Don’t Sleep On Linkin Park
Over the last 15 years there have been many acts that have presented themselves as rap/rock acts and attempted to sustain their careers while maintaining the sensibilities and credibility of both genres. Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock come to mind as having a successful run but it is Linkin Park who claims the prize for staying power, consistently churning out number one albums and top-selling tours over the last decade.
In 2000 Linkin Park effortlessly reached rap and rock fans with their chart smasher “In The End” from their number one debut album Hybrid Theory. “In The End” is arguably the epitome of an original rap/metal track. The video was as intriguing and visually stimulating as the lyrics were thought provoking.
]“On the last record, we were trying to figure out where we wanted to go. I mean, we were in a box. We were Linkin Park who makes this certain sound and we wanted to make a record that didn’t sound like that,” lead vocalist Mike Shinoda told AllHipHop.com.
When you think of the fusion of rap and hip hop, historically, you have to give credit to the song and video that first made a tangible and palpable connection between the two genres and cultures, “Walk This Way,” a remake of Aerosmith’s rock juggernaut, whose new version included verses from rap pioneers Run DMC. The song was released in 1986 and was a bona fide mash-up before the phrase even existed.
For complete read and for more info, you can visit related links.
Linkin Park Tease ‘Unique’ Performance On ‘Saturday Night Live’
According to source, There’s not much that makes Linkin Park nervous — at least not anymore. But back in 2007, on the eve of the release of their Minutes to Midnight album, the band performed on “Saturday Night Live.” And, for the first time in a long time, LP were very, very skittish.
“The first time we did it, I was really nervous and really skeptical. I love the show, it’s very funny, but we have no control over the sound, you have people that may or may not know who the band is, they may or may not like the band, so you’re coming in, working with a crew you’ve never worked with before,” Chester Bennington said. “And, on a TV show, it’s got to be really, really great [in the studio] in order to come across pretty good on TV, and that freaks me out. So I was really nervous the first time … wanting to find a way to work with everybody and not piss people off.”
Needless to say, things went off without a hitch, and all was right with the world. Fast-forward to Friday (February 4), when Linkin Park were back in New York for another performance on “SNL.” This time around, they’ve got another album to support — last year’s voluminous A Thousand Suns — and, perhaps telling how far they’ve come, they’re not nervous in the slightest. Quite the opposite, in fact.
“I’ve been watching ‘SNL’ forever, I love ‘SNL,’ and actually, one of the jokes for me is, the first time we played it, [the host] was Molly Shannon, and this time it’s Dana Carvey. I guess we’re the band that brings the classic castmember back,” Mike Shinoda laughed. “So I’m looking for, like, some Chevy Chase action … next time. Give us a call when Steve Martin is gonna be on, and we’ll be happy to keep the torch held high.”
In all seriousness, Linkin Park are planning big things for their performance, which will incorporate elements of their ongoing arena tour and, in the process, might just break a few barriers too.
For complete read about this, you can visit related links.
Linkin Park talks “A Thousand Suns,” preps for Arena Tour
When Linkin Park was getting ready to record its latest album “A Thousand Suns,” the band weighed the idea of bringing in a co-producer to aid vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Mike Shinoda in turning the knobs.
“We didn’t want somebody else to come in and kind of muck up the things that we were doing that we liked,” Shinoda said during a recent two-hour teleconference with reporters.
However, Linkin Park decided that legendary producer Rick Rubin was the man for the job.
“When he came in, it was obvious that he loved the stuff we were making and he didn’t intend to change that,” Shinoda said. “He intended to try and help us get there in the best way possible. So, that’s why we ended up working with Rick. But that is to say we had a sense of what it was in the beginning, and then along the way we made decisions that helped us stay on track and keep our minds open to experimentation and new things.”
Lead singer Chester Bennington, during the same teleconference, said the band was going for a specific vibe. The group knew it wanted “A Thousand Suns” to be presented as complete piece of art, rather than a mere collection of songs.
“I know the die-hard fans of Linkin Park are really open-minded to what we do and sometimes it takes people awhile to digest the new music, but when it sits, especially with this album, I think people really are going to appreciate what we’ve done here and see it for what we intended it to be,” Bennington said.
Shinoda and Bennington were on the phone to promote “A Thousand Suns,” a vast departure from its previous releases, tapping into industrial dance-rock music that hearkens back to the mid-1990s. “A Thousand Suns,” which has sold 630,000 copies since its release last September, according to Nielsen SoundScan, is Linkin Park’s first studio set since 2007′s double-platinum “Minutes to Midnight.”
For complete read about this, you can visit related links.
Linkin_Park1
Linkin Park to play Download 2011
Linkin Park have been confirmed to play the 2011 Download Festival.
The US rockers, whose fourth album A Thousand Suns went to number two in the UK, will join System Of A Down and Grammy award-winning musician-director Rob Zombie at Donington Park in June next year.
Frontman Chester Bennington said: “We are very excited to be playing Download again next year. It’s one of the best festivals in the world and it’s always an honour to play in front of such a great crowd. We can’t wait!”
To read more about Linkin Park, and for more updates, you can visit related links.
Linkin Park