"Session" - Song by Song, Let's Talk Linkin Park

Discussion in 'Linkin Park Chat' started by hawk, Jul 2, 2014.

  1. minuteforce

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

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    I don't remember if it specifically says that they didn't alter the lyrics that Chester wrote

    This is something that, in hindsight, they should have done more often, I think :)
     
  2. brady

    brady I am the LPA LPA Super Member

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    This is the exact reason why I love this song so much. I had such a strong connection with this song when I went through depression a couple of years ago. If there was ever a time when I felt like absolute shit or had such a shitty day, this was one of those songs I played a lot during those times. It's interesting instrumental and song structure, along with it's pretty well done vocal performance from Chester and Mike still keep me interested in this song today. Still one of my favorites by Linkin Park, and definitely one of the best from that era.
     
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  3. Rivendare

    Rivendare Well-Known Member

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    "Easier to Run" connects with me on a lot of levels. It's the most unique sounding song on Meteora if you ask me. One of my favorites
     
  4. The Joesen One

    The Joesen One Fun-employed LPA Super Member

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    "Easier to Run", for me, is a good song, but it suffers from what Meteora as a whole is: great musically, but whiny lyrically. I like the chorus and the outro, though.
     
  5. Filip

    Filip god break down the door LPA Contributor

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    Heh, I haven't heard this song in a while.

    I think it's a good song. I love the finger picking in the beginning, along with the bass, but when the guitars kick in everything just becomes a muddy mix. The lyrics are standard for back-then-LP, and so is the structure. The bass + synth combo in the verses is great. What I like about the song is that the second verse goes into the breakdown, then into the chorus. It's nothing drastic, yet adds a bit of nice variety. All in all, a good song. Hate how Faint begins towards the end of it. Always gotta listen to Faint next.
     
  6. Tyler

    Tyler Well-Known Member

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    Easier To Run is one of my favorites of their non-hits/singles. I wish I'd heard of it sooner when i began to listen to them. Meteora was actually the last album that i listened to front to back. I didn't notice the drums until it was mentioned here either.

    The lyrics are actually better than you guys are making them out to be, just because it is on Meteora doesn't mean it has bad lyrics. I like them and the delivery.

    My favorite part is the bridge after the second verse, the altered structure is something nice that they should use more frequently. And after that, when it goes back to the chorus, the swooping noise that brings it back really gets me. The synth strings on the final chorus are a great layer to add to the ending.

    Great and overlooked song in my opinion.
     
  7. minuteforce

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

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    I'm gonna start deleting posts that try to tell us how to run this thread. :disgust: Right now. Frankly, you're lucky that I didn't just skip this next one altogether just out of spite.

    Anyway, we're onto "Faint" now! For real this time.


    This song was one of the very first we ever heard from "Meteora", I believe, and it eventually became the second single taken from the album. Shinoda told us a little bit about how the song came about when he did a track-by-track description of "Meteora" in 2003 for Shoutweb, revealing that Delson originally had a demo that was half as fast as the final song ended up being.

    In contrast to "Easier To Run", which is the slowest song on the album, "Faint" features one of the faster beats on the album, displaying breakbeat-inspired rhythms, calm-before-the-storm rhyming by Shinoda and an explosive chorus and bridge delivered by Chester Bennington. One of the most distinctive elements of the song is the shrill string part which plays during the intro and the verses, reportedly played live in the studio - musicians are credited for the part, though I believe Astat says that, ultimately, they didn't play on the recording. Linkin Park's official website once featured a Q&A section where the inclusion of strings for the song was discussed:

    The music video for "Faint" was the first Linkin Park video in a while that wasn't directed or even suggested by band member and in-house director Joe Hahn - instead, the band received and accepted a treatment from well-known film director Mark Romanek and chose him to direct the video. The video features the band performing in front of a crowd which is made up of about a thousand lucky Linkin Park Underground members who stood around waiting outside the film set for many hours and, then, once inside, probably waited just as long in-between each take.

