What do you think of Linkin Park?

[Somethingawful]

As far as rock bands go, IMO they're the most MUSICALLY sound out there.  There chord progressions and patterns are solid and catchy.  Take a good listen to Numb if you don't believe me.  That btw was the best song LP have ever made and for good reason too.

I strongly disagree. Listen to that song again. Forget the angsty lyrics for a second and realise that musically there isn't really much going on. They stuck a cheesy sample beneath the rapper's street poetry and strummed a chord several times. Heart-wrenchingly beautiful stuff, guys. We move onto the chorus and it sounds almost just like "Crawling" which is good if you're a depressive teenager because those distorted chord sequences totally say exactly what you're thinking after an argument with your little sister over the last Snickers bar. But imagine for a second what would happen if you took away that heavy feedback and replaced it with a synth; why smack-bang, you've got yourself some boyband music! And half the time with Linkin Park, the backing music is light and tinkly enough to sound EXACTLY like a Backstreet Boys ballad until the loud guitars come in during the chorus! Then there's the rapper MC Mike Shinoda, who recites every single word in the exact same tone of voice on the same note at the same volume. He's an earnest fellow, but perhaps his deep freestyles would resonate more if he skipped the rapping and tried something else, because over here in hardcore whiteboy RAWKland, Mike is boring morning noon and night.

Most musically sound rock band, you say? I'll assume you're talking about the rock bands of today, in which case I must disagree in favour of the Mars Volta and possibly Radiohead. Sure, they both take elements from older groups (in this case King Crimson and Pink Floyd respectively although I may be wrong) but they're still interesting. Linkin Park, on the other hand, are basically a dumbed down version of Faith No More.

Oh, almost forgot. The above is entirely my opinion, so I'm not trying to murder your favourite band, nor do I hate any of its fans. Except the stuff about LP's musical ability - a quick bit of research will show just how limited their songwriting is and how painfully obvious their chords are. Nah, just kidding! If you like half-buttocked rockpop with no guitar solos or other musical merit then that's fine by me! And him!                    

[Xen_spartan-117]

that is true...most of linkin parks beats are just simple re-done beats from their underground tracks like "part of me"
and "carousel"but none the less they are an O.K band and they should overall be respected as a unique band...because it was a mixed with many things and people thought it wouldnt work,however LP has ended up what it is today.....rich lol

but no song is dreader than  "lying from you"                    

[ODC]

Now this has gotten interesting, your oppinions seem to be well thought through and I do give them merit, there is truth in your fact, but creativity reigns supreme for me life and while LP may not be as great a band as their predecessors I still love their music because it appeals to me.                    

[Kayode]

Why is this locked?                    

[ODC]

I didn't lock it                    

[Imperial_X]

As far as rock bands go, IMO they're the most MUSICALLY sound out there.  There chord progressions and patterns are solid and catchy.  Take a good listen to Numb if you don't believe me.  That btw was the best song LP have ever made and for good reason too.

I strongly disagree. Listen to that song again. Forget the angsty lyrics for a second and realise that musically there isn't really much going on. They stuck a cheesy sample beneath the rapper's street poetry and strummed a chord several times. Heart-wrenchingly beautiful stuff, guys. We move onto the chorus and it sounds almost just like "Crawling" which is good if you're a depressive teenager because those distorted chord sequences totally say exactly what you're thinking after an argument with your little sister over the last Snickers bar. But imagine for a second what would happen if you took away that heavy feedback and replaced it with a synth; why smack-bang, you've got yourself some boyband music! And half the time with Linkin Park, the backing music is light and tinkly enough to sound EXACTLY like a Backstreet Boys ballad until the loud guitars come in during the chorus! Then there's the rapper MC Mike Shinoda, who recites every single word in the exact same tone of voice on the same note at the same volume. He's an earnest fellow, but perhaps his deep freestyles would resonate more if he skipped the rapping and tried something else, becuase over here in hardcore whiteboy RAWKland, Mike is boring morning noon and night.

Most musically sound rock band, you say? I'll assume you're talking about the rock bands of today, in which case I must disagree in favour of the Mars Volta and possibly Radiohead. Sure, they both take elements from older groups (in this case King Crimson and Pink Floyd respectively although I may be wrong) but they're still interesting. Linkin Park, on the other hand, are basically a dumbed down version of Faith No More.

Oh, almost forgot. The above is entirely my opinion, so I'm not trying to murder your favourite band, nor do I hate any of its fans. Except the stuff about LP's musical ability - a quick bit of research will show just how limited their songwriting is and how painfully obvious their chords are. Nah, just kidding! If you like half-buttocked rockpop with no guitar solos or other musical merit then that's fine by me! And him!

Why on earth does this person sound like Crixx?  Nah, it couldn't be him.  

Anyway, I was talking about today's rock scene.  Hey, if the music is as awful as you say, then why is it so popular then?  That isn't even an opinion here.  Look at the sales figures from album sales for proof.  I'm not even going to get into what's good about the music but I'll just say this for now.  The background patterns were meant to be catchy, that's why they're so predictable.                    

[Somethingawful]

Hey, if the music is as awful as you say, then why is it so popular then?  That isn't even an opinion here.  Look at the sales figures from album sales for proof.

