Linkin Park Reference Public Enemy On New Album

Discussion in 'News' started by Joe, Sep 6, 2010.

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  1. #1
    Joe

    Joe I'm tried LPA Administrator

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    NME have posted an article where Mike discusses his influences for A Thousand Suns, and goes a little in depth about where the inspiration for the new tracks came from. Check out the article below.

    Linkin Park have admitted Public Enemy have strongly influenced their forthcoming album 'A Thousand Suns'.

    Co-producer and vocalist Mike Shinoda, whose first ever gig features the rap veterans and Anthrax on the same bill, told NME that he wanted his band's fourth LP to be "three-dimensional" like his rap heroes.

    "I reference them in the song 'Wretches And Kings', there is a homage to [lead rapper] Chuck D on there," he said. "It's probably the most hip-hop song on the record and one of the most aggressive, but it feels like nothing I've ever heard before."

    "
    Public Enemy were very three-dimensional with their records because although they seemed political, there was a whole lot of other stuff going on in there too. It made me think how three-dimensional I wanted our record to be without imitating them of course, and show where we were at creatively."

    Like their rap heroes, Linkin Park also subtly dropped in their own political message on that track and elsewhere, through various samples.
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    "(On that song) we used a sample of Mario Savio, who was a workers' rights activist that spoke out for people who were oppressed by their employers in the '60s," he said.

    He added: "There’s also one of Robert Oppenheimer who was 'the father of the atomic bomb' during the second world war, on the track 'Burning In The Skies', and a speech by Martin Luther King Jr on 'Iridescent', where he talks about the connection between his feelings on Vietnam and the African-American civil rights movement."

    "I just felt in all three cases, those speeches when you hear them now, resonate in a way very differently from when they were first delivered. But they apply to things that are going on today."

    The record also saw the band reunite with legendary producer Rick Rubin, which sees them toning down their aggressive roots.

    "These songs are not kicking you in the teeth," Shinoda argued. "Whenever we made something that sounded like stuff we'd done before we felt lazy and ended up ditching it. In the end we wanted to do something that explored a different space for us. Hopefully it will surprise people."

    The singer also revealed one of the key elements in their experimentation came courtesy of Rubin, who urged them to indulge in "automatic writing".

    "We were having a ton of trouble with the vocal and lyrics on the song 'Blackout', so we asked Rick for his advice," Shinoda explained.

    He added: "He suggested this technique he used with Johnny Cash and Neil Young, which basically means you get up on the mic and let the words flow. Going in there and actually doing it was terrifying at first but then the words just started coming out of nowhere, it was really surreal. It added a certain soul to the record and without that, I think it would have been really rigid and digital."

    Source: NME
     
  2. #2
    Jeff

    Jeff WORSHIP LPA Addicted VIP

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    Thats what I have been saying all along about Wretches and Kings :lol:
     
  3. #3
    Ree

    Ree a female witch. LPA Administrator

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    Interesting read, thanks!
     
  4. #4
    El Muerto

    El Muerto LPA Super Member LPA Super Member

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    Bass! How low can you go?
     
  5. #5
    Henry

    Henry Mochiagete, Tokihanashite.

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    Really interesting...
    And I was like...WOW when he mentioned Vietnam
     
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2010
  6. #6
    Jesse

    Jesse Out of the abyss. LPA Über VIP

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    My liking of Public Enemy doesn't really make me like Wretches and Kings at all but I guess it's pretty cool that the reference is there.
     
  7. #7
    Agent

    Agent Formerly known as Agent Sideburns LPA Über VIP

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    Automatic writing really is crazy... I've done it a couple of times. It's like when you're in the zone, all the words just gush out of your head and all you have to do is piece em together. Really interesting stuff.
     
  8. #8
    ana

    ana anaPHX LPA VIP

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    Im currently reading Oppenheimers book, because of LP! Ive always been interested in WW2, its actually my absolute favourite historic time and we have never (and will never) talked about the atomic bomb science of America. To be honest Ive never heard of oppenheimer before LP dedicated an Album to that topic.

    Its quite a good read and the whole concept on which ATS is based on is really really interesting.

    Ive never listened to public enemy, neither to anthrax..and so will I now to hear his influences out...
     
  9. #9
    Jesse

    Jesse Out of the abyss. LPA Über VIP

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    about 89% of all the lyrics I write are done by automatic writing. :lol:
     
  10. #10
    Moviten

    Moviten [Teh Unknown]

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    Well that is pretty cool. Glad Mike is making note of the influence/reference.
     
  11. #11
    Alexrednex

    Alexrednex Well-Known Member

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    The hole three-dimensional about Wretches and Kings Really surprised me. When i heard the spech in the start i was like, damn this song is gonna have some Political Lyrics! but then mike comes in, and i was like... unexpected. Then Chester kicks in with some nice lyrics, and then mike comes in again with nothing that really sounded like it was based on any of the other things, and then he goes "side to side put em up real high" And i was like WTF!
    I didn't really like it, but now i think it was pretty interesting choice they did with the lyrics.
     
  12. #12
    TheRAT

    TheRAT Well-Known Member

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    Awesome bit of info.

    one of the main reasons i like W&K is the fact that its got an insane beat and tons of people will love it but wont get the political message in it.
     
  13. #13
    lolnub

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    I love the speeches in W&K. It's like so intense, the beginning its just the guy talking, and the second time he comes in its extended and at the end the beat hits hard as fuck.
    I don't know if I like this more than the catalyst or not, but it's great that I can't decide.
     
  14. #14
    Adam.

    Adam. Well-Known Member

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    I think the side-to-side section fits. It's clearly the kind of song that's supposed to get a crowd riled up, but the lyrics work at a deeper level too. I'll let you decide how that is though.
     
  15. #15
    murphyLP

    murphyLP The blood of innocence burning in the skies

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    Good to read Mike´s influences in music!!!


    Off topic : Weird that the album didn´t leaked yet :ohno:
     
  16. #16
    Benjamin

    Benjamin LPA team LPA Super VIP

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    I'm not surprised. It won't le**. Trust me.

    I could care less about this at the moment. ME WANT THOUSAND SUNS.
     
  17. #17
    ChuckCheese

    ChuckCheese Did somebody order some cheese? LPA VIP

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    Mike's first concert was Public Enemy and Anthrax? Honestly, that explains everything.
     
  18. #18
    morra

    morra Active Member

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    When this record does not leak, imma firin mah lazors.
     
  19. #19
    Gman2887

    Gman2887 Well-Known Member

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    I don't really understand why people want this album to leak. If it were a band I cared significantly less about, and was merely interested in, then yes I'd like a leak to listen to before I bought it. But with Linkin Park nothing beats walking in to a store and picking up a copy before listening to it in your car without much knowledge. Maybe I'm more patient than I realize? (Unlikely.)

    In any case, like lolnub, I'm not sure which I like more The Catalyst or Wretches & Kings; but it's great that it's such a hard choice. Although I find the political undertones in the song pretty obvious, I can see where people who might not are coming from. Powerful stuff.
     
  20. #20
    cradle

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    SIG :D
     
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