    Romanek's treatment for the video was, for a while, available to read on his website.

    Alongside the video itself, Linkin Park held a sort of online scavenger hunt to reveal short videos documenting the video shoot.


    In 2004, a mash-up of "Faint" and Jay-Z's "Jigga What, Jigga Who" was created as part of Linkin Park and Jay-Z's collaborative EP "Collision Course", requiring the latter to rap the already-fast verses at an even faster pace. A few years later, a demo version of "Faint" was released on the ninth annual LP Underground fan-club CD. This version shows off the breakbeat/glitch elements more prominently in the intro, and we also get to hear completely different lyrics in the rap verses. It lacks the chord progression heard in the final song; the bassline follows the main guitar part instead.

    Being such an energetic song, "Faint" is a fan-favourite live, arguably the only one off "Meteora", and has been played live regularly since "Meteora"'s release. During the 2004 "Meteora" world tour, fans were often invited on-stage to play Delson's guitar part with the rest of the band.
     
  8. Abel

    Abel Chester Bennington saved my life.

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    "Faint" was basically one of my gateway Linkin Park songs that led me to the band. I first listened to it when I was probably 10-11, and listening to it at that age: The aggressiveness was awesome, the instrumentation was catchy to hum along to, the lyrics were easy to learn and they, too, were extremely catchy, and it definitely still resonates with me up to this day. My only gripes with the song were that it was too short (I was picky when it came to song lengths back then) and I had no idea if Chester was saying "faint" or "feel" in the chorus. :lol: But I felt like a cool kid for knowing "Faint" back then.

    Now that I'm older, I still love the song, and I don't mind the song length now. Definitely one of the best LP songs and one of my favorite songs from the band. The lyrics could be a little better (the "feel" syndrome is prevalent, and that Cleveland kid is definitely there), but everything else about it is nostalgic.
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2014
  9. polleo

    polleo You're gonna carry that weight. LPA Super Member

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    I find Mike's lyrics on this song to be a little cringe-worthy to be honest.
     
  10. Wasabi GOD

    Wasabi GOD Praise Brad Delson, our Lord and Savior. LPA Addict

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    One of the first songs i ever listened too by LP and i love it today. So much energy and that intro: AMAZING. One of my favorites, also the lyrics related sometimes good to my situation. too good. :lol:
     
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  11. Tocaraca

    Tocaraca A part of me screams away silently

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    'I can't faint'? I don't understand these lyrics here.
    Anyway, the song is amazing, one of my Meteora favourites. I don't understand what everybody has against Mike's lyrics, the fact that it seems to make you all cringe is stupid. I suppose lyrics mean different things to 12 year olds than older critics.
     
  12. lime treacle

    lime treacle Über Member Über Member

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    This song is such a rocker. It's perfect, really.
     
  13. polleo

    polleo You're gonna carry that weight. LPA Super Member

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    I don't think there's a 'faint' in the song.
     
  14. Filip

    Filip god break down the door LPA Contributor

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    I can't feel
    The way I did before
    Don't turn your back on me
    I won't be ignored
     
  15. minuteforce

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

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    Shinoda actually says this in the Shoutweb article (as archived by Mike Shinoda Clan):

     
  16. Filip

    Filip god break down the door LPA Contributor

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    I just love how fast this song is. From the beginning it hits hard. Mike does a rap that's... better than most others on Meteora, and then it kicks into that epic chorus. The strings in this track are mental. Through the verses especially. What I always liked about the chorus is how fast he delivers it, yet it's so melodical. I'm actually gonna praise what Brad did on this song, it's insanely fun to listen to it. If I ever go to a Linkin Park show, I sure hope this track gets played, guaranteed it'll get me going insane.

