On the title alone, it appeared that this would be the band’s heaviest work yet – referencing the Hindu holy text Bhagavad Gita, the title was taken from infamous nuclear scientist J.
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Linkin Park are not, because they were always more than the meager sum of that combination.” This statement would ring true on August 2 nd, 2010 when the band ventured into the new decade, a world where social media now ruled the roost, and announced their new incarnation with ‘The Catalyst’, the lead single from their fourth LP A Thousand Suns. While Minutes To Midnight certainly leaned more into broader pop influences (see: ‘Shadow of the Day’) it also capitalised on Linkin Park’s metal chops (‘No More Sorrow’, ‘Given Up’) while delivering their critical masterstroke in the form of a short, sharp single that upgraded them from arenas to football stadiums worldwide (‘Bleed It Out’).Įven Rolling Stone, who had panned their groundbreaking debut, came to the party here, noting on Minutes to Midnight: “Rap metal is dead. Fool me three times, shame on both of us. And then came a collaboration with Jay-Z, followed quickly by a partnership with the Transformers franchise to herald in the arrival of their third album in the years since 2000, Minutes To Midnight.Īs the saying goes: Fool me once, shame on you. However, as easy as it potentially was to explain away the success of their chart-topping debut Hybrid Theory, darker and more hip-hop influenced follow-up Meteora firmly asserted Linkin Park’s place at the top of the metal cohort that had planted themselves behind mainstream lines. Of course, many critics will point out that it was a case of right-place-right-time, bolstered by a healthy dose of industry manipulation and with results only achieved due to the groundwork done by the likes of Korn, Limp Bizkit, Mudvayne, Deftones and a smattering of other eyebrow-studded, glow-in-the-dark guitar-wielding MTV favourites.
LINKIN PARK GIVEN UP GENIUS PLUS
The previous ten years had seen an astonishing ascendancy from the band, who had ridden the wave of late ’90s alternative nu metal and zine culture, combined those tropes with icy pop hooks and radio-friendly song structures plus a splash of Y2K paranoia, and single-handedly sent rap/metal supernova.
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At the turn of the first decade of the 21 st century, Linkin Park were firmly established as the world’s number one stadium rock act.