Ask the Admin: Later day Linkin Park, greatest/favorite non-numetal, nu-metal classifications, and nu-metal baddies
Soldiering through this hangover for y'all.
What are your thoughts on Linkin Park’s work after A Thousand Suns (Living Things, Hunting Party, One More Light)? I don’t ever recall you mentioning if you’ve even listened to them.
Honestly, I don’t think I’ve listened to any of those enough to pass a solid judgement on them but I don’t much care for what I’ve heard. The Linkin Park miracle is that they arrived at the exact and only point when pop, hip-hop, industrial, new wave, nu-metal and post-hardcore could combine and take over the planet. Mike Shinoda was impossibly good at synthesizing those sounds naturally and the further the pop landscape took him from those elements the weaker the songs got. Their self conscious distancing from nu-metal in the Minutes to Midnight-era onward means Linkin Park went from a definitive nu-metal band to just another “alternative” rock act, fighting for market share with the likes of Kings of Leon or Imagine Dragons. So, not a fan. But I respect Linkin Park too much to just write it all off, hopefully can come around to at least something from that era.
greatest/favourite non-numetal band?
I’ll always love my holy trinity of thinking man’s arena rock bands; Radiohead, R.E.M. and U2; all three of whom embody that go-for-broke classic Classic Rock idea of life changing guitar music. I love these bands for many reasons but chief among them is if you find them at the right time they can make you feel like there’s simply no other music on the planet that matters. However these days if I’m not listening to nu-metal I’m probably resetting my senses with Sade or Elliott Smith.
Whats the furthest you have ever pushed classifying a band that clearly arent nu metal as nu metal?
Hm… Well, it’s not so much that I’m trying to categorize bands like Weezer and Hum as “nu-metal” bands it’s more about creating a world where all of these things can exist in the same conversation. Look at emo, emo claimed bands like Evanescence, Linkin Park and Papa Roach from us via manifest destiny, we should expand our canon in a similar manner while also re-claiming those bands promptly. That said I did once post “Harder to Breathe” by Maroon 5. That was a reach.
What is the most nu metal meal?
Can of Coors Light and a baggie of meth.
whats the worst song someone had recomended to you since youve started this account
There was this one guy who hounded me down across Twitter DMs, mentions, and Twitch to get me to post his song. I can’t remember what the song was called - “something something #TexasStrong”?? - just that it was really bad and when I finally told him that he said “Well of course it is, it’s nu metal.” His account doesn’t exist anymore. Bye.
How do I score with nu metal baddies?
Buddy I don’t know. I’m tilling the soil as we speak just to raise the nu metal baddies from their graves, once they’re back outside we can worry about the “scoring” situation but don’t hold your breath I ever figure it out.
Living Things has 3 great songs imo: Lost in the Echo, Burn It Down, and especially - I'll Be Gone. The rest never really hit me and I don't think I've ever listened to The Hunting Party. One More Light is a pretty damn good pop album but it sits the farthest outside anything else they did for sure.
I still defend that Maroon 5 song; it is their best song, even though that means close to nothing, and if you squint your ears you can hear it. I remember you also posted Feeder, who are a good band (albeit completely unknown Stateside) but I didn't hear nü on those songs at all.
We already saw you post U2 before, and I think the breakdowns on "My Iron Lung" lean pretty close to nü territory if you ever wanna post that. Can't think of any REM that would possibly count though; doesn't help that during the late Nineties and early Aughts, they were in a creative nadir