I think instead of making their music more stripped down and full of ballads, I think it would of been cool if Linkin Park went towards the direction of sounding more electronic like Julien-K. Sort of a hybrid of Reanimation and Meteora. I think Hahn could have had a little more fun with effects and stuff. They could do some neat vocal effects. Mike should have rapped more (I know that's been said a lot before but it's true). I think they could have made something much more interesting. Don't get me wrong, I like MTM but it is not really unique at all. Your thoughts?
Shouldn't this be in the Minutes To Midnight foru... forget it. That just leaves something for their next album, huh?
This topic sort of fits in both I suppose . Nonetheless, the next LP album is really hard to predict what it'll be like, but I kind of hope my idea is sort of what it's like . I won't care if it isn't but as long as it's unique and more importantly 'Linkin Park' then I'll be very happy.
I disagree. I think MTM is a step in the right direction. Even tough Hybrid Theory is one of my all time favourite albums, if they kept the HE stuff up people would of really started to turn off, and the level of criticisms would be higher than ever. Meteora was a good follow up to Hybrid Theory, but everyone knows the best songs are thoose that have the least electronic effects, and unsurprisingly thoose few songs became singles. Minutes to Midnight just shows LP can be just as good without the effects. Tough I think there is way too many ballad type songs, they showed they can be just as good with songs like No More Sorrow, Bleed It Out etc. I would like to see another MTM style album but with much more rock, and then another remix album which can be all thoose songs HE style.
I think it'd be neat if they went in that direction on a future album, but for now I think their new sound is perfectly fine. Then again, Chester's solo album is supposed to fit that mold anyway, so if it does, I'd kinda be disappointed if LP followed suit. For a while, I was worried that MTM would be too hip hop-oriented because Mike had just come off his Fort Minor project.
I dunno, I've always that if there'd be one question I'd ask LP, it'd be "Now that you've completely changed your sound for Minutes to Midnight, do you think you may have developed a reputation of switching things up too often? and now that you've done it once, are you going to do it again for the next album?"
I'm not sure if stepping in the right direction is letting down the majority of your fans? Evolving more off of HT would have had fans dying in excitement. QWERTY and even Announcement Service Public was what fans were expecting. Meteora was a more evolved HT but it was awesome. I could easily say the best songs were the ones with effects. Lying From You, Faint, and Nobody's Listening. Songs like Easier to Run and Numb weren't as good IMO. Surprisingly the LP singles are my least favorite tracks. I agree MTM showcases that LP can be a talented band with or without the effects, but MTM keeps me starving. Sadly, the songs on this album will be forgotten, HT and Meteora had a more timeless sound. To be blatantly honest, I think MTM should have been a side project. That would have been incredible to have some of these ballads as an EP, but a full fledged album that's a more true continuation off of Meteora. There's no excuses either, it took them so long to release MTM.
It seems like the ones who dislike "Minutes To Midnight" are the ones who have still yet to realize that Meteora was the poorest offering Linkin Park have put out yet. A failed attempt to capitalize on the success of Hybrid Theory, Meteora was filled with watered down, much-too-angsty songs filled with horrific lyrics and uninspiring instrumentation. Luckily, Minutes To Midnight was truly an "experimentation" (and no, japanese flutes are not experimentation) with their sound. Their new sound is more relevant, inspiring, open-ended, and cleaner sounding than it ever has been. Linkin Park's sound truly has evolved, and this progression is what most hardcore fans (and I can say that with certainty) are happy to see. Minutes To Midnight was NOT a letdown for the majority of Linkin Park's fans. You are not in the majority. It seems like the only ones who were letdown are the ones who like the band solely for their hard-rock influences, those who have yet to grasp that rap-rock is dead,or those who could accept Meteora as a legitimate excuse for a follow-up album, of which many fans (and once again, I say that with certainty) highly disagree.
Meteora (with the exception of Nobody's Listening and Breaking the Habit) sounded like a collection of leftover tracks from the Hybrid Theory sessions. That's how similar they were.
I thought Meteora was pretty good, albeit not very original. MtM on the other hand is very creative an a much stronger collection of songs then Meteora was. The only thing "Minutes..." lacked was cohesion. Critics and haters can say all they want. but LP wouldn't still be around if they didn't write great songs and they do. Now that they've stepped outside the box there's so much more that they can accomplish. Unlike some people (mainly the ones who want another Hybrid Theory) I think MTM was a good decision. Mark my words, while it may not be their next album, I think LP is on their way to making an album that would stomp a mud-hole in Hybrid Theorys ass.
Minutes To Midnight Is only 1 step away from Perfect. It's so completely awesome. Though I have a feeling Linkin Park are not going to go their HT-MT ways nor the M2M on their next album. I think it will be more rock, and heavier but still keeping the ballads*
Hmm.... Julien-K is good... but Linkin Park is definitely my one favorite band =] i like them just the way they are... and if their sound was too be more electric, you can't really hear the real chester voice, and that is something i really enjoy. it might be a cool thing to try on a single or two though.
