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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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As much as Linkin Park want to inspire abused youths, they also strive to appeal to music fans from normal households. That's why their lyrics are vague and cryptic — while their words evince anger, angst, distress and mistrust, they leave the motivations for these feelings a mystery.
"We don't talk about situations, we talk about the emotions behind the situations," Bennington explained. "Mike and I are two different people, so we can't sing about the same things, but we both know about frustration and anger and loneliness and love and happiness, and we can relate on that level."
"I think that's one reason we have a really diverse fanbase," Bourdon added. "There can be a 12-year-old kid at school that's frustrated doing his homework [who likes our songs], and someone [else] who's 40 who has been fired from a job or something."
Not all Linkin Park fans are drawn to the lyrics. Just as many are attracted by their churning music, which elates, agitates and inspires. In the same way Nirvana perfected the soft verse/loud chorus recipe, Linkin Park have mastered rap-metal. They weren't the first or even the 101st to take on the style, but they integrate the elements better than almost anyone, and in the process pull in a diverse range of metal, pop and hip-hop fans.
Meteora is a logical progression from Hybrid Theory. Once again, the band flaunts an arsenal of riffs that buzz like taunted bees; syncopated beats and dizzying scratching, which power the rhythms; and vocal hooks that offset the aggressive raps and frost the songs with commercial sheen. But this time, Linkin Park embellished their tunes with experimental flourishes. Many tracks are laden with bizarre samples: "Breaking the Habit" and "Faint" feature string arrangements by Beck's dad, David Campbell, and "Nobody's Listening" is enhanced by the exotic whistle of a Japanese flute.
"What we really wanted to do was just push ourselves and push each other to really find new ways to be creative," Shinoda said. "We wanted each sample that was in each song to be something that might perk your ear — something that you might not have ever heard before."
They took a major step toward experimentation with their 2002 remix album, Reanimation, on which they reinterpreted Hybrid Theory with the help of a range of other artists including Kutmasta Kurt, Pharoahe Monch, Aceyalone, Korn's Jonathan Davis, Staind's Aaron Lewis and Orgy's Jay Gordon. And what they gleaned from those sessions they implemented on Meteora.
"We got to see a lot of different styles of writing that we ordinarily wouldn't have explored," Delson said, picking at a painted black fingernail. "I think that really helped to evolve our writing process."
Of course, ambition has its price. In their crusade for innovation, Linkin Park became dangerously obsessive, endlessly looping samples, chopping them up and playing them backwards and recording countless takes of different songs. Shinoda and Bennington wrote 40 choruses to the single "Somewhere I Belong" before they had one their bandmates were happy with. When Bourdon was in the studio he suffered from insomnia, and when he managed to fall asleep he dreamed of drum patterns gone awry.
"We really learned the meaning of pressure," Delson said. "But it wasn't pressure from outside people. It was artistic pressure from ourselves. You can't control the commercial success of a record, so there's no point in investing energy in that. But the quality of your record is entirely up to you, and you can't blame anyone else if you write crappy songs. Before we did Meteora, I listened to Hybrid Theory and Reanimation, and I was like, 'Dude, I'm really proud of these records. I don't remember how we did it, and I don't know how we're gonna do it again. We're kind of screwed.' Then, fortunately, we were able to invest ourselves fully in the process for 18 months, and that helped us make a really great record."
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Photo: Amy V. Cooper
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