    Also, there's a vent in my school that cools one hallway, and it constantly keeps making the sound almost identical to the one at the beginning of ''Faint''. You can hear it when you walk below it. I often go to the school bathroom, pass below it, and damn, then the entire Faint plays in my head. But I like it. :lol:

    EDIT: Shit, I forgot. I do not like the bridge on this track. Chester just sounds too damn raspy and distorted. I just don't like it. He almost sounds nauseated.
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2014
  17. Atticus

    Atticus Bullets lance the bravest lungs

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    Because 12 year olds are essentially the exact demographic Meteora is geared towards...

    Anyways, Faint is a brilliant, high-octane rocker from beginning to end. The guitar riff might as well be injected into my veins as once I listen to the song it takes DAYS to get that riff out of my head. The strings bring an unconventional element to the otherwise straightforward nu-metal anthem, delivering equally on building emotion and tension. Shinoda's lyrics aren't the greatest in the world, but they serve the job of keeping the energy flowing between the colossal choruses.

    Clearly the standout performance on Faint is Bennington, who delivers a throat-crushingly aggressive performance. In no songs before and in very few songs since has he been able to come close to that vocal brutality. The bridge is just insane, with Bennington pumping the screams up to eleven in a moment of pure aggressive bliss. It's a performance that just can't be reproduced by any other vocalist in the world.

    On stage, this song melts face. Whoever came up with the brilliant idea of an extended guitar solo outro to Faint cannot be praised enough. Although the solo is technically flawed and lacking in showmanship, the entire moment is just utter madness, and one of the heaviest pieces of Linkin Park's entire live history IMO. Especially in 2007 when Bennington sounded absolutely demonic in the outro (check out Auburn '07 recordings and of course Rock Am Ring '07). It's a shame the entire band kind of just goes through the motions in this outro now as back when it was fresh and exciting, it was easily the best part of their entire set. It's also a disappointment how Bennington has totally abandoned screaming "I won't be ignored!" on the bridge. As Faint's climax, it deserves all the aggression that can be possibly mustered, but instead the crowd is relied upon to shout it.

    Overall, Faint is one of the few reasons that Meteora feels more different form Hybrid Theory than most people tend to give credit for. I for one absolutely consider Faint to be a sharp and focused evolution of the nu-metal sound seen on Hybrid Theory. It's just a shame that most of the rest of the album fails to impress.
     
  18. BIBBLE

    BIBBLE Well-Known Member

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    Faint, one of my favourite LP songs ever. So much energy, so fast, so catchy, just everything about this song kicks ass gets me right pumped up.
     
  19. BTorio

    BTorio Well-Known Member

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    One of my first LP songs, one of teh first songs that I enjoyed screaming on. To this day I get pumped when the drums kick in. The guitar riff is one of my favorites, the rap is great, the chorus hits hard, and the bridge is insane. If there was a studio version with the extended outro (the best extended outro they've ever done by far), it might be my favorite LP song of all time behind ITE.
     
  20. Andreina

    Andreina Proud Venezuelan LP fan. LPA Contributor

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    Me neither, but I haven't found nothing that specifically says they did, so, we're back on square one :lol:.

    And yes, that was a pretty nice touch.
    -------

    As for Faint, I simply love the song, it stood out so much from everything else back then, the string-y intro synth is just trademark at this point and a classic. The video was also different, not many times we see some artist make a music video with their backs towards the camera 3/4 of the song, the color, backlight, the setting that we see when they're frontfacing and the energy the band displays are a great touch from Mark Romanek, it's one of the best LP videos for me.

    As for the song itself, the main riff sticks to my head, love the speed of the delivery and the chorus has that vocal strength I cited earlier when talking about ETR, the bridge is one of my all time favorites for an LP song especially for the guitar, short-simple riff but it clicks really well with the screamed vocals and the drums. Also this is one of the songs that has two different layers of guitar and I think LP do that really well, it gives a bit more depth to the instrumentation of the songs despite their simplicity. Also, it's one of the songs that they really did well during the Meteora cycle, the best pro-shot performances are from there and LIT's is simply perfect.
     

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