WaK Generic?

Discussion in 'Linkin Park Chat' started by iPhantom, Jun 27, 2012.

  1. #1
    iPhantom

    iPhantom Banned

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    I read somewhere that A Thousand Suns was filled with songs with odd structures for Linkin Park with exception of Wretches And Kings. How is this song structure generic, especially for Linkin Park?


    The structure of the song is: Intro Speech/V1/CH/V2/CH/ALT CH/Extended Speech/Outro
     
  2. #2
    Blake

    Blake Leave a Trace LPA Super Member

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    I personally don't find it generic at all. I love the song. Top 3 on ATS for me
     
  3. #3
    Erica

    Erica Meh LPA Über VIP

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    The structure does kind of fit the whole radio structure thing, but considering Tue rest of the album is so far from it it doesn't really bother me
     
  4. #4
    Andreina

    Andreina Proud Venezuelan LP fan. LPA Contributor

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    I call BS on that, Iridescent is one of the closest to generic structures on ATS to me, more than W&K.
     
  5. #5
    Blake

    Blake Leave a Trace LPA Super Member

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    :ditto:
     
  6. #6
    Atticus

    Atticus Bullets lance the bravest lungs

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    Because it follows a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge structure just like any other generic song, minus the obvious final chorus replaced by a speech. The speeches add nothing to the song. Actually, I'd probably enjoy Wretches And Kings a hell of a lot more without the speeches. Save them for another interlude.
     
  7. #7
    StaticOnTheWay

    StaticOnTheWay Makin' you all say "woah"

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    Compared to some other songs on ATS, it is rather formulaic. However, I still think it's one of the better songs on the album regardless.
     
  8. #8
    Brandon

    Brandon I was Ree's 100th follower on Twitter.

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    The intro speech doesn't deserve to be counted as part of the structure. And I don't think the fact that the second chorus is repeated twice makes it very special either.

    V/C/V/C/Bridge/Outro

    The only thing weird about it is that the bridge and the ending kind of flow together in a weird breakdown/scratch solo. But that's about it.
     
  9. #9
    Ben

    Ben Well-Known Member

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    Same here. If the last speech segment were replaced by either another rap verse or a final chorus, the song would've been so much better.
     
  10. #10
    minuteforce

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

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    Most of the tracks on that album which are longer than two minutes follow a "generic" pop structure. The only one that clearly doesn't is "Robot Boy"; aside from that one, all of them feature verse/chorus/verse/chorus. They feel "odd" because people are, like, "it doesn't sound like something from 'Hybrid Theory', so the structure must be different!"
     
  11. #11
    iPhantom

    iPhantom Banned

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    V/C/V/C/B?

    There is a rap verse, a chorus, a rap verse, a chorus, an alternate chorus (different lyrics), a bridge, then an outro meaning that chorus doesn't return. If you call that generic, then maybe I need to read more about music! Haha
     
  12. #12
    Atticus

    Atticus Bullets lance the bravest lungs

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    This. So many songs in A Thousand Suns are too overrated for their apparent "experimentation". In reality, there's only 4 songs that truly dive into uncharted waters: When They Come For Me, Robot Boy, Blackout, and The Catalyst. Compare that to the 4 songs from Living Things that sound unique (Castle of Glass, Roads Untraveled, Skin to Bone, Until It Breaks) and suddenly the albums aren't too different in terms of originality apart from some interludes.

    Apart from the lack of a final chorus, it's structured like any other Linkin Park song. Different lyrics in a chorus doesn't change the structure, but it certainly adds flavour. The second speech masks the fact that it's still almost completely the same structure by replacing the final chorus.
     
  13. #13
    Rocky

    Rocky Well-Known Member

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    Skin to Bone and Roads Untraveled aren't unique at all.
     
  14. #14
    Filip

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    Skin to Bone is electro folk, that's pretty unique in popular music today.
     
  15. #15
    Atticus

    Atticus Bullets lance the bravest lungs

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    Let's see, Roads Untraveled: Verse/Chorus/Breakdown/Half-Verse/Chorus. Nope, not unique at all... :face palm:

    And it's questionable to even consider those chorus's at all. Is the breakdown a part of the chorus? The vocals come back before Chester's solo verse so is that considered a mini-chorus? It's impossible to classify. Even cutting it down completely we're left with the anomaly that is:

    Verse/Chorus/Half-Verse/Chorus. That's definitely unique.

    Skin To Bone speaks for itself.
     
  16. #16
    Rocky

    Rocky Well-Known Member

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    Dude...it's not a pop song. Not everything that isn't pop is unique. It's been done before. Same with Skin to Bone, musically.

    I'm just saying this album isn't as unique as ATS.
     
  17. #17
    Hybrid

    Hybrid Has gone Rogue. LPA Team

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    Most people have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to ATS.
     
  18. #18
    Moridin

    Moridin Death Contagious Deity

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    But that's just saying "except for the different parts it isn't different". The bridge flowing into the speech and then scratch solo makes the overall structure different from stereotypical LP.

    Not really, no. Even the more straighforward songs on ATS are doing something more within that structure.

    It's not uniform "this is the verse music, this is the chorus music & they'll be identical on each pass". There's development, elements being added through each section of the song, building the song as it progresses.

    I'll get a little more detailed tomorrow if you want, but right now I need sleep.

    Don't confuse my praise of ATS's song structures to mean I think it's the most experimental & best thing I've ever heard. Though I do consider it by far their best, I own weirder/more experimental albums, & ATS barely cracks my top 20.

    This is pretty much all in the context of LP's catalog, &, to a lesser degree, pop music in general. At least when I go on about it. It's a major point & peeve of mine when it comes to LP that they had previously abused and over-used a formula (& lyrical themes) as much as they had in such a short time. So when they took a deliberate step away from the over-used formula that, to me, is a big plus and talking point -even if some songs aren't that far away from the previous formula - even if, in the grand scheme of things, it's not that out there.

    Literally no other band or artist I listen to has ever tied themselves so tightly to a particular formula, and that just makes it stand out so much more with LP. Even a slight step away is very noticable.
     
    Last edited: Jul 1, 2012
  19. #19
    Atticus

    Atticus Bullets lance the bravest lungs

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    When did I say it's a pop song? The way you're arguing, the only song that should legitimately be considered "unique" that Linkin Park has ever made is probably The Catalyst. Every single other one of their songs can be considered "done before" in a general manner.

    The fact of the matter is that Linkin Park has never had a structure like this before. Of course it's not unique to the rest of the world. It's obviously heavily influenced by folk material. Is it unique to the rest of their discography? Hell yes it is.
     
  20. #20
    Louis

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

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    "Wretches and Kings" is one of the few songs with a clear verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge structure on ATS, but at the same time the idea is that the song closes off on the bridge and doesn't return to a chorus, and instead closes with a full excerpt from Savio and the turntable breakdown. I mean, a lot of these songs might have some form of generic structure, but there's always that one thing that changes it up. I mean, "When They Come For Me" has a generic structure, but it's just that the chorus doesn't have any words apart from Mike's "Try to catch up" bit. "Waiting for the End" is also relatively generic as well, but I think it's the placement of Mike's verses that throw off the rhythm of that structure.

    If we're talking about a song that really broke typical structural bounds, there were two of those on ATS: "Robot Boy" and "The Catalyst." Everything else wasn't that crazy - it was just different enough to be like, "Whoa, that doesn't sound normal."
     

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