Linkin Park, where art thou?

The good ole days...

My all time favorite band, before I got into all this indie/alternative mumbo jumbo, was Linkin Park. Actually they were my first favorite band seeing as I did not really listen to music when I was younger. Hybrid Theory was the first CD I ever bought (crazy, I know) and I fell in love with their style, their beats, their lyrics. They are one of the few bands whose songs I can sing along too and actually remember the words!


A funny story - I was on a plane with my science olympiad team. It was my first time on a plane so I brought along my LP cd hoping to make the flight fly by quicker. One of the coaches saw me and my beloved cd and quickly ran over, shocked and confused: "You listen to that?"

I responded, "Uh...yeah?"

He said "Wow, I didn't know you were into that kind of music. You look like such a nice and soft girl."

Me: "oh *small awkward giggle*"

So yeah, I was a big nerd in junior high. I looked the part and I guess it was just funny seeing how shocked everyone was that I listened to Linkin Park. But anyways, my love for Linkin Park did not fade either when I received Meteora as a birthday present. Sure the songs sorta/kinda sounded the same as their songs from their first album, but that was the style that I liked. They were nothing like I ever heard before (or maybe I just hadn't heard a lot). A nice mixture of rap and rock with dj hahn adding in his own flavor. Yes, it was the first band I loved. It was the band that actually got me into music. *Reminiscent sigh....*

But now comes Minutes to Midnight - their third album in who knows how long. When I first heard that Linkin Park was coming out with a new album I was so excited. I heard the single, "What I've Done" and felt ambivalent about it. Eh, it was okay. The sound was faintly old LP style but I could definately tell they had changed a lot. Hey, there has to be better songs in the rest of the album, I thought to myself. I was wrong. Don't get me wrong, I admire the fact that Linkin Park is trying to change and develop as a band, but just listening to the songs, it just wasn't Linkin Park. Sure they wanted to depart from their pigeon-holed style and expand as artists, but I've think they've spread their wings out just a little too much and have lost what they were best at. Some of the songs reminded me of plethora of "cookie-cutter" type of emo music out there while others I was like, "wtf?" I miss the interaction between the singing and the rapping. I miss the old Linkin Park.

Change is...good?

I don't know. Maybe I just need some time to adjust to their new style, but I won't go down without a good fight (or a good complaint for that matter). It will take time to get used to, but I will try, because they, after all, are the ones who got me into music and for that I owe them the chance to reedeem themselves to my pointy little ears.