Justin

I disagree with this entire comment, but I feel like I need to point out that Brad is still in the band.

Yeah but the flipside of that logic is that the band still wants to be the band. What I mean is that if Chester were here, this would've been a song that Chester sang solo without Mike, just like Emily sung it solo without Mike. I don't think the band is going to say "You sound great Emily, but unfortunately you're not a man so either you need to scream or Mike is going to need a vocal part in this song at some point".

I mean I was just going by Chester's own comments during the ATS era when he said "I don't want to scream anymore. I think all of us at that point were going, ‘If I keep doing this, this is just what I’m going to keep doing for the rest of my life.’” Then in 2012 he said "I'm a 36 year old man. I'm not an angst-ridden teenager anymore." So I'm not saying there's a cut-off age where an artist must stop making nu-metal. I'm saying that Chester himself alluded to not wanting to make that type of music anymore as he got older. Not entirely. That album is about real feelings that the band members were having in their lives at that time, some of which were negative, but it's not like the album is a downer as a whole. There are some positive songs on that album that convey a message of hope. Yes, but they didn't want to deliver it in the style of Hybrid Theory. That's partly why they did a nu-metal version as a joke and then said "There's your Hybrid Theory, now shut the fuck up" before having to edit that comment out due to so many "fans" feeling personally insulted.

Then go listen to the albums by them that fit that description. Everyone in the band aside from Emily and Colin is pushing 50. If they aren’t inspired to make nu-metal and they try forcing it, it would be apparent in the finished product. Right, because as we all know the band doesn’t make a move without Mike’s approval. The democratic process in the studio that the band has always talked about is just a lie to cover for the fact that Mike, and Mike alone, makes all creative decisions for the band and is not to be questioned by anyone.

Yeah I figured. I was being genuine because these discussions are interesting. I have to believe that thought came up with the band as they were choosing the singles. Ultimately I think that the haters will find a way to criticize no matter what, so they probably just put all thoughts about potential haters aside. HITC is probably the closest the band has come to the HT/Meteora sound since that era ended, and the haters were still out in force saying that Emily was trying to copy Chester and that the scream was an attempt to one-up Chester's scream on Given Up, etc. So I don't think they'll ever say "Now this is Linkin Park!" no matter what as long as Emily is their vocalist. With that said, if they keep trying to appeal to those people and win them over, they'd run the risk of coming off as way too try-hard as if they feel they need to prove that they are indeed still Linkin Park. There's definitely a balance to be had when choosing singles from this album.

Can you elaborate? What do you mean by "songs like this", and what type of songs would you personally be releasing as singles if you were the one making those decisions? I'm asking because Over Each Other sounds like it's meant to be a radio single. It's catchy and not too overpowering. I think it'll do well.

It's possible, but the way Mike has consistently described the sessions as low pressure "let's see what happens" situations, I wouldn't count on him having had Fiore in the studio shooting professional footage. I'm not saying there's nothing, but there probably isn't as much as past LP albums. I still wish we'd have gotten to see more of the OML recording sessions.

Ok wtf. I know exactly where that is. That's in Fife, Washington. Just outside of Tacoma. I know that because I was just in Tacoma a few days ago and I went into that casino. EQC - Emerald Queen Casino.

Idk about that last one. Slipknot is touring now and they have 4 members over 50. If they can still do it with all the energy that goes into their live shows, LP can do it if they want. They’ll just reduce their schedule and not do too many back to back shows probably.

I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of them doing something in the future, but LP just by its very nature is her main project now. They’re a global brand and will take most of her time. When she is home and LP has a break, that’s her time to relax and be with family. Dead Sara will definitely be a side project to work on whenever there’s an extended break from LP rather than another band that she splits her time with equally. That’s why there was only one FM album and one DBS album. She said the other members of the band were supportive, which is nice.

I wish I could say even this. LP is huge in the USA, but from what I understand they're bigger elsewhere. I remember an interview with Mike where he hypothesized that part of it was LP's age, because the mainstream audience's attention in the USA tends to focus on who is new, young, and current, whereas some other countries don't put as much emphasis on age in their culture.

I think they’re in sort of a no-win situation as far as the press is concerned, considering the fact that they also picked up on Chester’s family’s negative reaction when Mike did mention Chester.

😂😂😂 I doubt that was the intent but it made me legit laugh.

I hope so. I really like Zane Lowe's interviews.

It could be that Rob personally felt like LP without Chester isn't LP and he didn't want to do it, and the rest of the band were like "Ok cool... but maybe don't say that publicly? At least not right now as we're going to already be facing a bunch of criticism from a portion of the fanbase/media who will be feeling the same way? Maybe don't throw gasoline on that particular fire just as we're reestablishing ourselves?" That was basically John Deacon's position on Queen after Freddie Mercury died. Mike did say the band was jamming, but not like "We're returning as LP!" He said they were just hanging out and making music and seeing what would happen, and that the shift towards "This feels like Linkin Park" was a gradual one. Rob may not have shared that feeling, and may no longer have been cool with it after things started moving in that direction. I mean since we're all speculating at this point, I figured I'd throw my own speculation in lol

I feel like Mike didn't want to speak for Rob and say anything concrete about why he did or didn't choose to leave since it's not his place. Rob can speak for himself if and when he chooses to elaborate on why he chose to not return. Occam's razor says it's that he didn't want to continue on in a version of LP without Chester. It can't just be that he doesn't want to tour anymore considering that is Brad's issue and they've worked around that for him. With that said, I don't want to assume his reasons either. I just don't think it's incredibly likely that we'll get anything from Rob if we haven't already.

This was great! I love LPL.

This is a great point. I'm sure every front man of a band may feel differently. With Chester being gone, we can't ask how he feels about LP continuing after his death. That is exactly why I defer to the band and trust their decision to carry on, because they knew him and we didn't. So if anyone were in a position to come close to saying "Chester would want this" or "Chester wouldn't want this" it definitely wouldn't be any of the fans who have been saying exactly that all over the internet. It'd be the band.

I'm obviously just speculating wildly here, but I have a strong feeling that Good Things Go will be a ballad to close out the album.

You're right. I should've said "mixed" rather than "remixed". My point was that those songs would not have sounded the way they do on M20 had they actually made it onto Meteora's tracklist in 2003, so to say that HITC sounds like a demo from 2003 because it sounds like the songs from the Lost Demos CD, which is what the person was saying that I responded to originally, is incorrect.

Lost, Fighting Myself, and More the Victim were all remixed for release last year. They weren't just sitting on a hard drive sounding like the versions we got on Meteora 20. They took the stems and mixed them as if they had just been recorded last year. So to say HITC has a similar mix makes sense since the songs were mixed a year apart.

I think they probably felt like She Couldn't was more of a finished song than Stick N Move. It just needed some polish to make it radio ready. They also may have felt that She Couldn't was more likely to have radio success in 2020 than Stick N Move would've been. There's also the fact that Mike probably would've wanted to scrap his verses and start over, or at least re-record them, if Stick N Move was going to be a single. I'm pretty sure he said he had to be convinced by the rest of the band to not do that with Fighting Myself.

I would love for Rebellion to be played again. I love that song. One of my favorites from THP!

I hope y’all aren’t genuinely surprised that Mike Shinoda forgot something!

Her voice is sort of Tim McIlrath-esque when she sings aggressively.