Track-By-Track Analysis in Kerrang!

Discussion in 'News' started by Mark, Apr 4, 2007.

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  1. #1
    Mark

    Mark Canadian Beauty LPA Administrator

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    In the newest issue of Kerrang!, Linkin Park sits down to discuss 'Minutes To Midnight' track-by-track:

    Wake
    Mike: This is an intro track that starts the album - you can hear a needle going down on a record and I think it sets a tone for what's to come.

    Given Up
    Brad: We had a really bad song called 'Fire in the City' - the chorus actually had the words 'fire in the city' on it! Mike was the only person who liked it. Rather than just scrap the song, we mined it for any good parts.
    Mike: It felt like Brad stole my car and ripped out the stereo!
    Brad: I took the bassline and the drums and built weird sounds around it, which eventually became this song. Chester's screaming: 'What the [expletive] is wrong with me? Put me out of my [expletive] misery!' so without explaining exactly what the song is about, it's pretty clear he's not happy.

    Leave Out All The Rest
    Chester: We Knew this was going to be a single from the very beginning, so we worked really hard on making sure it had some great lyrics. I'm singing 'Pretending someone else can save me from myself' during it because it's supposed to feel like an apology letter, as though I'm moving on but I want people to remember the good things and not the bad things. A lot of the song is about humility.

    Bleed It Out
    Mike: I wrote the lyrics to this about a hundreed times. It's always frustrating as a lyricist to come in with a new version that you spent hours on and have the band tell you that it's not yet there. In one case they listened to my lyrics for 30 seconds and told me to start over again. That was pretty hard. It felt like I was bringing in lyrics, getting punched in the face and then going back to the drawing board. When it finally came together I said to the band, 'I don't think anyone but us could have made a song like this'. It's [expletive] bizarre death-party-rap-hoedown!

    Shadow of the Day
    Brad: This was probably the most difficult arrangment to nail. It sounded very derivative at first but then we kept kept replacing different elements on it. We put an acoustic guitar on it, then an electric banjo and then a marimba. It's definetley one of the best songs we've written.

    What I've Done
    Mike: On the other albums, Brad and I started every song together [separately]. But this was the only song that we wrote together and was the last one we finished. We wanted a song that encapsulated the feel of the whole record and I think this is that song. You're going to get something different out of every time you listen to it.

    Hand Held High
    Mike: Rick [Rubin] said to us that, if something sounded like it needed rapping, then we should try singing and vice versa. That’s why this song has rapping on it.
    Brad: A lot of the greatest accidents occurred when we combined elements that shouldn’t have worked together.

    No More Sorrow
    Rob: This is probably the heaviest song on the album. It was initially called ‘EBow Idea’. Rick told Brad that he should use an EBow [guitar effect] on a different song. When he went in to work on that, he got frustrated and came up with the opening for this.
    Chester: I think this is the record you should listen to on headphones because you’ll hear different things, this is a song that shows there is depth to this record.

    Valentine's Day
    Chester: It’s definitely one of the poppier songs on the album. We have to be very careful sometimes that we don’t lose the integrity of what we’re doing – we’re a very dark band and we like it like that. We talk about uncomfortable things and try to make you comfortable with that. We tried to do that here in a more poppy song and I really like that aspect of the album.

    In Between
    Chester: I knew that Mike should really sing this song. I tried it once, I did a good job, but it just didn’t have the power of Mike’s performance because he really believed what he was singing. Whatever it is that the [expletive] is apologising for on this track, he’s [expletive] serious! It comes from the most sincere and heartfelt place.

    In Pieces
    Chester: I got divorced recently and that was very difficult. I also got remarried so there was a big contrast in my life. For a while I couldn’t be completely happy with the new life I was starting and I couldn’t end the last one. This is a song about all of that. The music has a kind of reggae vibe to it, almost. It’s really cool watching how the song goes from that, through pop and emerges as a full-on rock song at the end.


    The Little Things Give You Away
    Brad: This is our favourite song on the record. It’s the biggest statement that we’ve ever made. Nothing could go after it as everything would get eclipsed by it. The thing that really makes it is the guitar solo.
    Mike: Brad has always avoided solos because he doesn’t like to show off. But when he played that solo, though, it was one of the most emotional moments we’ve recorded. It says what the lyrics are saying without any words.

    To reiterate, there will be a few firsts on this album. First off, as we knew, there will be a guitar solo in The Little Things Give You Away. What's new is that there is confirmation that there will be cursing on this album, Mike will be singing, and a variety of new sounds and effects (acoustic guitars, a marimba, the EBow effect), will make appearances on the album.

    Source: LPFuse

    Scan: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/JJ79/Untitled-3-1.jpg (thanks to JJ87)

    Thanks to UndergroundSoldier!
     
