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Page 1
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"To be honest, we're pretty boring" ...
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Page 2
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Linkin Park become dangerously obsessive and feel screwed ...
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Page 3
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Missing the supermarket, and Scrabble as group therapy ...
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Will Korn, Papa Roach And Limp Bizkit Evolve Or Die?
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A look at the nü-metal meltdown.
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Browse Bands by Name
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 Bands Main
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-- by Jon Wiederhorn, with additional reporting by Sway Calloway
Over the past year, the whole rap-rock thing has pretty much been run into the ground. The formulaic shuffle between pugilistic hip-hop verses and melodic choruses has grown staler than year-old Lucky Charms, and the roar of percussive down-tuned guitars has gotten so played out that all the volume and rage is no longer jarring or visceral.
Many acts that formerly led the revolution — including Korn, Papa Roach and Kid Rock — have revamped their sounds in an attempt to survive, and other more stubborn bands have been left scrambling to hang onto their fanbase, much of which has gravitated to hip-hop or pop-punk in a quest for new kicks.
And yet Linkin Park, whose Hybrid Theory was the best-selling album of 2001, have kept their fans hooked and begging for more. After just one week on shelves, Meteora sold more than 810,000 copies, according to SoundScan, easily landing in the #1 position on the Billboard albums chart. And the group is a top draw for the Summer Sanitarium tour, which also features Metallica, Limp Bizkit, Deftones and Mudvayne.
Linkin Park's tremendous success is somewhat baffling since they cling so tightly to the increasingly taboo rap-metal formula, shun rock-star antics and lack any sort of celebrity charisma. Even the band's casual fans might have a tough time picking the faces of vocalists Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington, DJ Joseph Hahn, guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Phoenix and drummer Rob Bourdon out of a crowd.
"We're not doing this to be stars," Shinoda shrugged. "We're just normal people behind all those lights."
"People always want to find something exciting about us, but to be honest we're pretty boring," added Bourdon, shifting the position of his backwards black baseball cap. "People wouldn't be too excited to come backstage and hang out with us. We don't party or anything, we just play Xbox and we're pretty mellow. When we play a show for 20,000 people, that's the highlight for the night. You can't go backstage after that and try and top it, so we just wait until the next show."
They're not fashionably self-destructive, they're not loudmouths, they don't hang with Britney Spears or Christian Slater. So just what is it that allows Linkin Park to thrive when others rap-rock bands are struggling? In part, it's the frustration, heartache and loneliness that spirals through the band's radio-ready songs. Whether moaning about divorce, howling about bad relationships or screaming about domestic abuse, Linkin Park transfer their pain into powerful music.
"We spend a lot of time on our lyrics," said singer and screamer Bennington, who splits songwriting duties with rapper Shinoda. "It's a good way to confront a lot of things that we've dealt with in the past that our fans can relate to. On this album, I reacted to how I dealt with a lot of pain in my life and how I was sexually abused when I was young, and what I went through after that [with drugs and rebellion]. And then I look at where I am today, and take those negative experiences and turn them into positives."
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Photo: James Minchin/Warner Bros.
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