Linkin Park reach two sides of the market: their music is light and poppy enough for casual listeners (ie: those who heard Crawling and In The End) but still loud and angry enough to bring in the "labels" crowd (kids love One Step Closer). This explains why sales figures are so high - because the music is designed to earn money. And I don't care if the band love their fans or not - being rich and famous is different from being a good songwriter, so whether they enjoy signing autographs or not doesn't come into it.

I'm not even going to get into what's good about the music but I'll just say this for now.  The background patterns were meant to be catchy, that's why they're so predictable.

But every song sounds the goddamn same. It's all very well being catchy, but recycling the same chorus over and over? You call it "predictability" and I opt for "laziness". Try this - take the chorus of Numb and sing/shout Crawling's equivalent over it (obviously at a faster tempo). Now don't tell me there isn't a case of discreet rewriting going on here. Other tracks to try this with include Pushing Me Away and From The Inside, but practice enough and you can pull this neat trick off on any LP song! (except perhaps Breaking The Habit, a boyband song)

Catchiness is no excuse for unoriginality, Larry. I learnt that one day while fishing HAHAHAHHAhahaahHAHAHhahahAHAHAHAH sorry that wasn't funny. Gary Numan was catchy, but by JOVE he was original too! It's a shame he was sort of responsible for all that New Romantic crap. But forget him. What I'm trying to get across here is that Linkin Park are cheapskates. They stick a few power chords together, then get good old Andy Wallace to cover up their lack of talent with some clever production gimmicks. I saw Linkin Park on MTV2 once and without Andy's fancy gizmos nothing could save them from flopping. No creativity or effort to rectify the flaws in their music was put in while playing, and the ending result sounded like one of those amateur bands that used to play at your college. They should've got Brian Eno to play keyboards so that we'd have a Roxy Music Pt. 2! Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeem- BUM (DO DE DE DO DE DO DA DUM!) x4.

Sorry, but I love synths. Just not when they're being used to patch up Lincoln Park's noise. And for the most part, Roxy Music turned into complete poo when Eno left, didn't they? But that early stuff - hoooeeee! Forget Dance Away. Why the hell would you want to "dance away the heartaches"? Wouldn't that just make them worse?

EDIT: Oh, and didn't Linkin Park win a Grammy somewhere along the line? We all know how reliable those are.                    

[Imperial_X]

One thing is certain.  People aren't PAID to like the music.  It's either good or it's not.  Of course any idiot could realise that some of the songs were redone with different pharasing, keys etc.  They had a formula in Hybrid Theory that worked, why should they veer far from that they probably thought.  I never mentioned anything about signing autographs and all that other "We love our fans" bullsh!t.  

As I said before, people aren't paid to like it.  They have a target audience and from the looks of things, it appeases this audience with what they have done so far.  And seriously, the use of the term "boyband" is really inane.  Music is music.  I thought that breaking the habit was a nice change of pace from the angsty mood of the other songs.                    

[Kayode]

Good musicians win Grammies.
Weak musicians win Grammies.

Good musicians sell millions of records.
Weak musicians sell millions of records.



Arguing over opinions about music is useless.

I'm beginning to understand why this thread was locked.                    

[Reaper2051]

I like a few songs from them lke Numb and In the End                    

[Somethingawful]

As I said before, people aren't paid to like it.  They have a target audience and from the looks of things, it appeases this audience with what they have done so far.

But why are they aiming for that audience? Can't they just sit back and try to write music for the fun of it? Sure, making money is a hoot (even the Beatles wanted to get filthy rich) but recording music to satisfy a particular group of people puts a lot of pressure on their creativity.

You might think I hate this kind of music from these misanthropic comments, but that's not the case at all. Faith No More fit into a similar pigeonhole and still manage to sound interesting. Linkin Park rewrite the same song over and over and over again, with a boring rap verse and anthemic sung chorus. Faith No More did that too at times, but the results were stunning. Check out the song "Midlife Crisis" if you can. That's Linkin Park done RIGHT. Linkin Park have yet to play a guitar solo. That's Faith No More done WRONG.

Here's the deal with Linkin Park in general: BOMBASTIC ANGST. I was a teenager once and holy CRAP did I feel angst. Being a teenager sucks because your hormones are running wild, you're interested in girls, you're lonely, your parents don't understand you and Linkin Park's loud obvious choruses like "I wanna run away! I wanna know the truth! I wanna know the answers! I wanna shut the door and open up my mind!" totally say exactly what you're thinking. Even though they're all in their mid-20s and complete morons. But hey - they're morons making a lot more money than I am! Presumably, anyway. I shouldn't make assumptions.

Back to Faith No More, who were doing rap-rock way back in the late 1980's, a time during which bandwagon jumping bands like Warrant ruled the universe. The only difference between FNM and nu metal bands of today is that FNM were actually good. Virtuostic guitar solos from Jim Martin, harmonic keyboards featuring Roddy Bottum, rapping with lyrics that ACTUALLY MADE SENSE, and great singing courtesy of Mike Patton.

So all you ignoramuses out there who say that "Linkin Park rules because they are so talented and original," (in the words of Judas Priest) you've got another thing coming.

(the above is an opinion, so I'm safe from flames)

And here's another post from Mr Imperial X!                    

[cereal_killer]

is my favourite band of all time