Josh: "We never listen to ourselves on the road because we play it 5,6 nights a week. everything. Disturbed, Linkin Park, Marilyn Mason, like I said, we're huge fans. Pantera, Fiona Apple....."
Think Abouts
Here you can read, what other bands/persons think about LP/their members.
Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society
About other bands at Ozzfest: "The Linkin Park guys got their Limp Bizkit thing, but they're younger kids and shit like that. Who's goin' after us? Fuckin' Crazy Town, I think ? Well, fuckin' good luck. We'll destroy them -- fuckin' destroy them!"
Hit Parader:Having spent the past summer on Ozzfest, what newer bands are you liking?
Zakk:"Well, Linkin Park- My kids play their stuff all the time, and all the songs are really good and the production is slamming. I never got a chance to really listen to it on Ozzfest-other than what they play on the radio, and stuff like that, but the guitar tones are fucking slamming on the rest of the record, and the way they use the two different voices is really cool. It's good, the whole fucking nine yards, man...Not that I'm going to be putting any rap on any of my fucking albums anytime soon!�
Brock from 36 Crazyfists, from Kerrang! Magazine
Kerrang: Your debut album, 'Bitterness the Star', is a hard edged affair. Have you consciously avoided making a pop-metal album a la Linkin park and P.O.D?
Brock: "We consciously avoided being anything predictable. Those bands are all good at what they do but they seem like they've been cookie-cuttered out and we don't want to be like that. We're pretty funny about that. If we have a riff that sounds like something similar to one of those bands we're really anal about it and steer clear of it - even if it sounds good. We don't want to be a part of all that."
Chris from 3 Doors Down, from NYRock
Chris: "...And the rap-rock stuff is great, I love it. It's really aggressive. But you heard one, you heard 'em all, in my opinion. And when we were writing the music [to The Better Life], I thought it was great stuff and everybody around me seemed to like it. Now you got bands like Linkin Park that mix the two, they rap for a little while and they have melody as well."
NYRock: and you guys like that mixing?
Chris: "Oh, I love it. I love it. It gives you the aggressive part and the melodic part at the same time.�
40 Below Summer
Max: "I can�t say anything really pisses me off, there�s a diversity, there are bands I don�t like, bands I do like but the bands I don�t like, that�s just a matter of opinion, and my opinion is just like anyone else�s, it matters about as much as a cup of coffee so, who gives a shit? Whether I fuckin� love Slipknot or hate Slipknot, they�re still selling a million records, whether I love Linkin Park or hate Linkin Park, those are two ends of the spectrum of metal music, they�re selling 10 million records ya�know what I mean? Whether I love System, ya�know �cause they�re all weird and off to the side, and they do their own System thing or I hate them, they�re selling records, and all those bands are good in their own way, they�re just not, ya�know, us we do our thing our way they do their thing their way. Ya�know, and I�m not going to say anyone of those bands is bad because they�re not, they can all play their instruments, and they can all do their parts well. And as far as Slipknot, you know we love them, that�s the whole reason why we�re here where we are, ya�know it�s pretty much because of Slipknot so I mean when I first head their record I was blown away.
Adema
Marky in the June 2002 issue of Metal Hammer:�What I think Linkin Park do well is that I think they touch on all the things that people can relate to in their songs. What I often say on stage it's great to see large crowds of people having fun together 'cos there's a lot of fucked up shit going on in the world. I think parents who are scared of this music are fools because their kids could be doing a lot worse by coming to on Adema show or a Linkin Park show or a Korn show. You'd rather have your kids at a concert that on the streets than
doing dumb ass shit."
Kris in Rock Sound Magazine talking about his 13 year old daughter ('03):"Her favorite band is Linkin Park. It's been very convenient for her that we've been touring with them, but lately I haven't allowed her to come to as many gigs because she's been getting into too much trouble.�
Alien Ant Farm
Question: You haven't played any pranks on Linkin Park yet?
