Linkin Park - Hilath's Home Page

What do I think of Linkin Park and their music?

by Hilath (14 March 2002)

Time Magazine did a cover story on Linkin Park, saying they were the most sucessful band of last year (2001), selling 7 million copies (multiplatinum status) of their debut album "Hybrid Theory." Time Magazine wrote the headline, "Who said nice guys finish last?", and in answer to being "nice", Linkin Park lead vocalist Chester Benningham says that "it wasn't a conscious decision not to use profane in our lyrics." The band said that, they found that they could give the kind of message they wanted to give out, without resorting to profanity.

Some people say that Linkin Park "betrayed" their genre of numetal music. In other words, you are expected to use profanity if you make this kind of music. They accuse that Linkin Park uses clean lyrics so that they can appeal to a broader market, and hence, make more money. There is no doubt that youngsters (like my sister and my cousins, who I recently found out are hardcore Linkin Park fans) are the majority who buys music, or convince their parents to buy music for them. (Perhaps, I should do a research and write about the "Linkin Park phenomenon in Maldives", and why the band enjoys such a broad fan base, and especially why the band's music appeals to little kids.) Could the guys at Linkin Park have foreseen this? Perhaps, like all other bands, Linkin Park always had commercial success in mind, but who doesn't?

In the article by Time Magazine, they said that Limp Bizkit and Korn debuted on to the music scene with perfect professionalism with profane lyrics, written "more professionally" such that the message was conveyed to the listener without hassle. In contrast, Time Magazine says that Linkin Park's lyrics have an amateur-ishness about it. But my point is, it is that amateur-ishness itself which makes their music, and the thoughts the songs convey, more raw, and therefore, very original in their own way! This is exactly why I love Linkin Park's songs, and I am sure a good reason why millions of other fans love Linkin Park as well.

Though Time Magazine generally praised Linkin Park, they said that the mainstream press demonised the band because their lyrics, some of the time, were vague and ambiguous. Time Magazine said that like Limp Bizkit and Korn, Linkin Park has the potential to come to a stronger and equal footing with other bands if they make their next album with more discipline. Does "discipline" mean that Linkin Park should polish their lyrics?

My point is: aren't things that are not-so-perfect, kind of romantic and appealing? I know that 'romantic' is not the word to describe Linkin Park songs but in general I find things that are innocent, rugged, raw and amateur very liberating and very human, and it makes me go high and sweat! I guess this is the kind of 'arousal' I get from listening to music. Unlike some other people I know, who describe music as a kind of "drug", for me music sends my spirits high and makes me forget all the depressions inside. Like a few other bands, Linkin Park has that effect on me, and no doubt on many other fans as well.

As to Linkin Park's lyrics in "Hybrid Theory", although some of it is vague and not so straightforward, but becasue of the words and phrases they use, I understand what the guys are trying to convey (Perhaps Linkin Park's "amateur-ishness" comes from the fact that they are young; they are guys my age. Aren't we all amateur at that age?) But despite this setback, I can identify with them my own sense of alienation in a society which is becoming less and less identifiable with my own values (like doing favors, giving and giving and not expecting anything back, hence, the phrase "The sun doesn't give light to the moon, assuming the moon's going to owe it one" from Linkin Park's song, "A Place for my Head"). One of my classmates in Malaysia, Lorena, told me that she also sees in Linkin Park's lyrics the same kind of things we are fighting for or fighting against (like we studied in Mass Comm Theory class) like oppression, sense of alienation, betrayal by our closest people, etc. Because of this, even though Linkin Park does not use profanity, Lorena said that while she lets her kids listen to Linkin Park, she is not sure whether she should, because her kids are at a very tender age and therefore, she doesn't want them to come out of their innocence yet and realise the harsh realities of life. Just like the thoughts I expressd in my article "Deconstructing Britney (Spears)".

To conlude, perhaps Linkin Park is vague, and needs more "discipline" when they are writing their lyrics, but I don't care about that at the moment. As long as their music can send me to that part of existence which no other band has ever sent me, I will continue to love Linkin Park.

*This "article" was actually part of an email I wrote to my friend Sharif Ali (who, when he came back recently from Malaysia brought to me Meteora's CD and "Making of Meteora" DVD), but since this was a good analysis of my thoughts about Linkin Park's first album "Hybrid Theory", I thought it would well worth be publishing here on my Linkin Park page. Linkin Park's latest album, "Meteora", is out now, and many visitors keep asking me what I think of "Meteora". For the time being, until I can get my thoughts organised well, let me simply say that "Meteora" is just out of this world, very deep, meaningful, and sooths me at all times of the day whenever I listen to it. "Meteora" is also more mature and non-commercial sounding than "Hybrid Theory" which nevertheless remains close to my heart to this day.

Click here to find out what "Meteora" is all about.