Jay-Z & Linkin Park "Collision Course" (2004)

 

Delighted by the recent Rap Metal adjacent works of Hackivist, I found myself thinking back to this record, which I had barely paid attention too upon its release. Back then I probably had my mind deep in the world of Extreme Metal and nose turned up... But with age, a renewed fondness for the music of my teens now has me wide eyed getting into this collaboration by two of the industries biggest names of the era.

Born of MTV's Mash Ups show and masterminded by Mike Shinoda, the brief six track Collision Course sounds born of that spirit, the interchanging of instrumentals and accappelas between opposing musicians. As a collaboration its sounds just like that, however the enthusiasm shared between the two camps had Linkin Park and Jaz-Z meeting in the studio to re-record parts of Shinoda's arrangements to ensure quality.

It speaks volumes to the seamless nature, everything aligns sweetly. Crunky percussive kicks and snappy snares give the metallic aggression of the guitars a ground to the Hip Hop persona. Both Chester's moving cleans and raw screams match the Rap instrumentals, Mike's roll as a rapper obviously fits but its mostly Linkin Park who dominate the vibes with their songs taking up most the runtime.

Big Pimping and Izzo stand out as the cuts which hold onto their original beats but the other songs get overridden by the metallic energy when the guitars arrive. Its all fantastic but perhaps my emotional attachments have me reveling in nostalgia from these re-worked bangers. Points Of Authority and One Step Close overload 99 Problems for goosebumps inducing mania as Jay-Z drives the crossover with his raps.

I am ultimately left fascinated by this EP, a commercial peak at the end of an era when my two favorite genres rubbed shoulders. For all the Rap Metal I've adored, missing out on this was a major fumble. I can't get past how wonderful the chemistry is. It feels like an obvious mash up yet that doesn't hold it back where you might expect. Its like bottled lightning, perhaps amplified by my own personal excitement. Given the two toured this together, the accompanying DVD is now mandatory viewing for me.

Rating: 7/10

On Reflection: Linkin Park's "One More Light"

Two days ago we lost a voice in the Metal/Rock community, tragically Linkin Park's lead singer Chester Bennington chose to take his own life. It comes around a month after his close friend Chris Cornell did the same, a lot of voices are speculating he would still be alive if Chris where too. Chester has spoken openly about his childhood abuse and inner struggle in the past and with the reality of his actions we now realize the extent of pain and suffering he was going through. In my teenage years Chester was a big, immensely talented voice in our generations music and their massive album Hybrid Theory remains the most popular Nu Metal album to date. I never kept up with the band over the years however that record holds a special place within.

I recently decided to check in with their latest release One More Light, mainly due to a morbid curiosity with the media backlash for the bands change in direction. Listening to it again the record feels almost unrecognizable when focusing on the lyrics. My main criticism of the album was that of a disingenuous feeling between lyrics that glorify pain and suffering through what were yesterdays squeaky clean, sunny pop sound. Now reality illuminates the authenticity in his words, the sincerity all to raw to accept. Listening back to the classic "Crawling" again sounded like a whole new song, a chapter had been closed on that page. The words "crawling in my skin, these wounds will never heal" have a tragic weight about them now.

The point of this article is perception, the master of our reality. In my case a sense of a disingenuous expression has turned out to be utterly false. Ill never enjoy this record now as its drenched in a harrowing sadness given Chester's passing. Whats to be learned is the same lesson I'm trying to teach myself all the time. Everything is just a perception. You are a perception of yourself, you only perceive others and that all comes with a wealth of ignorance that our minds bypass in order to give us a sense of understanding. We are wired to think we know best when we actually know an infinitesimal amount of whats to be known... I conclude that we should grant artists some authenticity with their music, regardless and lessen our instinct to pass judgement. The same should be said of people in our day to day lives too, for we our all capable of feeling pain and should never let those expressions fall on deaf ears.

RIP Chester

Linkin Park "One More Light" (2017)

Linkin Park are one of this millenniums biggest names in Rock music and I had pretty much checked out from the band after the release of their record braking Hybrid Theory. Its only a couple of years ago that I got around to Meteora and bar their Nu Metal records I have heard next to nothing from them. There change of direction never mustered much interest in me however this latest record has, for all the wrong reasons. Like a morbid curiosity I wanted to hear what the fuss was about and before I give you my thoughts I should say that I hold no artists to any ideals or expectations that says they can't change their sound, or pursue whatever their musical interests are. Sometimes suspicions are aroused that the music may not be the key factor in a change of sound. You or I can never know but something feels very disingenuous about this record.

Shedding skin and starting over, the groups sound is rewritten from scratch, leaving behind all traces of Rock and pursuing what I can only describe as yesterdays squeaky clean, overtly emotional, top 40 pop music. Chester sings in his softest of tones, everything oozing sweetly through slow, simple melodies with lyrics that make my skin crawl. Mind the pun, these lyrics are the sort that display "emotional depth" through a glorification of pain and sorrows without the resolve to get into the grit of whats really being sung about. It sounds vague, loose and very palatable. Weak features from Pusha T and Stormzy feel far out of place, like token rappers in a pop song, Mike Shinoda's one rap on "Good Goodbye" just lacks charisma or any measure of  memorability. He does however show his singing voice on a couple others and I can't fault him on that, he has a decent, if very soft voice on him.