Tye: "Nah, not yet. You could see how easy it would be to get kicked off the tour. They're like really strict. It's cool though cause like the singer, he hangs out with us a lot, Chester, always on stage when we play, always hanging out, he's like the only one in the group that drinks, he hangs out and he'll drink with us, he's really a cool guy.�
Beautiful Creatures (Taken from their tour journal Tinley Park, IL June 7th-8th, 2001 By Anthony Focx "After lunch, we ventured out to watch some of the other bands on the bill, I personally watched Union Underground and Disturbed on stage 2nd, then walked to main stage to try and see some of Linkin Park. As I walked up, I heard the echoing sounds of their 2nd single "Crawling" as I reached the sound board (which took about 10 min.) they kicked into their big hit "One Step Closer To The Edge" and the crowd lost it. They Rocked! I also had a chance to see Papa Roach and Slipknot, Thought they were very cool.�
Blink 182
Tom, after winning a Much Music Video Award over Linkin Park: "I can see why we won over Linkin Park and Creed because we're a better band."
Crazy Town
Question from some interview: What new music are you into now?
Seth: "One Minute Silence, (I love that band), Linkin Park, Chester�s Our Boy, it�s all basically the same shit. I love Nine Inch Nails too....."
Deadsy
Question from Deadsy.com: What was it like playing on the Family Values tour?
Elijah Blue Allman: "It was a trial by fire. It was really nice to be in that environment because you are brought to another standard. Those guys are obviously serious professionals, everyone of those guys, especially Static-X and Linkin Park. I just learned a lot and took it all in."
Def Leppard, Joe Elliot From Defleppard.com:"...my favorite song of all time is Mott The Hoople's ALL THE YOUNG DUDES. Written by David Bowie. Mott being around for a long time, never had a hit, Bowie writes a song for them, and they become huge! That never bothered any of their fans, it certainly never bothered ME. So that would be a yardstick for me, to like, not give a shit; MY favorite song was written FOR somebody BY somebody else. It will be recognizable as Def Leppard, the same way that Limp Bizkit is recognizable to Limp Bizkit fans. Or Linkin Park are to Linkin Park fans, or Marilyn Manson to his fans . It changes a bit..... It moves on..... But it still has a recognizable sound. No artist should be embarrassed to be recognizable as himself, cause that's the reason to do it in the first place! I get annoyed when I hear artist act like "Ok, I've made this thing now,and now I have to make something that sounds nothing like what made me popular."
Deftones
1. Chino from Rock Sound Magazine when asked [what made doing this tour special for you?]:"I think this time with the support acts we've got two younger bands, Taproot and Linkin Park, who are really cool cos if you bring out older bands... like with Incubus even, I think they're a little bit younger than us but they still function like an older band, you know? They're kinda set in their ways. I think of the life of these young people out with us, sparking us up; I'm hoping this tour's going to be insane, back like our first tour where anything could happen. Otherwise it gets boring."
2. Abe in responce to PRP interview that asked: How does it feel to have Linkin Park support you despite the fact they are more commercially successful right now? �I think its funny. I couldn't give a shit. They have never been over here before. Linkin Park are a band that you either love or hate and they got a lot of shit.�
3. Chino in responce to this question: [Why would you support Limp Bizkit in the UK?]:"I look at it like we are playing a show. People don't admit they like Limp Bizkit, I said something to the crowd last night (in Manchester) about Limp Bizkit and everyone stated booing. But I know for a fact that all those kids would go to see Limp Bizkit play, and they probably own a Limp Bizkit album, they have to - why do they sell so many records....I don't dislike Limp Bizkit's music, the same way with Linkin Park, it's very formulated and predictable and I think it's good for what it is. It's like a party youthful record, and I look at it like that."
4. Chi Cheng in Micstand Magazine, 2001 issue Micstand: On a recent episode of MTV�s Cribs I actually saw Steph at the home of Chester from Linkin Park. Are all of you guys friends with Linkin Park?
CHI: "Yeah, we�re all friends with Linkin Park. I mean, Stephen lives in LA and the rest of us live in Sacramento, so he�s a little closer on the scene than the rest of us. How was Chester�s house was it cool?"
Micstand: Yeah, it was cool, but on the same episode they featured the construction of the Osbourne�s new home and obviously nothing can hold a candle to that it was just sic.
