Minutes to Midnight, New Linkin Park CD

[Squeek]

Re: Minutes to Midnight, New Linkin Park CD

I should also clarify this.

When I say I don't listen to it because of the lyrics, I mean I don't relate to the lyrics at all. How can I? One song on the new album is about your loved one dying. One is about the war in Iraq. One is about Hurricane Katrina. One song is about Linkin Park breaking out of stereotypes about Linkin Park.

How can I relate to that? Everything else is about suicide, depression, anxiety, worthlessness, anti-government (anarchy, for short), and relationship problems. I have no part of any of these. Even if I did, it's not like I can empathize.

Songs are supposed to invoke sympathy, not empathy. There's no way there's a song out there with lyrics that I can go "that there is the story of my life, word for word." because nobody would write a song specifically about me. Such a song would be pointless music because only one person would be interested in the song.

And no talent? If they had no talent, they wouldn't be popular. I just explained to you that most people don't listen to music to empathize with it. If you go to a Linkin Park concert, you'd see the audience is most certainly NOT a bunch of emo kids slitting their wrists over every song. Most of them are college students who just want to have a good time. The shows always get a good mosh, too.

People like the way the band sounds, hence their popularity.

[gnr61]

Re: Minutes to Midnight, New Linkin Park CD

i still dont recall ever saying that people like linkin park because they empathize with it (though im sure some people do).

also popularity DEFINITELY does not mean talent. thats a terrible assumption to make. wow i can play power chords on a d tuned guitar. wow 4/4 drum work with a crash on every downbeat. gee wiz is that one whole string you can play on your bass? oh em gee did you take 4th grade english to be able to write such profound and thought provoking lyrics? yeah, linkin park is surley very talented. as with -most- other popular bands and musicians, they are popular because they follow a strict formula to make as much money as possible. there is nothing "unique" or "original" in linkin parks style. they took Bring the Noise and added...wait...no they basically just took bring the noise. grats, real "unique" style there.

[Loyal2Death]

Re: Minutes to Midnight, New Linkin Park CD

i still dont recall ever saying that people like linkin park because they empathize with it (though im sure some people do).

also popularity DEFINITELY does not mean talent. thats a terrible assumption to make. wow i can play power chords on a d tuned guitar. wow 4/4 drum work with a crash on every downbeat. gee wiz is that one whole string you can play on your bass? oh em gee did you take 4th grade english to be able to write such profound and thought provoking lyrics? yeah, linkin park is surley very talented. as with -most- other popular bands and musicians, they are popular because they follow a strict formula to make as much money as possible. there is nothing "unique" or "original" in linkin parks style. they took Bring the Noise and added...wait...no they basically just took bring the noise. grats, real "unique" style there.

It does mean talent. People of the world don't like bad bands. They are Popular because they are liked. Not the other way around.

I also hate to break it to you, 9 out of every ten songs follow the same technical background. They flow into patterns for a reason.

[soccer345]

Re: Minutes to Midnight, New Linkin Park CD

lol is everyone here a Linkin Park fan? because no one seems to realize that they pretty much represent all that is the decline of modern music:

rich mtv-raised guys whining about their stupid adolescent problems while they are WAY to old to be doing so, let alone in such retarded lyrics.

songs that are pretty much constructed for massive radio play and plenty of mtv air time without any musical inclination or talent involved--profits are obviously the key aim.

its basically an excersise in target marketing. whether you were a die hard nu-metal fan in 5th grade (and who wasn't), or just thought their new single was "oh em gee supr kool gaiz its rly liek how i feeel inside wiht my problems and stuf," you will probably buy this cd. why? why give them more money? if you really thought it was so great (for god knows what reason), then download it with limewire or something and quit feeding money to the cash-machine that is linkin park. SAME GOES FOR YOU LIMP BIZKIT, GODSMACK, KORN, AND DISTURBED.

Dude, stop flaming people.

[gnr61]

Re: Minutes to Midnight, New Linkin Park CD

L2D: im not saying songs that are similar are bad, im saying that by definition they are not unique, therefore linkin park is not unique as all of their songs are derivative and unoriginal. and people liking a band has absolutely NOTHING to do with talent whatsoever. there are THOUSANDS of examples that prove otherwise.

