother anymore with really stepping outside the comfort zone. I wouldn't even say The Hunting Party was an experimental album or a challenging album in anyway (felt really forced and contrived). I think the band is always going to flip genres and sounds for each album, but none of these last few albums have been any bit challenging musically for the group or its fans.

    It may have been challenging writing-wise for them, but it felt to me like it was more of a correction than a change in approach. They finally started to write the right way. So, what I hope sticks is how they wrote lyrics this time around. Start from a place of sincerity, and don't try to mold arbitrary lyrics around a pre-made track. Come in with what you want to write about, and write about it.

    As for sound, in my mind, I'd love the band to re-visit the mentality it had before A Thousand Suns, which is to just stay away from familiar sounds and structures, in terms of the sound - but I don't think they will. I've been so underwhelmed with the band's output from a creative standpoint for the last seven years, and I don't think it's about to change. I respect that they will make what they want to make, but since 2010, all I can think about is how the band had a chance to really sever themselves from the past and challenge listeners - and they just never really did that again.

    But again, the band won't put the same album out twice. They won't stick with this sound for the next one - for sure.
     
  5. #5
    Forfeit to Break

    Forfeit to Break Well-Known Member

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    I agree and hope that whatever the sound is, they stick with this song writing process. Generally the lyrics are a step forward on OML and I like the sincerity, maturity and personal feel to them.

    The sound will be whatever they, or mainly Mike, feel like making at that specific time. There has been a trend though since MTM, taking out THP, with most of their output, including non studio album releases, tending to gravitate towards being electronically driven with mainly pop, folk and hip hop influences at the root of many tracks. I wouldn't be shocked if this continues.
     
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  6. #6
    One More Rob

    One More Rob Well-Known Member

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    I disagree. Both musically and lyrically this is LP at their lowest. The lyrics might be important from but nonetheless feel so "play by numbers" for the most part that its, midly put, brutally annoying.
     
  7. #7
    Halfway Dwight

    Halfway Dwight We are the fortunate ones.

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    While I love OML, I doubt that will happen.

    What I think will happen is that they are going to stick with OML's song writing process of making the lyrics first and then the sound, but I'm sure that it will sound completely different.
     
  8. #8
    LP Soldier 01

    LP Soldier 01 True LP Soldier

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    I find this is one of their best efforts lyrically and this certainly has some of the best singing they have ever done, both Mike and Chester. This record gets more relevance with a heartfelt, genuine song like One More Light, but I donĀ“t think they'll stick to pop considering they disappointed more people this time than they had ever done before and they always like to get into new genres and try new things. Hopefully next album will be as consistent as this one, but the fanbase can accept it much easier.
     
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  9. #9
    Virgocore

    Virgocore Well-Known Member

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    A lot of great points in this thread. Perhaps I was wrong in my assumption, maybe the band is still searching and experimenting, etc. Minutes To Midnight was an album that didn't really have a core ''sound'', IMO, it was basically an album of a bunch of different styles thrown into one, almost like they were looking at where they could go in the future within many different styles. A Thousand Suns basically saw the band throw out conventional song writing, allowing them to just create whatever the hell they wanted, but I feel like it had more of a ''sound'' than Minutes To Midnight did, something about it really brought it all together, maybe partially because it was originally planned to be a concept album. Living Things really was a mash of all of the band's albums that were released before it, like Mike said, I think that was a good way to put it. I do wish they stuck to the folk song vibe a bit more with that album for the final product, but it does show in a few tracks. Then you had The Hunting Party which basically saw the band go for a sound that they never had really done before, going for a heavy sound that was reminiscent of hard rock and metal of the 80's and 90's, but also adding a bit of flavor of A Thousand Suns to it. Then you have the pop style of One More Light, which is something the band has said was always with the band, seeing as how some of their earliest hits like In The End and Numb were pop, etc. This band just never stops changing.
     
  10. #10
    Blackee Dammet

    Blackee Dammet Feminism Is My God Now

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    I don't know if every album will sound exactly like OML but you nailed it with it evidently being their favorite. I'd wager most of their output will sound roughly similar to this mixed with EDM elements, barring the need to "prove something" ala Hunting Party. Mike seems to have dropped hints that he realizes the band as a huge force in the rock world/music in general is over with, and it's time to just do whatever the mood strikes them. The "no core sound" and "surprise genre shifts" aside, I'd put money on this new sound setting the course for the remainder of their output as a band.
     
