Linkin Park singer says he hates band's original sound
Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington told Billboard magazine this week that he hates nu-metal, the fusion of heavy rock and rap music that his band capitalized on with its 2000 debut album, Hybrid Theory. Bennington said, "There's still a hip-hop element to us, and there'll always be. But we've really moved away from anything that sounds like nu-metal. I know that we kind of helped create, I guess, the sound of that genre, but I hate that genre. I'm not going to speak for everyone, but I can personally tell you that I am not a big fan of almost everybody in that category."
The group will release its third full-length studio effort, Minutes to Midnight, on May 15th, and early word is that the group has changed its sound significantly on this CD. Band co-vocalist Mike Shinoda told us that reinventing the group's musical style was a challenging experience: "It was really scary because, you know, the whole sound had been so successful and it was kind of a gamble. Plus we didn't even know, you know, where to start with the new sound. We had to kind of start from scratch and anything that used to be a solution now wasn't a solution. Like if, you know, we needed to do a song structure a certain way or a chorus a certain way, whatever, if it worked in the past then we kind of would not do it."
Hybrid Theory has sold more than nine million copies in the U.S., while its follow-up, 2003's Meteora, has moved five million.
According to Billboard, Linkin Park was given a $15 million advance for Minutes to Midnight by its label, Warner Bros. Records, as part of a contract renegotiation that arose out of a highly publicized 2005 spat between the band and the company.
"What I've Done" is the first single from Minutes to Midnight. A video for the song, directed by Linkin Park DJ Joseph Hahn, premiered last week.
Linkin Park will headline New Jersey's Bamboozle festival on May 6th and will announce details of its 2007 Projekt Revolution tour soon.
The group will release its third full-length studio effort, Minutes to Midnight, on May 15th, and early word is that the group has changed its sound significantly on this CD. Band co-vocalist Mike Shinoda told us that reinventing the group's musical style was a challenging experience: "It was really scary because, you know, the whole sound had been so successful and it was kind of a gamble. Plus we didn't even know, you know, where to start with the new sound. We had to kind of start from scratch and anything that used to be a solution now wasn't a solution. Like if, you know, we needed to do a song structure a certain way or a chorus a certain way, whatever, if it worked in the past then we kind of would not do it."
Hybrid Theory has sold more than nine million copies in the U.S., while its follow-up, 2003's Meteora, has moved five million.
According to Billboard, Linkin Park was given a $15 million advance for Minutes to Midnight by its label, Warner Bros. Records, as part of a contract renegotiation that arose out of a highly publicized 2005 spat between the band and the company.
"What I've Done" is the first single from Minutes to Midnight. A video for the song, directed by Linkin Park DJ Joseph Hahn, premiered last week.
Linkin Park will headline New Jersey's Bamboozle festival on May 6th and will announce details of its 2007 Projekt Revolution tour soon.
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