It is sad Joe and Mike have been pushed to the side with the band's new sound. They were primarily the hip-hop element of the band and with a lot of that gone, there's not a whole lot for them to do. It does make watching them live quite funny though, cause Joe just stands there doing his head-bopping thing and nothing else for very long periods of time.
He said in an interview years ago, that half of what he does already was head banging. I think he's fine with it.
It's not that they've been pushed to the side... Mike co-produced the album, which is a chore all in it's own. And Joe still provided the samples and some beats, so it's not like they were 'stripped of their duties' so to speak. They all compiled tracks, and all decided on what songs made the album, so it's not like they lacked the input, either. It was a decision made by the band as a whole, so if they're happy, we should be as well.
Please don't keep Rubin...lol I mean it's great that he has produced so many great records in the past, but I don't get what everyone sees in Rick thats so great in contribution to Lp's sound, Don was much better for Lp's style. I'm not saying go back to Don, but please don't choose Rubin again.
Scratching is not all that Joe does! He is hugely prominet on this album. Wake includes many synthy Joe things at the beginning section. LOATR is almost all Joe. SOTD is almost all Joe except for the solos at the end. What I've Done includes scratching. No More Sorrow has some synth drums in the intro. In Between is all Joe. In Pieces includes scratching and a very prominent hip hop beat and TLTGYA includes a very promintent hip hop beat. He is still a massive, massive part of this album. Only Given Up, The two rap songs and Valentine's Day include no Joe influences, and even some of them include backing tracks that Joe would have to play live.
I miss a lot of Joe's more prominent work. He no longer has his own song or any scratch solos. Ultimately I guess he probably did not have a huge say in it...like from that interview by LPA (which was tight as shit btw), he apparently did a lot of scratching but it ended up being "muted out". Perhaps it was necessary. At least hes directing cool videos still? As for the amount of work he does on stage and what not with the new album and songs...well according to what I have heard from certain people I know, he gets paid the least out of the 6 members. I guess he doesn't mind due to that...besides, he has SURU keeping him busy now lol. Hopefully he will make his return next time!!!
Maybe Joe will have something on LPU 7. As for Rubin, I'm not a big fan. They just picked him up for his big name and I think, even though the album was pretty good, it could have been better. Look for Mike to produce the next album by himself.
Joe Hahn is actually the only musician playing anything at the beginning of The Little Things Give You Away, until the acoustic guitar comes in. He's not scratching much, but he's still heavily involved.
Joe is in Valentine's Day, he plays those sounds of wind blowin gin the beginning 20 seconds. He is not in Bleed It Out but plays the piano bit live, all the songs that he isn't on like Hands Held High, he'll just play the string parts on them. But he won't do anything in only Given Up when they play it live
yeah there's definitely scratching on the beginning of LTGYA, and that beat is held through the whole song..but i agree. just cause theres less scratching doesnt mean he's not doing somthing. the album as a whole is veryyyy electronic besides one or two songs if you really think about it.
Actually, If you listen carefully he is in Shadow Of The Day, Leave Out All The Rest, Wake, Valentine's day and he does scratching in What I've Done, In Pieces, and The Little Things Give You Away.
In Between only has Joe playing doesn't it. Maybe Phoenix recorded the cell part or someone else did but it not being played but looped. So i suppose it''s kind of a solo Hahn track
I miss Joe in this album! Sth funny about it(from www.linkinpark.com) by Mike Shinoda: http://forums.linkinpark.com/showthread.php?t=1276
you guys keep on blaming Rick Rubin for the absence of Joe but its not entirely his fault i mean what Rick Rubin did was throw suggestions at Linkin Park he probably didnt command them to do something they wanted to change what they had accomplished and maybe Joe wanted to try something new instead of the traditional scratching pieces
Rick Rubin didn't ruin the new record. Like lpkornfan22 said, he didn't make them change, it's something that the band did themselves.