Linkin Park - Why the Hate?

[MajWound]

I loved Linkin Park back in the day, but I dare not make it known in public very much anymore. There's a sort of aversion to anything "emo" that's been exacerbated lately, probably because you don't want to be known as the "crybaby"/"oh my life is so hard woe is me" type of person. Not that any of this is justified, but I understand the mindset. When you write down the lyrics of songs like "Crawling" and give them on loose-leaf to someone who has never heard the song, that's the kind of stuff that gets people sent to the psychiatrist and doped on little blue pills.

 

[Asuka Soryu]

I like Linkin Park. lol But I have noticed the BROKLYN RAGE, people show for them.

 

[NeoShinGundam]

I don't visit D.C. much, but I would assume that the Lincoln National Park is a nice place to visit.

Wait, that's not what were talking about?

 

[Zoe Castillo]

---

 

[spartan773]

their new album is much better

 

[Mr Somewhere]

I don't, hate them. But I can't stand them. Why can't I stand them?
Because they have horribly cheesy lyrics with next to no depth, I mean, I can't imagine how somebody can sit down, honestly listen to those lyrics and not laugh. That and I find their little rapping segments terribly lame...
Lame, yep I just find them lame.

 

[brumley53]

Personally I think they sound very whingy, not just sad but a very annoying whiny sad and that really annoys me, probably the reason I dislike anything that has roots in emotional hardcore as well.

 

[The Rockerfly]

Eh I like them, I even saw them in concert but crawling is so overplayed and is used in so many video game montages is kinda silly. Also minutes midnight was a terrible album

 

[GotMalkAvian]

I actually don't mind Linkin Park for the most part, and even actively enjoy some of their stuff. However, I dislike them on the principle that they were assembled like a boy band. I'm sorry, but you can't even pretend to be badass or metal when an industry rep slapped you together after open auditions.

 

[Aurgelmir]

I must say I have wondered this myself. I do like hte band quite a lot, although their last two albums was a bit of a let down...

But yeah I never ever considered myself emo, and do not believe their music is just for emo kids.

 

[Aphex Demon]

I dont hate them, I just miss them when they created awesome music, such as the Hybrid Theory and Meteora album.

 

[retterkl]

Hybrid Theory was one of the first albums I bought, it was awesome.

They're still good, Bleed it Out is a great song, I just think that by association people think less of them.

 

[The Youth Counselor]

In 1999 they represented something new.

I admit I used to be a big fan and continued listening to them after people declared them to no longer be cool. However I can't listen to five of their songs in a row anymore without contemplating suicide. Chester needs a hug and to see some sunshine.

I'm also sure the fact that their songs along with Drowning Pool's Let the Bodies Hit the Floor at ear piercing volumes are the soundtrack of choice for bad Youtube montagevideos has something to do with their decline.

 

[D_987]

Gotta wonder, how many of you calling them "emo" have actually heard their new album; sure there's a few songs that discuss emotion and so forth [Ok half the album when you consider about 4 or 5 of the 15 tracks on there are pure filler] but there's some rather different stuff on there; take "When they come for me" as an example:


Hell, the opening verse to that song contain the following lyrics:

I am not
the fortune and the fame,
nor the same person telling you to forfeit the game.
...
'cause even a blueprint is a gift and a curse,
'cause once you got a theory of how the thing works
everybody wants the next thing to be just like the first,
...
You all ought to stop talking.
Start trying to catch up, ************!

Which pretty much sounds like a declaration that they've changed, despite knowing everyone wants them to keep making the same music forever; which from this thread is really apparent.

I was going to just post "because they're shit", but I'd probably be put on probation.
Couple of reasons:
They sound shit.
The singer's voice is annoying.
The generic, emo, "my life is terrible" lyrics.
The fact that they hate their lives even though they recieve millions for doing nothing of any value to anyone.
Their music is for 14-year olds to sulk and cut themselves to because they've been grounded.

That's why.

By all means let me know some bands you consider to not "sound shit" so I can literally copy and paste this response - that's an incredibly generic list of reasons - and could be applied, with minor changes, to insult any band ever - if you don't like their sound fair enough, but that's clearly not the reason they're so disliked on the internet at they're a massively popular band nonetheless.

 

[FallenTraveler]

used to love them, minutes to midnight and my changing tastes got me away from them, Mike Shinoda deserves his props, he really is experimenting and I love him. But I loved them for hybrid theory and don't particularly care for their sound now, I don't think they should go back, but I do think they should keep tuning their sound... I like them, but their new stuff sounds like garbage to me...

 

[DevilWolf47]

I'm not committed enough to be a hater. I don't like Linkin Park, i don't listen to it. I admit sometimes the crusader like hatred seems unwarranted, they're not complete fuck-ups like Swift, but i don't come to their defense often because like i said, i have better music to listen to.

 

[Vakz]

The fact that the title of this topic very well could have been a name of their next album instead..

 

[MaxwellEdison]

Or perhaps it's possible that people just don't like it?
I think their vocals are shit, and I think their music is bland and unoriginal, and I think they're untalented.

BTW, a group being "huge" shouldn't give us pause in rolling our eyes at it, that's arguing from popularity. You know what else is huge? Justin Beiber.

 

[Carbo]

Personally, I absolutely loved A Thousand Suns. It was a spectacular progressive rock album with deep, thought provoking themes of humankind's evolution and (possible) self-destruction, inevitable death and the concept of rebirth. Sure, it pales in comparison to other, better progressive rock albums like Dark Side of the Moon, but LP did one hell of a job in giving people who were willing to listen (rather than nitpick) an epic experience.

As for their earlier work, I don't care for it. Give me any one of the tracks off of Thousand Suns over "CRAAAAAWLLLINNNNGGG IIIIIIIIIIIN MY SKIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNALGDSLADSGHDSAL"

I was afraid I was the only person in the world that believed this. Glad to see I'm not the only one.

Which makes me also believe that the better question here is "why people don't like their new material in their own right". I'll be honest, I liked Linkin Park back in the day when my scope of music wasn't at all that large, and I grew out of them. I "sort of" liked them and listened to them every once in a while but I can't say that I got into them. Minutes to Midnight was absolutely disappointing.

Then they made A Thousand Suns. An album which, last year for me, was only outthwarted in quality by the new Oceansize album. After over four years of lost interest and anticipation, I approached the new album without anything better to do. I was blown-the-fuck away. The dynamics, perfect atmosphere, songwriting and style just astounded me, some of LP's best work ever. I couldn't believe it was the same band I had listened to when Meteora hit, and I think it is given way less credit than it deserves when people rather stay in comfort zones and listen to angsty riffs. They elevated themselves, and any preconceptions I had for them were thrown out of the window.

 

[EvilPicnic]

Because they're middle-of-the-road pap. They're for alternative-metal what Coldplay is for 'indie', and Nickelback is for alternative-rock.
There's nothing straight out OFFENSIVE about them, but their seeming unwillingness to originate anything new or stop pandering to populist sensibilities means I have very little interest is anything they produce.