The instrumentals are chasing yesterdays sound, in a painful way. Many songs have the popular chirpy, high pitched spliced vocals stuttering away in the mix. Soft Dubstep synth murmur in places and most the songs drop in some trendy "woah oah oahs" gang shouts into the background. Its awful, tone deaf, self indulgent and really misses the mark where it walks in the shadows of others. The best thing about this record is never listening to it again. In fairness the first few tracks are reasonable but as it draws on it turns into torture, the lyrics especially. Whatever the bands motivations, it is questionable that so much of this record hinges on other peoples ideas and yesterdays pop sound.

Rating: 2/10

Linkin Park "Meteora" (2003)

I often wonder what it would be like to hear the music of my youth for "the first time" in the context of todays modern music with my vast apatite and knowledge of music (mainly Metal & Hip Hop). It dawned on me that Meteora was essentially that. Although I am familiar with Linkin Park, I have never actually listened to anything other than "Hybrid Theory" and "Reanimation" (smelly album). This would be a great opportunity to get a taste of listening to that music in the present day.

I was rather skeptical at first, a little unsure what to expect, but very quickly this album rapidly grew on me and I found myself feeling like it was the 00s again, listening to Hybrid Theory for the first time. At first Meteora came of as more of the same, but on repeated listens it became very apparent how fine tuned and well crafted this record is. On the surface not much has changed about their sound, its more of the same formula, Mike's mini raps, Chester's screams balanced with clean hooks and of course the characteristic electronic sounds accompanying the Nu Metal backbone. Under the surface there is more at work here, it feels like the group made a conscious decision to tone down the aggression slightly and focus on mastering their pop sensibilities and hooks. The melodic leads and choruses on this album are so infectious and satisfying, everything from the delivery of Chester's appeasing cleans, the crisp and soft guitars, electronic melodies just feel so in-sync and on the same wavelength. Its far from challenging and very much easy to enjoy, which is a strength they play to. Linkin Park is not trying to change your understanding of music or challenge your perspective, they are writing straight forward poppy music and they do it here to a perfection on particular tracks.

For all good thats been said, there are two things that came to mind, first of all the drumming, not at a single point in this album did the drums ever come to the forefront of my attention, is this a good or a bad thing? Is the rhythm department executing a subtle genius of accommodating beats, or are they just tame, generic and holding the tracks together? I really don't have an opinion but it was an interesting observation. Second of all the lyrics are once again the epitome of teenage angst, expressing simplistic and overly emotional fears and frustrations with a lack of any real introspection or depth to the subject matter. This is probably a strength though, easy to relate and simple to recite, its what you need in poppy music and perhaps the magnitude of this pop appeal is a reflection of how focused this record is on its catchy hooks and choruses. Overall, fantastic record, enjoyed it as much as "Hybrid Theory", very satisfying to hear more of that great sound they forged.

Favorite Tracks: Don't Stay, Hit The Floor, Easier To Run, Faint, Breaking The Hobbit, From The Inside, Nobody's Listening

Rating: 8/10

Linkin Park "Hybrid Theory" (2000)

Hybrid Theory was thee record of my generation. It's the biggest selling record of this millennium and was a phenomenal success at the time. It's been a long time, maybe even 10 years since I last gave this a listen. The other day I got an itch to listen to this record and I was curious to see what id think of it. 14 years ago was around the time I started listening to Extreme Metal and Hip Hop while still being spoon fed bands from MTV and VH1. I'm a much more mature listener now but I'm not one to disregard what I liked in my youth. I do see a lot of hate towards Nu Metal and other music thats insulted as being only relevant to the youth of that generation. I don't get whats wrong with that, but I understand that people can grow out of music but for me, I hold onto what I enjoy and it was no surprise that after so long this album still sounds great, but it also came with a nostalgia trip, vividly reminding me of my past and where I was at that time. The power of music!

Returning to this classic, I tried to keep in mind the popularity of this record, and from this perspective hear what the formula of their success was. This was released around the same time as "Chocolate Starfish" which is the fastest rock album to go platinum. It was in the peak of Nu Metal and the music industries stranglehold on record sales which has since been in rapid decline, it was prime time for a band like this with Bubblegum Pop groups like "Backstreet Boys" and "Britney Spears" being the alternative in MTV culture. Their sound would characteristically defined as Nu Metal, but the guitars are not excessively distorted, the screaming is infrequent and their aesthetic has its heavy moments but keeps a rock sensibility throughout. Simple and infectious melodics are brought to the forefront through electronics and guitar leads that are a key part of what makes this formula work. Not only are the group delivering bouncy and grooving riffage, they also balance it with memorable and catchy leads. Chester's clean vocals and Mike's raps are like icing on the cake of an already approachable sound, the two give every song a great hook and relate-able, easy to follow lyrics that the target audience can easily get into. Even after all these years these simplistic melodies and grooves still strike a nerve.

The album as a whole is fast and to the point, each track is 3 to 3:30 minutes in length, short, to the point and devoid of filler. Starting out with its aggressive tracks, the album calms down towards the end and gets into its more melodic side. Every track does something different and by the end I am satisfied but this short listen does leave one hungry for more. I believe the success of this album is down to the aesthetic being just right for the times, but that alone wouldn't be enough. Theres no denying the groups ability to write simple hooks, appealing melodies and memorable lyrics, the combination of which made this perfect for MTV and radio to push onto consumers, at a time when corporate power had a huge steak in a bands chances to "make it". With the changing landscape of music Linkin Park may just be one of the last bands we will ever see reach these heights of popularity and success. Still brilliant after 14 years.

Favorite Songs: Papercut, With You, By Myself, Place For My Head, Forgotten

Rating: 9/10