MIMS is obviously less musically talented than say, Busdriver, or Atmosphere. he is more mainstream because he followed a simple formula to make his rap music get aired on mtv and the radio. therefore he is mainstream and Busdriver and Atmosphere are not, but is less musically and creatively talented.

best example ever lol: GOOD CHARLOTTE is OBVIOUSLY less talented lyrically, instrumentally, and just all around creatively than Dream Theater, but who is more mainstream? therefore popularity =/= talent and if you want to argue that good charlotte is in ANY WAY WHATSOEVER more talented than dream theater, be my guest, ill be happy to flame you.

[mead1]

Re: Minutes to Midnight, New Linkin Park CD

LET'S TALK ABOUT A CONCEPT AS ABSTRACT AS TALENT AS THOUGH IT IS DEFINABLE AND QUANTIFIABLE.

Seriously, take a look at what you're saying. Talent is not a number. You cannot judge how much talent band x has. You may state how much you like a certain band, but that doesn't make x better than y. Personally, I think that both Good Charlotte and Dream Theater are horse shit, but I can't say for sure how much talent either of them posses. I can tell you what I think of them, but there is no factual numerical measure of how good they are. Stop trying to pitch your opinions as though they are fact and give some goddamn reasons to back up what you say.

EDIT: I think I'll go on.

Additionally, your rant on how popularity stems from lack of creativity is faulty. As I already mentioned, there is no definite way to measure the quality of a band other than personal opinion. If you're looking for the closest thing to a numerical measure of talent, it's popularity. It's the majority opinion. If most people think a band is good, then that means by the numbers, they must be. The people create the demand for albums that entertain them, and that's why the music industry exists. The band that sells the most albums has best achieved the goal of a band, and therefore must be the best. Linkin Park is very popular and sells lots of records. World Inferno is not popular, and isn't carried in but a handful of stores nation wide. Do I think Linkin Park sounds better? Hell no. I hate Linkin Park. They are successful, though, and this means they have better preformed the function of a band.

[gnr61]

Re: Minutes to Midnight, New Linkin Park CD

looking at talent as purley subjective, you are correct--it cant be measured. but when you say that the only way talent can be objectively measured is by record sales, you are very wrong. if talent can be measured by popularity, then it can be measured by how many notes you can play in a second, how many time signature shifts you can fit into one song, how trained and advanced the vocals are (which is easy to tell), the complexity of instrumentals, deviance from the norm in song structure, and lyrical content (which i agree is very subjective, but in most cases its pretty easy to tell ie, linkin parks lyrics are juvenille, cursives lyrics are thought provoking). i think any of those things are a better way of measuring talent than popularity alone.

as for the majority opinion = right bit, consensus =/= truth. any OBJECTIVE science can tell you that, so theres nothing up for debate about it.

as michael crichton put it, consensus says global warming exists, but that doesnt mean global warming exists. i personally think MSI put it even better: "you're telling me that 50,000,000 screaming fans are never wrong im telling you that 50,000,000 screaming fans are ****ing morons."

ironically enough, i have heard that MSI is now touring with MCR and Linkin Park. huzzah.

[mead1]

Re: Minutes to Midnight, New Linkin Park CD

Note how you even mention "i think" in your first paragraph. This is your opinion, not fact.

The difference between global warming and talent is that global warming is a measurable, tangible occurrence, not an abstract concept. In the case of talent, there is no factual basis for it's existence other than a certain person thinking a band is talented or not thinking a band is talented. Get your shit straight. None of those other judgment points you mentioned for talent are as valid as popularity because bands don't exist to play as many notes in a minute as possible, or any of those other song features mentioned, they exist to sell albums.

Also, MSI sold out long before the new tour.

[Praben]

Re: Minutes to Midnight, New Linkin Park CD

most bands do not exsit to to sell albulms, recorld lables exsist to do that.

bands exsist for a multitude of difrent reasons, but i would say the main reason is to create music, not to gain popularity, or make money. its to stimulate yourself and create something that means something to you and that means something also to the person hearing it. now the way you do that may be considered talented its up to the person listening to judge.

bands my be out there to make money and that is it, but some are still out there to make music for the hell of makeing music. thoes are the bands i want to listen to. i jsut find it sad that people will take wahtever is shown to them and think its the best, (eg: every 1 hit wonder, and burnt out mtv trash band and rapper that ever graced your tv screen) so my point is there are better opitions out there. the reason "crappy" bands like linkin park sell alot is becasue the have a large fan base, when hybred theory came out, it was the sh!t. now it sucks, jsut goes to show how things burn out or fade away. so bands that are advirtsed the most get the most people buying them becasue everybody knows about them. jsut becasue everybody knows someone at your school dosent mean thier cool does it?

