The lead single of an album is meant to be the song that captures the attention of fans (wether diehard or occasionals) and a way to present the record.
With our fav band LP, we sometimes faced great choices, weird ones and simply not convincing picks.
I personally think it this way, going on for each record:
1. OSC: this falls in the middle, it's not a bad choice IMO, presented the band with that aggressive/nu metal sound that was super popular, but on the other hand I think many will agree that OSC is one of the weakest songs off the record.
2. SIB: Good choice, radio friendly for the time and displays the band's highlights. It may not be the best song on the record but cool choice.
3. WID: perfect choice to display the change in sound, very representative of MTM philosophy (more rock, less nu metal) and a major hit for the band.
4. The Catalyst: super risky move, one of my fav LP songs, but they took a high risk picking a song that's not radio friendly at all. WFTE as a 2nd single was very appropriate to balance that.
5. BID: not the strongest song on the record IMO (I'd put it just above a couple of other songs off LT) but it was a massive hit, so I guess it was the right move. I'd have picked IMR as second instead of LITE, looking at things from a "commercial" POV.
6. GATS: disastrous choice IMO, the song is good and I know the band wanted to drop it as 1st single going VS the label, but the song sound and that Project Spark video made it the least succesful first single of their career. Another risky move, but managed in a less "clever" way than Catalyst. I'd have picked Rebellion as 1st single, still heavy but more radio appealing.
7. Heavy: this is the weird one, in its studio version the song is easily one of the weakest songs on the album (even tho I like it) and even hardcore fans always put it in the weak side of the record (with stuff like GG) but I think it was a quite good choice commercially, because it entered Billboard and stayed there for months and got pretty good radio play.
What's your opinion you guys? Disagree with me? Show me your thoughts;)