  2. #2
    Derek

    Derek LPAssociation.com Administrator LPA Administrator

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    I'm officially excited for this album. Mike singing a track by himself? Chester saying fuck? A song that features rap when you wouldn't expect it to? Hell yes.

    May 15th, please come a little faster?
     
  3. #3
    tornbloodangel

    tornbloodangel Member

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    Sounds cool, I can't wait to hear it now!
     
  4. #4
    Beca

    Beca Plug in baby.

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    Wow Mike gets to sing a whole song? That's gotta be awesome
     
  5. #5
    Agent

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    Woah! Excitement level rises :D. I'm looking forward to hear Mike sing (that'd be so sweat^^)
     
  6. #6
    steve12

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    I like the sound of 'given up' cause of chesters lyrics, and 'no more sorrow' cause rob mentioned it's there heaviest. Will be interesting to see what 'Little things give you away' will be like aswell. Roll on May 14th for me :D!
     
  7. #7
    Andrea

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    Here I thought they were going to get away from the "oh woe is me" type lyrics, lol. :sleep: Chester saying "fuck" though...shocker there. Should be interesting. Mike singing? Oh my!

    To be honest, the more I read about this album, the more it confuses me. I just hope it's amazing.
     
  8. #8
    Derek

    Derek LPAssociation.com Administrator LPA Administrator

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    I have a feeling it will be, but we gotta wait and see I suppose =).
     
  9. #9
    Birger

    Birger Well-Known Member

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    Sounds good, but now we only have 11 songs or what? :p
     
  10. #10
    steve12

    steve12 Well-Known Member

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    Theres also no Joe hahn song?!?!

    11 songs is cool with me, usually makes the album more special with fewer songs.
     
  11. #11
    Agent

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    Shit! No instrumental by Mr. Hahn:(:cry:
     
  12. #12
    Derek

    Derek LPAssociation.com Administrator LPA Administrator

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    Wake may be an instrumental. Mike said its an intro song.
     
  13. #13
    Agent

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    Well that's a BIG "maybe"
     
  14. #14
    EdGreene

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    Yeah Wake will be an intro, but much better than the last one on Meteora, probabaly 2:30 long.
     
  15. #15
    arbaks

    arbaks Well-Known Member

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    Valentine's day sounds like an intrumental...

    this sounds so great, im gettin' really hyped up...

    Mike singing? No More Sorow the heaviest? Bleed IT Out bizarre death-party-rap-hoedown?

    im speechles...

    plz God don't let this be a let down!!!!
     
  16. #16
    rock_couture101

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    W-O-W...I dont' even know how to express my over-the-top excitement anymore because there are no words to describe it!! This album description is exactly what I've been wanting and I'm loving everything that was said!
     
  17. #17
    CureForTheSession

    CureForTheSession Well-Known Member

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    Everything in there made me completely excited....except for Chester dropping f-bombs. I'm not gonna complain in theres a couple sprinkled throughout the record, but when you use them in back to back lines, that's not "expressing yourself" ; that's not having any creativity at all. Heck, I'd be a lot happier if he said "What the hell is wrong with me, put me out of my ****ing misery" Gah. I don't like this new side of LP.

    Though, I gotta say....a pop Linkin Park song has me strangely excited ^_^
     
  18. #18
    Smuckle

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    This album is sounding better and better the more I hear. I've wanted to hear Mike sing on something official ever since watching Live in Texas. Forty-one days now...
     
  19. #19
    Ant

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    Very cool.
     
  20. #20
    Sonic

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    By reading the descriptions, it's sounds as if every song is very different and has it's own personality, which is awesome. Another thing is the new sounds, Mike singing his own song, and...fuck? When I read those lyrics I was like, "Wow.", and I think it's awesome to start off an album that way. It'll get thrown in people's faces when Chester starts screaming those words and people will be like, "Holy Crap!".

    One thing I do not like is we only have 11 real songs, an intro song, and two bonus songs that I really hope are included on the original print in one of the versions of the CD that comes out. But some things I hope they don't do are like, a By Myself/Figure.09-type bridge, where Mike raps some and then Chester screams a word. But it does seem as if they've changed their song structure some.

    Alright, I took that a little more in-depth then I wanted to, btu why can't this CD come out April 15th instead? Damnit! :lol:


    Valentine's Day
    Chester: It’s definitely one of the poppier songs on the album. We have to be very careful sometimes that we don’t lose the integrity of what we’re doing – we’re a very dark band and we like it like that. We talk about uncomfortable things and try to make you comfortable with that. We tried to do that here in a more poppy song and I really like that aspect of the album.

    Doesn't look like it, though I hope Wake is atleast 1:30 for an intro, that would be nice. Better not be a lowsey(sp?) 13 seconds.
     
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2007
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