I was of that mind as well - I think most artists these days would probably be just fine with people illegally downloading music. With that said, I would be very interested to see if Linkin Park tried the Radiohead experiment and had people buy future albums at their own select price.
If they're going to do that, they may as well just release it for free instead. I'm of the opinion that the band should control the price, one way or the other.
I really wanted LP to make another live appearance at the VMAs, but sadly their Carnivores tour date in Canada means they can't show up. Maybe that's why they got the band for the Fandom Awards.
So many people say "all of my friends hate Linkin Park" or "LP gets a lot of hate where I live". So, why? Why do so many people hate the band?
Because they are successfull with NO "NUW METALZ" or HT2 or something. Many people complain about the new albums (4 v 5). Maybe because of that. Dont know
They saw incredible success at a time when nu-metal was a big thing, so people now associate them (rightly, I guess) with something that they might be embarrassed to have liked. Linkin Park always been very "mainstream" - even now that they're a little out of the limelight, that won't ever really fade. Basically, for many, they're a relic of the past and have long overstayed their welcome. Secondly, upon their arrival, Linkin Park were criticised for sounding too polished and clean. They continue to be criticised for simple instrumentation, specifically with regards to drums, bass and gtr. Next, their seemingly drastic changes in direction with each album mean that those same people (and basically everyone else) don't like that the band hasn't continued to do the same thing over and over and over again. "A Thousand Suns" was criticised by some who said that the band didn't have the abilities to match their ambition. Lastly, all the "Transformers" stuff. All of this means that, if you need one, it's easy to find a reason to dislike Linkin Park. EDIT: oh, yeah, and they make ~RAWK~ music too
I think there's more to it than that. A lot of the people who probably knew the band when they had released Hybrid Theory and Meteora have probably since grown up - as have their music tastes. The truth is, when we're thinking about what people might call more "sophisticated" music, Linkin Park isn't one of the bands that comes to mind first. The first two records were not "sophisticated" records - the music was very angsty, very suited for emotional adolescents. I mean, "I wanna runaway, never say goodbye" is obviously not really...I dno, mature? So a lot of people hate them primarily for that reason - they remember them as a really immature band - people lost interest after Minutes to Midnight either because it wasn't the same or because by that time they were listening to other, more engaging things. Before they could even release A Thousand Suns, people completely disregarded the band. It's not as if the singles released off of Minutes to Midnight were spectacular. That album was such a miniature departure from prior efforts, and the singles were indicative of the same story - immature lyrics, nothing different from what was already out there, etc. And so people just got sick of them, I think. A lot of people didn't wait around for A Thousand Suns, and a lot of the fans who did were very alienated by it. That's why there is this huge rift in the fanbase between fans who like the band pre-ATS and the fans who really loved ATS. As a result, you have a lot of people who either got sick of the band before they could really get into them, or were alienated because the band wasn't doing what people fell in love with in the first place. Basically, people either matured and moved on to other tastes, or perhaps (and I mean no disrespect by this) didn't necessarily grow up and away from the original sound. I think on top of what Tony already suggested, these were really the primary reasons. I think a lot of it is timing, if you ask me.
Or how about how there past 2 1/2 albums were mediocre at best. The past 3 albums had moments where they shined. The biggest problem these albums have are that they don't have any lasting appeal. You can't listen to the albums all the way through after taking a greatly enormous hiatus from the band. They try too hard to be different and something they're not. So when you listen to the music it will sound good, but nothing impactful or important spews off the past 2 albums. Even M2M seemed a bit forced. Hell some of Meteora is forced, but doesn't stray too far off from the heart of the band. Meteora lost the raw grittiness in the LP sound. The band lost their aggressiveness and went soft trying to change with the scene with M2M. You can't do that because now you're not you, and you're no longer real. LP is my favorite band of all time, but I must say Hybrid Theory EP and Hybrid Theory are their only true albums. These albums are LP at it's core. Before they gave a fuck. THP feels closer to the beginning because at times you can feel the heart.
Louis, I strongly disagree in that Minutes to Midnight was a miniature departure and that it had immature lyrics.
And that's fine. However, I was largely quoting Mike - who himself said that Minutes to Midnight was a small departure from the band's previous work. I would say that a lot of the album wasn't very strong lyrically, but I can agree that some of the songs were definitely very strong lyrically (e.g. "The Little Things Give You Away"). I was speaking more in turn about the singles that were released - I should have clarified that.