CHI: "I�m sure that was totally off the hook."
5. Chino, from Revolver Magazine (8/03) about opening for Summer Sanitarium:"A big problem for me was opening for Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park two bands that wouldn't exist if it weren't for me, straight up!"
Disturbed
Question from Metal-is:There has been an accusation that certain bands in the nu-metal scene, such as Linkin Park, are manufactured, and therefore no better than the boy bands most of us detest.
Dan Donegan: "I think Linkin Park are great(laughs). There aren't a lot of two-vocalist bands that I like, but I think Linkin Park are really good. We've done a few shows with them, and they're a really great band and really nice people. Their album "Hybrid Theory" is one of my favorites out at the moment. Sure, I like aggressive stuff, but Linkin Park are a great band, and the vocalist can sing and I like that in a vocalist."
Evanescence, Amy Lee in 6/14/03 issue of Kerrang! about the accusation of sounding like Linkin Park:"Hmmm...Well, I wouldn't call it an accusation because Linkin Park is a very good band. But we do hear that comparison a lot."
Ben: "We only have one song that sounds like Linkin Park."
Godsmack, from Launch
Sully, about Linkin Park's Grammy nominations: "I'll tell you who I'm really happy for as young as they are and doing as well as they are is Linkin Park, I think their stuff is really good. At first it took me a second to get what they were doing, but I think they pulled it off in a really clever way considering this rap-rock thing has kind of been on its way out. I think they do it really well, and I'm excited for them. There's a lot of new bands coming up and doing some amazing things and that's just one band I've noticed I think is doing a great job."
Good Charlotte
Billy: "I just bought the new Linkin Park album, I think those guys are really good"
Joel: "Linkin Park is really the only Nu Metal group that I listen to."
Headstrong, From Prick Magazine: "We did try to avoid the whole rap-rock stigma. Even though it's popular right now, it's a dirty term. It's got no credibility to it even though, you know, Linkin Park's doing fine and they're a rap-rock band."
Jurassic 5
Chali 2na, about working on frgt/10 for Reanimation: "When me and Mike was vibing at his crib, man, on that song, I really got a full-fledged appreciation for how he sees hip-hop, man. You know what I'm saying? Just looking at the structure, how it's made. The rappers that he thought to use. I mean, I thought that, it took, it took balls man. And it took knowledge of what's actually going on with some good music."
Korn
Fieldy, from Revolver Magazine:"I'm not hating on Linkin Park or Limp Bizkit, because we can't do this alone, but we've been doin this shit for 10 years, when those bands came out selling 7 million records, it was like 'What about us?' We've paved the way for all these guys and its finally our time to sell some records. A lot of these other bands just had to scream to sell a million records. We had to bust our asses for a decade"
Led Zeppelin, from kerrang.com:
Kerrang.com:The single Morning Dew is an old song you've re recorded, why did you feel it was relevant now?
RP: "It was written in 1962 and it's just a beautiful song. It's about the Holocaust, it talks about being mis-informed . It's a beautiful vignette I've carried with me and it's just popular entertainment. Like Linkin Park or Creed, it's commercial but responsible at the same time. I'm an old guy I've been around a long time and I know how to do music with soul not just make cash."
Kerrang.com: Do you like Linkin Park or Creed then?
RP: "They're popular at the moment but there's room for a lot of music. The most immediate way to the soul isn't necessarily that form of power, it can be lyrics also. I wrote the lyrics to Kashmir, Stairway To Heaven and Black Dog and we had many different sides to Zep not just the hard core. You know, you can do damage with velvet as well as steel, you can caress with steel or bludgeon with velvet it's just projection really."
Kerrang.com: Are people just bored of manufactured bands now?
RP: "Maybe but how can we tell? The record labels that subsidise Kerrang! still put in adverts for Linkin Park, so that's just hype and money. All wheels within wheels. I mean Linkin Park aren't offensive and are only about as relevant as Rainbow were in Zeps day. It's just anthems for the day I suppose. The difference is Zep could do 15 minute songs and today is quite formulaic, I mean can you imagine a rhythm section playing quietly for ten minutes while someone tells you a story about Mud Sharks?"
