Mike Shinoda Opens Up On the Current State of Rock Music

[LinkinParkConnoisseur]

For people comparing pop music with Linkin Park's Living things and A thousand suns:
Please hear the mainstream pop then listen to songs like waiting for the end & Burn It Down. there is a huge difference, You can hear it has more passion to it.

[Operationfozzback]

LP new album was based off of their lives, they did what they wanted with this album.

[susansimpson]

All the unloyal mf fans calling him a sell Never got LP...how Chester lived through his music, the lyrics the pain now that Chester is gone maybe yawl get Mike was doing it for Chester being a loyal I appreciate every song, their music saved my life and his death has fucking devestated me..I hope each of you feel like shit..I never sold em out..."lyrics" "I'm holding on
Why is everything so heavy?
Holding on
To so much more than I can carry
I keep dragging around what's bringing me down
If I just let go, I'd be set

(FROM AN INTERVIEW WHAT THE SONG MEANT TO
Kerrang! asked Chester Bennington what "heavy" means to him. He replied: "When we were making the record we would start the songs off with these really interesting conversations, and we'd all relate to them in different ways. There's always something in my head either going, 'What are you doing?' or just mocking me. Typically when I'm inside my head like that, that's when I find myself in a bad, heavy situation."
The song centers around paranoia and fixating upon oneself. "This song is about ego - when it all boils down to the dirty nasty truth of it all, the thing that gets all of us caught up, is our projected self-image, " Bennington told Genius. "That's the epitome of self-loathing as well as rubbing it in someone's face at the same time. Like, 'I know I'm not the center of the universe, but you keep spinning around.' For me, that's the addict and the co-dependent. That's the person addicted to the thing. That's the person who's addicted to the person who's addicted to the thing."
Bennington told Music Choice: "My whole life, I've just felt a bit off. I find myself getting into these patterns of behavior and thought - especially when I'm stuck up here [points to head]. I like to say that 'this is like a bad neighborhood, and I should not go walking alone.'"

He added: "Most of my problems are problems that I cause myself. That's what that song's about: that time when you consciously look at that. Once you acknowledge what it is, you can separate yourself from it and do something about it, as opposed to just being in it."

Chester I hope you are now "set free" from all the pain you lived through wrote and sang about and I wish Mike the best He is not a hypocrite he was a great friend with wonderful talent...."fuck your critics" now I know why you cursed them out in a statement!

[stevengrantofthegiftshop]

I totally get his point of view and I agree to an extent, but also it's hard to not get offended if you're one of these bands

[mohammedhamdan]

people calling linkin park hypocrates: mike never said the new album was gonna be a rock album

[achyutanmadhusudan]

The word "intentionally" in 1:26 is really important for people calling LP hypocrites.LP wasent trying to make pop so that so that it would have greater appeal ....they made it cause the lyrics were such that only a 'pop-ish' track was befitting

[AND_SO_TODAYYY]

Tbh with just the context of this video I think it’s easy to see One More Light as the band contradicting all that they stood for on this album. At least from my understanding tho they never said that they were going to keep making heavy albums and it seems very out of their character to do that. Mike was referring to hearing more pop than rock on alternative radio, which is part of why they made THP. One More Light’s focus was the lyrics, not the sound - it was a very personal album bc of what was going on in their lives at the time. They simply made a heavy record to stir things up and maybe encourage more material like that into the mainstream again, then made a more lyric centred one because they wanted to. LP were equally as passionate about making both records. This is just my interpretation based on what else I’ve seen but as someone who loves both albums i wanted to state my opinion on it

[manjus]

ALWAYS AND FOREVER LINKINPARK AND CHESTER

[devindash]

The reality is music is a business. The labels are in it to make money and certain chords sequences sound good. There are only so many chord progressions that people want to listen to. There are only so many BPM that people are willing to sance to and there are only so many frontmen that people are willing to pay to see. This adds up to the same music being released again and again. If you are in it for the music then it is hard to be in it for the money. LP got lucky in that they came around during the beginning of the second wave of nu metal and brought along a bit of an electronic sound that wasn't being done. The key to LP is with Joe Hahn. Their players are all good at what they do and Mike is a strong creative mind but without that electronica-before-it's-time element they had on Hybrid theory they would have been just another nu-metal band.

[yogzibear]

Of Mice And Men are such a sick band it's so amazing that he mentioned them

[elizabethsj]

I agree. The hipsterish music can get really boring. I'm not against it and like Mike I also listen to some of that music, but the guitar, drums, and bass are very powerful instruments and it can feel restricted if the indie styled (whatever the style's is named) song isn't done well and sometimes they're missing. I want shredding guitars and epic loud drums just as much, or maybe a tiny bit more, as the calm and pleasurable indie stuff.

[yat]

He is saying indie jingles not going move needle for pop and rock
He want music should be transparent, if you want to make rock go for it and same goes for pop

[vervain]

Paramore should listen to this. I used to love Paramore but just as Mike said, they're making indie tunes to appeal more to a pop audience now.

[calderarecords]

We've made innovative music but from the 300 people we asked to listen, just 12 people responded. People don't seem to want to listen to truly compelling or original music anymore. They just want trends. Sad really.

[acerhythm]

You all completely missed the point of what he was saying.

He says that the problem was linkin park was moving towards the whole indie jingle thing and he didnt want that to happen any furhter. Not that they didnt, but that they were and they needed to turn quick. which they did if you even listened to thp. i dont know about you, but Keys To the Kingdom could have easily been an OMAM song.

[IbanezJFS]

When it comes to Rock/Metal bands I think the problem is that so many bands are trying to be heavier than the next, more brutal than the next, more louder than the next to the point where it's become a pissing contest and they are all starting to sound the same and sure I like some of but come on guy we have enough of that already. One of the reason why I LOVE RAMMSTEIN is because they learned that the simplest most basic riffs are often the best and if you want proof of this check out their live show....You can't afford to put on a show like that by trying to be like everyone else.

[Gladesboylife]

The way to move the rock/pop needle is to bring back your Metora and Hyrbid Theory style. Hybrid was way ahead of its time. To this day I can't find myself going 24 hours without listening to one song off of it. Hope they wake up and go back to the music that made them famous one day.

[BlinkPS]

And 3 years after this video was published, they just released a new single called "Heavy", and it's EVERYTHING they were against making!!!! I feel like Mike and the rest of the band became kinda hypocritical about saying things like "the current status of rock is weak" and "we don't wanna make jingles for Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel", but this new single sounds exactly like something that would come from a Disney Channel soundtrack.

[GILFHUNTER]

Mike shinoda so fuckin smart. They need to start touring and moving towards the sound like Issues, motionless in white, volumes, etc. I kno they can and I can tell they want to.

[lostteen]

If he doesn't like what's being played on a rock station then take it up with the radio station not the bands. CHVRCHES never said they were rock or indie. What are they gonna do, make themselves sound like rock because of the possibility that they might be played on a rock station? And also how can CHVRCHES go from being "fresh" to "writing jingles" when they have only one album? LOGIC!