[gnr61]

Re: Minutes to Midnight, New Linkin Park CD

praben: spellcheck.

mead: and just who the hell are you to decide why bands make music? who the hell are you to say a band cant exist for the purpose of playing as many notes as they can per second? to say that the function of all bands is to sell records is to have a gross misunderstanding of music. many artists create music as a form of artistic expression, a conduit for their emotions or feelings, or a means by which to showcase their abilities. when a kid picks up an instrument for the first time, it is not so he can join a platinum record making band but because he enjoys that instrument.

simply put, if all bands existed for the sole purpose of selling records, all bands would sound like linkin park or some generic commercial rap artist. therefore, since NOT ALL BANDS exist to sell records, the amount of records they sell has no correspondence with the band's talent.

[Squeek]

Re: Minutes to Midnight, New Linkin Park CD

Prove to me that even one band's sole purpose is to sell records and take what you say with some seriousness.

If Linkin Park only cared about selling records, you'd think they'd have put out more than 3 actual albums in seven years' time, right?

[gnr61]

Re: Minutes to Midnight, New Linkin Park CD

i could certainly never -prove- that any band -only- wants to sell records, but only speculate the very high probability that that is the case with some (note that in my last post i said that most bands have some kind of artistic or creative intent in mind).

for example, im sure many mainstream rappers are only interested in record sales. does anyone think MIMS is an especially talented musician? probably not, but his songs sell for whatever reason and i doubt he has any musical interests other than making money off of them. 50 cent anyone? same thing. why just make rehashed versions of the same generic lyrics and beats that everyone has heard? to sell records.

as for linkin park, im sure the whole "band breaking up" thing had something to do with it. -.-

besides, dont you think that an album released so late as a "comback album" with alledgedly unique material would sell so hugely from a band with such a massive fanbase? all the middle- schoolers-turned-high-school-or-college-students who fell in love with them back in the day PLUS all the middle schoolers now who think its just the hottest new **** on teh radiozz. thats the big bux.

[mead1]

Re: Minutes to Midnight, New Linkin Park CD

Prove to me that even one band's sole purpose is to sell records and take what you say with some seriousness.

If Linkin Park only cared about selling records, you'd think they'd have put out more than 3 actual albums in seven years' time, right?

Give me any evidence that any band has any purpose other than to sell records. I think my assumption is a fair one considering how our whole society is based on the gaining of the most money possible.

There are many reasons for not churning out an album every few months. You don't want to alienate the base fans with a crap release, you must properly build hype and expectation so it sells well, albums themselves of much length take an incredible amount of time to write/record/master so that they sound professional. If you want proof that Linkin Park specifically is crayzee for da dollaz, look at the remix album, or the Jay-Z album, or the Live DVD. None of which included new actual material (I don't think the DVD had new songs on it, I only remember it vaguely), and served no purpose then to appease fan demand for product, and build excitement for the next "real" release.

[gnr61]

Re: Minutes to Midnight, New Linkin Park CD

Busdriver-temporary forever. album is totally inaccessible, would never be aired anywhere on any radio station. songs are weird and dont sound good in the least. vocal style is very annoying. beats are original but poorly recorded so have bad sound quality.

why release such an album? it certainly wont sell too much, especially as a debut lp (which it was). he released it cuz its hella arty, and he wanted to showcase his particular brand of ultra-articulate prograp. the album sold like a piece of ****, and busdriver was happy with the music that he had made. if his only purpose was to sell albums, which you seem to believe it was, why wouldnt he simply follow the mtv formula of small-vocabulary ego boasting commercial rap (crap, if u will). i dont know how, if you listen to that album, you could still believe that it was intended to sell big, but busdriver doesnt have the "talent" to make a bassdrum-snare beat and crappy lyrics.

edit: happy birthday btw =D

[Squeek]

Re: Minutes to Midnight, New Linkin Park CD

as for linkin park, im sure the whole "band breaking up" thing had something to do with it. -.-

besides, dont you think that an album released so late as a "comback album" with alledgedly unique material would sell so hugely from a band with such a massive fanbase? all the middle- schoolers-turned-high-school-or-college-students who fell in love with them back in the day PLUS all the middle schoolers now who think its just the hottest new **** on teh radiozz. thats the big bux.

Wait what

They never even talked about breaking up. There was no "comeback" as there was no "leaving".

The reason they took so long to release it was because they were on a two - three year worldwide tour.

Also, rappers are not bands. They don't count.