Liam Lynch on 'Somewhere I Belong', from Ziazine!:�I know this group is deep and percieved as intense by their fans but the truth is this song bugs me a little. I guess it's not their fault. I'm just bothered by bands like this with this typical song formula. Heavy compressed guitar riff rapping about being crazy from alienation you feel and how the world doesn't understand, scream-singing a chorus, then back into the rap. It's so tired. How many of these songs are there? It's so lame to one of those rap-rock goups. It's like 'See, everyone can be like us b/c the versus are rap BUT our chorus parts are rock.' These songs don't try to help people unless you consider empathy as therapy. I think they keep teens in a bad mood. Every single person on earth suffers from feeling alone. It's because there is only one soul per body. Making music videos that look like depressed Asia or Toto album covers doesn't help either."
Limp Bizkit
Wes Borland, About rap-rock bands, in Kerrang mag:"It's so boring now, I don't really like a lot of music that's out right now. I feel partially responsible for that. We've influenced a lot of bands that I think are terrible. It's just like, c'mon - Linkin Park? Crazy Town? I just want to stab my eyeball out with a screwdriver. I've completely stopped watching MTV or M2.
It's disgusting."
Just a note, Since that comment, Wes has supposedly retracted his statement or apologized for judging Linkin Park too quickly (and before actually seeing them live in concert).
Marilyn Manson: "Bands like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, they are, in a sense, a scarier version of the the boy bands. For the really rowdy 12-year-old girls."
Note: Marilyn Manson remixed Linkin Park's song 'By Myself' which was released as a b-side to Reanimation.
Metallica
James in Rock Sound about touring with Linkin Park on Summer Sanitarium: "I wasn't particularly jumping for joy over Linkin Park, but they are good at what they do."
Mogwai
Braithwaite in Kerrang: "I hate Linkin Park, to me it sounds like really bad Depeche Mode with downtuned guitars over the top."
Nelly
When asked for his 'Best Video of the Year' prediction at the 2002 Vma's: "I like a lot of those, I like the P.O.D. joint, I like the Linkin Park joint. You know of course my dirty is up there, the St. Louis boys they're doing their thing, they're hanging up there, they're gone. I don't know its tough up there right now."
New Found Glory
Response to a Punkbands.com interview that asked them about sellouts.
S:"No, bands like Saliva, Linkin Park, like all the radio bands ...like all these bands you never heard of until they got signed to a major label and never toured, those bands are bands that are just made to sell records, they are a machine! Ya know what I'm saying? They put out a song and tour and sell a million records. And it's like we worked for every step and taken every step slowly so we learn everything along the way, and learn what to do and what not to do. We look at other bands and know not to do those things those other bands do.
Ian on newfoundglory.com about dissing LP: "I don't think Linkin Park are sell outs; I like their music and just bought their new cd, I don't really pay any attention to the word 'sell out' because who am I to say if someone is a sell out or not; Plus my opinion doesn't mean that much anyway; I am pretty sure that was not a quote from me, and if it was its a misquote; I never talk trash about other bands, because I have no reason to."
Nonpoint
Floridalocalmusic.com: How�s the feeling of being with all these other bands, I mean, Ozzfest is the biggest tour in the country?
Andy: It�s an awesome thing. I don�t know how else to see it. Were just hanging out by our buses and we see Coby Dick from P. Roach just come swinging by on his scooter. And you see Chester from Linkin Park coming on our bus hanging out with us every other day. Everybody is just being real cool. Being a new band who doesn�t necessarily hang out with rock stars as you put it on a daily basis, just being thrown into a situation where you just equal with everybody is pretty cool. You walk around and everybody get you know your name and I don�t see myself as anybody, I�m just a guy that plays guitar but those guys see me as this guys from Nonpoint just like I see him as the singer from Papa Roach. They see it back and forth and it's kind of weird actually. I�m not big on �look at me� attention. But it�s starting to take it's toll. Were headlining now so kids will walk up to me right away say hey man sign this for me, and that never used to happen. I was always just the guys with the hat on nobody recognized me. But things are starting to, I guess, get better for us.
