mac

Agreed completely

Imagine people watching the astounding return of Linkin Park, singing his songs and sharing his legacy with hundreds of thousands of fans all over the world in the biggest celebration of his work imaginable, and still thinking... 'Man, I can't believe they don't honour Chester'

Maybe. It seems more likely they'll just focus on one individual show for future release at some point. They're clearly just not up for livestreams right now for any number of possible reasons.

Seems like there'll have been a specific, purposeful decision made at some point to have no livestream for now. We can only speculate why. My best guess would be that they're very aware of getting every aspect of this comeback right, and they're just being very protective of how their show is presented. They have control of the live show, and control over their own video releases, but don't necessarily have full quality control over how a local livestream broadcaster presents the show. I think now, more than any other time in the band's history and with so much riding on this comeback being a success, they'll be protective of what they have and how it's presented to the world. Let the world judge the comeback by the album and by attending a concert in-person - not by a random third-party livestream. Just my guess!

I'm not totally convinced you understand how summer works?

Maybe, but I don't see why they wouldn't. DJs will grab material from literally anywhere they can think of (and always have). But regardless, most digital LP releases, including acapellas and instrumentas, are often also available for purchase and download from platforms like Qobuz, HDTracks, and possibly even Amazon and Apple Music last I checked, for those DJs looking for an official download. They're also usually available on the band's official YouTube channel, which (rightly or wrongly) I'm sure is generally the most popular source for hobbyist remixers to grab many of their instrumentals, acapellas and stems.

Likely different purposes across different releases. Realistically, anything released as an acapella is done so with the intent that it be available to remixers/producers/DJs to make music content, since acapellas have little commercial or musical appeal to a regular listening audience. Living Things has this, Hunting Party has this, One More Light can't be judged because the whole OML campaign was tragically cut short only a few weeks in, and now From Zero has this. So, other than the unforeseen circumstances of the OML cycle, this has been consistent across studio album cycles from 2012 to present. Papercuts feels like a very different thing with a different purpose that's completely unique. It's presumably actually aimed at the wider listening public - it's their biggest classic hits, released officially for the first time as an instrumental listening experience for Joe Public, and they went to the effort of having a brand new (re)mastering job done for the instrumental album which is an unusual level of effort to go to for 'just' an instrumental release. I think it's fair to conclude it's much more of a purposeful musical release for the wider listening public to be enjoyed from start to finish as an album and remastered to best reflect this - not just a nice bonus add-on for remixers. It remains to be seen if From Zero will also get an instrumental release to accompany the acapellas (Emptiness Machine had an official instrumental on the CD single, so it's more than possible), but other than that oddity, so far I think it's a little more cohesive across the studio albums from 2012-2025 than it might initially seem on the surface. Obviously just my speculative opinion!

Fairly certain that was Mike dedicating Numb to Brooklyn, with it's Jay-Z intro reference

I don't like covers either - no one should be playing Beethoven after 1827. That's his shit. I hate how everyone is suddenly a Beethoven fan since he died. It's not like a sizable portion of musical history is built upon people performing other people's music and that's a large part of why musical works even survive in the first place, or anything. Also, here's a homophobic slur, because I'm 11 years old.

Oh, dude, trust me it's all good! Genuinely got a laugh from that reaction (trust me, the number of time's I've heard that thing, I f'king hate that guitar too... I hardly blame 'em!). Fan of the site and long-time lurker. Enjoying the shortlist in the original post. All good x

Heck, I'll take it! * Hammers piano repeatedly, something about ruby quartz glasses and inanimate obstacles... *

Great news, very much looking forward to the record! Although it feels a bit strange to be talking about a new record so "soon" (in "LP years") after the last record. Good to see they're still committed to releasing more music, more often. I think people are maybe misinterpreting Mr Trapanese's comments about Mike/Linkin Park being "pop" music. He's contrasting his experience of working in the film industry to Mike's experience working in the popular/contemporary/modern-day music industry. He uses the term "pop" in a generic sense, as an umbrella term for modern music, where the focus on records/singles/radio differs entirely from his work of scoring music for motion pictures. I think he could have said this regardless of what pop/rock/punk/metal/hip hop/dance artist was sat next to him, simply to refer to the industry they work in. In a generic sense, Linkin Park music is "pop" (popular/modern) music. Beethoven, for example - not so much.

What else are you looking for from a musician but good songs?

The first (and possibly only) time I will see Limp Bizkit and Monty Python in the same sentence! Surely there are laws against this sort of thing! I jest dude, each to their own

That's alright, no worries! It's not a major issue at the end of the day, I'll just have to be patient and wait for the physical CD to arrive and I can relish in my lossless audio bubble to my heart's content Good luck with your college courses! That preview of Program is really nostalgic. I used to listen to that clip from the Frat Party DVD so much that, in my head, I can still hear Phoenix doodling on an unplugged guitar in the background behind the camera. Then the moment when it jumps to the scene of Mike playing with the Somewhere I Belong sample. And then... actually, forget the description, I'm off to watch Frat Party now...