How was Meteora LP's worst offering? Yeah, the lyrics could have improved, but the instrumentation was great, not as in solos, but I like their choice of using instruments like the Japanese flute for Nobody's Listening, it's unique and sounds cool. How is using different instruments not experimentation? Also, the solos on MTM weren't special. If those solo's impressed you go listen to something more solo orientated. This is LP, we should get some great turntable work from Hahn at least. I'm the last person to like LP for their hard rock influences. I like more of their hip-hop influences. HT EP was really cool as was Reanimation. I can grasp Rap-Rock is dead, but LP could have changed that. I actually think many old LP fans are pissed, go read all the reviews on Amazon and such, that's the only proof I can provide you. I'm very pleased MTM has sold extremely well, but Meteora has still sold a lot more. The first week sales for Meteora were also higher than MTM. Having an open ended sound is not always a good thing when people know you for Rap-Rock. You got to do what brought you to the game. This is clearly what they are best at.
I disagree. I thought that Meteora, while not as good as HT, was still a decent album. Also, I was dissapointed with MTM. Maybe if there wasnt a 4 year wait and about a year of hype I would have enjoyed it more. But after alll of that, it was a dissapointment, in my opinion. I thought that it sounded to generic, and I would have prefered some more rock songs.
I just provided the reasons why Meteora was their poorest offering. Do I have to repeat myself? Poorly constructed clone of Hybrid Theory, terrible lyrics, uninspiring instrumentation for the most part. Sure, Rob's drums on Easier To Run were improved, but what else? Some of the riffs were catchy, but they were terribly simple. I don't know how old you are, but the lyrics were juvenile, the music was cookie-cutter success-driven, and there was nothing new-sounding about the music. The band could've released Hybrid Theory as a 25-song disc and nothing would feel out of place in terms of sound, save Breaking The Habit, perhaps. In terms of lyrical content, on the other hand, there is a vast, vast difference in quality. It was a sad display of musicianship. Linkin Park could have re-revived a tired and uninspiring genre that nobody paid attention to anymore? They could have tried a Hybrid Theory part 3, but it would have been career suicide. The great bands are the ones who are not afraid to experiment and evolve their sound. I lost a lot of respect for the band when they came out with Meteora, but now all of that is regained for stepping outside the box and offering up something truly different, and truly evolutionary. The only old LP fans that are pissed are the ones too close-minded to let go of the band as a rap-rock band. They're the ones who are living in the past and grasping onto a genre that is well past its expiry date. Linkin Park saw this happening, so why can't their fans? Mike said in an interview that any criticism about the album was coming from the "vocal minority", the ones who are much louder about their discontent than those who are perfectly fine with their new alteration of sound. MTM has been out for 3 months and Meteora for 4.5 years...what's your point? The first single from MTM just spent 15 weeks atop the Modern Rock charts, a career best for the band. In an industry where record sales are declining by the year, MTM sold 623,000 copies in its first week. The album debued at first in 20+ countries (to Meteora's 16). It probably won't end up selling the same amount of albums as Meteora, but that's not because of fans boycotting the album, it's because less people are buying music. You don't just keep doing something because you're good at it. At a point, you become bored with it. The band were obviously bored with it, as have many people become bored with rap-rock in the last four years since Meteora's release. The most satisfying thing a band can do is push its boundaries and come up with something new and refreshing. With MTM, the band did this, and also derived much success from it at that. When I look at the band playing live nowadays, or talking about their new music, they're a lot more excited about the new material than they were about their older stuff. They've found variety, finally, and they're enjoying things. I, along with many of the less-vocal majority, am happy with this variety as well.
Since Hybrid theory was such as success, it's not surprising Meteora did that well. But the majority of people found the songs with the least effects worked the best. I mean Lying from you is good but the distortion on mikes voice is horrible. Same with Hit the floor. Nobody's listening dialed down on the effects on his voice and instead used it to create an unusual soundtrack. I think people were interested in the fact they can deliver rock with little effects, and this led up to MTM. But with the way LP already were, the level of criticisms were fairly high. If they kept on making more meteora's, they would of got higher. Thats not really the problem tough. Their sound was just getting repetitive and they really didon't do anything they hadn't before. If they made another HE like album, it would still be good but you can't shake the feeling you heard it all before and wished some of the effects weren't there. I believe this is the same reasons for why people would turn off LP. Minutes to Midnight was a breath of fresh air, while I don't enjoy it as much as their other work, It was certainly a step in the right direction. Just think of how rock heavy it could of been. Minutes to Midnight had too many slow moments for me and other people but it just shows what they can do when they try something different. I would love to hear another MTM type album with less ballad more rock, and then another reanimation to let us hear what they would sound like HE style. Oh and since when does hip hop mean distortion and effects? I like LP's hip hop side too and more of that could be included in the next MTM style album, but of course not as electronic and more Fort Minor style.