Nothingface
Matt Holt on their 4th album: "If you're a Linkin Park fan, there's stuff you might like, but we've been able to find this natural groove we never had before."
Ozzy & Kelly Osbourne the Howard Stern show, Ozzy was wearing a Linkin Park shirt. When asked 'why', he said something similar to "[because i love their music]".
Kelly Osbourne: "The first time I ever karaoked was with the lead singers of Slipknot and Linkin Park."
Papa Roach, David Buckner: "I'm actually glad we didn't win Best New Artist last year, because that's like the kiss of death award. Didn't Men at Work win that, and then they were never heard from again? Last year, we were so busy touring that it didn't really hit me until after and they sent us the little certificate and medal in the mail. Then it finally hit me like 'Wow, we were nominated for a Grammy.' Now I'm really proud of it. ... I'm hoping that Linkin Park doesn't win Best New Artist, because I want them to be around for more than a year."
Red Hot Chili Peppers,Anthony Kiedis: "We were early in creating the combination of hard-core funk with hip-hop, rap-style vocals in a live-band context. We became, maybe, an inspiration to Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, Linkin Park--all these other bands that are doing that now. Today when we write music we don't sound anything like we did. So we still feel like pioneers because we're not bowing down to the system."
Skinlab, From Beat Magazine, May 2002: Since, like most styles of music now, metal is fragmenting and shifting, there has been much talk of true metal. Surprisingly, it's not Manowar or Poison, but is it Limp Bizkit?
"Fuck no," snaps Esquivel. "Slayer, Strapping Young Lad, Meshuggah. Just heavy, loud, brutal music."
Linkin Park?
"Dude, I listen to music for what it is. I'll probably lose fans for saying this but I like some of the Linkin Park stuff. That's one thing that'll separate myself from a lot of people. We onsume every type of music there is. I don't try to limit myself. I'm not going to go out and buy Ricky Martin's record, but you hear it. The last record I bought was probably Stereolab."
Slipknot
Shawn Crahan in Rock Sound about the other bands: "...that you can support all these clich�s make me sick. Linkin Park, they are a clich�, and that makes me barf. This guy believes he's bad, because he's got a mohawk? I have to play with those bastards during all the summer. I've met them, they suck, they aren't original. This Chester isn't even an original member, he joined the band three months before they come out their hit. All that sucks, why would I want to be apart of this business? I'm eager to have this guy in front of me and tell him what I think about him and his band. [...] Linkin Park? Everybody knows that's all baloney, but nobody dares to say it. That's all for the money."
Joey Jordison of Slipknot posted on the Roadrunner MB w/ a thread titled 'Linkin hating is a lie' in which he basically said that Slipknot never said Linkin Park was "shit music." He also said no one ever made any degrading comments about any particular Linkin Park member. Joey said Linkin Park wasn't their cup of tea but, for what it is, it isn't bad. They hung out together on Ozzfest 2001 and had no problems with each other. This is in reference to the following quote that was supposedly made by one of the Slipknot members: "We don't really like shit music like Linkin Park. Chester is a whiney bitch and Mike Shinoda is a disgrace to the rap community. Someone should just put Linkin Park out of their misery. Their music isn't even music, its shit."
Excerpt/Quote # 2 from Rollingstone Magazine: Thomson may look and talk 100% metal, but a peek into his CD case says otherwise: Bela Feck and the Flecktones, a Mozart concerto, Gorefest, lots of Hendrix, Stones and Beatles, Morbid Angel, Iron Maiden, Canibal Corpse, the Misfits. "I have to have my Beatles and Stones," he says. "That's the only way you can stay on tour when you're playing with Linkin Park. Please print that. If they want to fight, my bus is the white one with the stupid gay stuff on the side of it."
Quote # 3 from theprp.com: "Since we're a lot heavier than Linkin Park, a lot of people think they're better musicians than us, but we can play just as fuckin' well. We're gonna write song stuff that will maybe shut up a few of the people who don't think we can actually play." - Paul Gray
Now, here's Brad Delson's quote (from shoutweb) about Slipknot: "I've met a lot of really cool people on the tour that I hadn't met before. The guys in Slipknot are really cool as are the guys from Mudvayne. I really haven't met any artists on this tour that aren't cool and aren't down to just hang out."