  11. #11
    minuteforce

    minuteforce Danny's not here, Mrs. Torrance. LPA Team

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    This "'A Thousand Suns' eschewed conventional songwriting" thing is way overblown. Most of the songs, at least half, still obviously follow pop structures and arrangement techniques. Some of them put good twists on those conventions and, yes, some of them are kind of "experimental" and avoid being radio-friendly altogether, but I still think it's massively exaggerated.
     
  12. #12
    Michele

    Michele Praise Brad Delson, our Lord and Savior. LPA Addict

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    If they really want to left the rock sound behind, i doubt that i will follow the band anymore.
     
  13. #13
    Forfeit to Break

    Forfeit to Break Well-Known Member

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    Rock isn't the only genre that can be great. When I was younger I was a lot more narrow minded and would have said the same, but now I realise that it isn't the genre that's important, it's how I connect with a song or if I enjoy it that really matters.

    Now I listen to and appreciate many different genres, being open minded is fun. There are artists I now appreciate that in the past I wouldn't even have given a chance to, just based on my preconceptons of that genre.
     
  14. #14
    LP Soldier 01

    LP Soldier 01 True LP Soldier

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    Back in the 2000s I used to like almost every song I listened to on the radio, most of them without knowing who they were sung by as I was a kid, but artists like LP, Evanescence, Nickelback, Green Day, Hoobastank (a one hit wonder group), The Calling (another one hit wonder), Fort Minor and other acts like Alanis Morisette and Avril Lavigne, those were really good days and music was good regardless of the genre. Some of those kept making good music in the 2010s, not as they used to, with the exception of Avril, who recorded her best song and album in 2011.
     
  15. #15
    Michele

    Michele Praise Brad Delson, our Lord and Savior. LPA Addict

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    I enjoy other genres, i even go to a Gorillaz concert in November. I jusr dont like this poppy sound LP did with OML. They shouldnt stay with this direction, other artists are much better in this. But thats my opinion.
     
  16. #16
    Knt.Slbs

    Knt.Slbs Well-Known Member

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    My bet is that they will continue the OML songwriting but there will be a shift in genre, for sure. I hope they should make full hip-hop album.
     
  17. #17
    LP Soldier 01

    LP Soldier 01 True LP Soldier

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    Full hip-hop would disappoint me, but I like the idea of OML songwriting, that feels so true to them as artists and allows them to convey meaningful messages with their songs. I'd say they are going back to some heavy stuff or at least some electronic rock like LT which suits them very well.
     
  18. #18
    Knt.Slbs

    Knt.Slbs Well-Known Member

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    Just give me folk-vibe rather than the overall LT electronic rock sound. The folk element really stood out for me. If they make more of it in a most "organic way" with audible basslines and less to no electronics. just let organic instruments play. no more samples in the background, it's too annoying.
     
  19. #19
    LP Soldier 01

    LP Soldier 01 True LP Soldier

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    Folk would be great for them as well. I think they could use acoustic guitar much more from now on.
     
  20. #20
    Virgocore

    Virgocore Well-Known Member

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    As much as I think a folk sound would be cool, I don't think the majority of the fanbase would like it at all. It's a mature sounding genre, and a lot of times, the song writing is great in folk style music, but I don't think a lot of Linkin Park fans would understand that. Look how much hate Sharp Edges got, and that's by far the closest thing they have ever done to folk on a main album. Castle Of Glass, Roads Untraveled, Devil's Drop and Three Band Terror all come to mind as well, but the folk-ness was kind of buried in Castle Of Glass and Roads Untraveled with other genres, and the other two weren't even on a main album. An entire album in that style would really divide the fanbase a lot, but it's clear that the band enjoys the folk genre, as they've been interested in it since 2011 when they started making Living Things, possibly even before that with stuff like The Messenger on A Thousand Suns. I also don't think that the band themselves would fully be comfortable putting out an entire folk style album yet, maybe years down the line, they would. Sadly, I see another pop album or two for the next releases, maybe a hip-hop influenced album, but I simply don't see the band doing a genre outside of those.
     

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