And, Brad again: "First of all, I don't agree that the main stage is for up and coming bands. I think the the main stage is to showcase really strong bands with a strong history like Marilyn Manson and Black Sabbath. Even Slipknot is becoming more of a veteran act. It's really nice to be able to share the stage with those bands. "
note A lot of contradictory comments were made so who knows what's for real. It must be noted though, that there are 9 members in Slipknot so each member's opinions on Linkin Park are bound to vary. Sid Wilson did appear on the Linkin Park dvd 'Frat Party at the Pankake Festival'.
Aaron Lewis of Staind, from kedj (AZ radio): "You know, it seems to be changing a little bit. The bands that blew up over the last year have been bands that are serious on the lyrical content a little more meaningful, like Linkin Park, Papa Roach and Disturbed. It�s not just fluff."
John from Taking Back Sunday: "Mark is very opposed to the drum machine. I think the drum machine sounded awesome on that song. Maybe we can use both [drum machine and regular drums] next time. There has to be some kind of comprimise. Linkin Park does it all the time so it has to be a good idea."
Taproot, Mike: "I'd like to talk shit about Mike from Linkin Park and have fun." (laughing)
Shoutweb.com: "Give me some dirt on Mike. What's going on with him?"
Mike: "He created brackets." (laughing)
Jarrod: "You know the Taproot brackets? Well, Linkin Park has them too. I think we had them before Linkin Park even changed their name to Linkin Park!"
Mike: "A year before actually probably. He comes in and says, 'Oh, yeah, I invented that!' I was like, 'Shut the fuck up!'" (laughter)
Jarrod: "They're cool guys."
Tenacious D / Simon Young. The following excerpts are from Kerrang magazine. They are reviewing Linkin Park's H! Vltag3/Pts.Of.Athrty single.
Kyle: "They're getting nothing from me because of that annoying piano chord. Bling bling bling. See? It's annoying."
Jack: "At last, we're dancing with the big boys now. Is it going to be like 'Crawling'? This is not one of their catchier tunes. I really wanted to like this one. I was looking for 'Crawling Part 2', instead, we got an endless fucking blabberfest. It's the dude who does the rapping. He's like 'Singer guy, take a break, I'm going to take the center stage of this piece of crap.' Stop the music. Stop it. You really let me down. One K. And a quarter."
Trustcompany, From Rollingstone.com 8/16/02, about sounding like Linkin Park: �The comparison is kind of weird, because we don't have any rapping, we don't have a DJ, samples or those techno-type beats. Ninety-eight percent of our songs were written before I'd ever heard of Linkin Park. But we both do play heavy music that's not afraid to be vulnerable -- and we both have singing and choruses."
Another quote from Nyrock about Linkin Park comparisons:
Jason Singleton:"...We get the Linkin Park comparison all the time."
Jason Singleton:"I know! They say we're Linkin Park without them. I understand, in a way, why we get that: Because we have the same producer and the production on our record is the same the same guitar tones and the same drum tones.But 85 percent of these songs were written before I even heard of Linkin Park. They were written from way back in the day when me and Kevin were playing in bands. So it doesn't annoy me so much. It's just I don't see it. I think Linkin Park is a great band and I think they write good songs and they sold 80 million records, so they're doing something right. So, if you're going to compare us to them, I think that's a compliment. Just like if somebody says you sound like the Deftones or Smashing Pumpkins. I'm like, thank you. That's good company to be in. I'm not going to complain at all."
This was posted on Twiztid�s website by MCL Jamie Madrox about the list of 'metal bands' in Hit Parader:"Linkin Park is fresh cause they got skillz, but they're not a metal band either, but because they rock, they get no love from the Rap Magz=(Sad)."
Union Underground What they listen to on the road
Josh: "We never listen to ourselves on the road because we play it 5,6 nights a week. everything. Disturbed, Linkin Park, Marilyn Mason, like I said, we're huge fans. Pantera, Fiona Apple....."