Linkin Park: "A Thousand Suns" (Album) Discussion

[Unrealistic]

They're interludes, not songs.

I mean, yeah, technically they are. Personally, I see it is ambient noise that serves almost no purpose. I've listened to a lot of aural music though, so I am a bit aggressive on things like this. The over usage of them is what bothers me, as you begin to see how little of actual music is on the album.

I did like a few of the actual songs from it, but I honestly did not understand the overall concept.

[c3ntury]

The album was a pile of crap.

[Ayepecks]

To each his own (Y) I honestly didn't expect most people who only liked their heavier work to like it, as it definitely isn't heavy. It's getting pretty great professional reviews so far, but there have been two very vocal negative reviews.

@ Unrealistic: It's a political album, if you listen to the lyrics. Not like, "Obama rulez!" (or the inverse), but more general in a commentary on human nature and society, I suppose you could say (Mario Savio and his "Gears" free speech... speech, Martin Luther King Jr. and civil rights/equality, Oppenheimer and his comments on creating the atomic bomb). It's meant to be listened to all the way through, hence the interludes. There's lots of references to previous acts that have influenced the band, especially Public Enemy.

[Gutierrez]

one of the most piece of crap I had heard this year. Pretty bad and most of the time annoying. Seems like the old linkin park is already dead and they are since minutes to midnight. The only thing that keeps them alive is transformers, that damn movie, nothing more.

[Ayepecks]

Professional Reviews Thus Far

Positive:

Kerrang!: http://www.lpassociation.com/gallery/d/29039-3/LPAKerrangReviewATS.jpg

MTV: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1646930/20100831/story.jhtml

Sputnik: http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/38969/Linkin-Park-A-Thousand-Suns/

Negative:

New York Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2010/09/07/2010-09-07_linkin_parks_a_thousand_suns_tries_to_go_surreal_but_simply_steals_others_cliche.html?r=entertainment

The Music Network: http://www.themusicnetwork.com/reviews/album/2010/09/03/album-review-linkin-park-a-thousand-suns-track-by-track/

[Slane]

Professional Reviews Thus Far

Professional Reviews don't mean **** if the users don't like it.

Just look at the sputnik site. They gave it a 3.5, users average is 2.6, with 18 votes at 2 and 12 at 1. You can have every professional in the world say something is great or bad and it doesn't mean a thing. Remember what critics said about John Hughes flicks in the 80's?

[DavidM]

Wow, what a steaming piles of crap! They lost me as a fan with this festering mess of a cd, they can't "come for me" soon enough...

I realize they will NEVER make another Hybrid Theory, but they should NOT STOP TRYING!! :no:

I'm just glad my cousin is a total diehard fan and will buy this from me, even if it is for half price. :crazy:

[Ayepecks]

Professional Reviews don't mean **** if the users don't like it.

Just look at the sputnik site. They gave it a 3.5, users average is 2.6, with 18 votes at 2 and 12 at 1. You can have every professional in the world say something is great or bad and it doesn't mean a thing. Remember what critics said about John Hughes flicks in the 80's?

My God dude, you need to calm down. I never diminished your opinion, I was simply trying to contribute to the thread. Chill out. I get you don't like the album. That is a perfectly valid opinion to have. I was not in any way negating your opinion by posting professional reviews. There are plenty of fans out there that love the album, too, as well as plenty that hate it. If you go to their official forums, or fansites, the reaction is overwhelmingly positive. Does that make their reaction "right"? NO. Do the reactions from people on other music sites mean they're automatically "right"? NO.

I could just as easily point to the comments on some of those articles as indicators that the reaction is positive, but it doesn't matter. This is only a discussion of the album, and I'm doing my best to include everything I can, both positive and negative. At the end of the day, if you don't like the album, that should be good enough for you. Why you need others to verify that it is "crap" is beyond me, just as why anyone needs good reviews to verify that their liking an album is "good" makes no sense. If they like it and no one else does, who the hell cares?

As far as John Hughes, I have no clue what you're talking about. Almost all of his well-reviewed movies, including The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, were well-received from the beginning. They were also box office successes. So, again, not sure what you're harping on about. People's opinions are always going to differ, if that's your point. That's life.

In summary: RELAX. I'm continuing the thread. If you don't like it and can't discuss it like an adult, then don't even bother responding.

[LiquidSolstice]

Lol at all the people here who judge Linkin Park based on Transformers. There used to be a time when we made an opinion on something after we tried it ourselves, rather than being weak and pathetic and using movies as excuses. Days when Microsoft's reputation didn't matter to the people, the quality of the operating system did, days where a video game was a video game was a video game, and it didn't matter what system it was on as long as it was good.

So to all you people judging this band based on what movies used their songs, grow a f***ing pair already.

I listened to the album after tiring of Linkin Park and I am happy to say I was pleased with this new direction they are taking. It's less angsty and more abstract.

[DavidM]

Lol at all the people here who judge Linkin Park based on Transformers. There used to be a time when we made an opinion on something after we tried it ourselves, rather than being weak and pathetic and using movies as excuses. Days when Microsoft's reputation didn't matter to the people, the quality of the operating system did, days where a video game was a video game was a video game, and it didn't matter what system it was on as long as it was good.

So to all you people judging this band based on what movies used their songs, grow a f***ing pair already.

I listened to the album after tiring of Linkin Park and I am happy to say I was pleased with this new direction they are taking. It's less angsty and more abstract.

I only care how it sounds in my ears with my headphones on with no distractions or videos or artwork or stories, because nothing else matters. You can see how I feel about it a few posts up. I will listen to it maybe twice more and see if it grows on me, but having 6 of 15 tracks be "interludes" or whatever they want to call them crushes my soul a little every time I think about it. Strip the "transitions and intros" and you've got an EP just over 40 minutes long. How many times will you listen to those 6 songs driving down the road? You going to jam out to them?

I know and understand bands have to try new things, Linkin Park was different and amazing when I heard "Crawling" and "One Step Closer", but this new stuff just makes me shake my head and wonder what they were thinking? I get it, it's a "concept album", but Queensryche's Operation:Mindcrime didn't need 6 interludes to get the point across.

I'm hoping just enough people will buy this cd so they don't get dropped, because the next change in direction just might be the next Hybrid Theory.

[Slane]

In summary: RELAX. I'm continuing the thread. If you don't like it and can't discuss it like an adult, then don't even bother responding.

Sarcasm meter off a bit? Wasn't trying to do anything other than bring some dry-humor (obviously I failed) to the topic.

As far as John Hughes, I have no clue what you're talking about. Almost all of his well-reviewed movies, including The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, were well-received from the beginning. They were also box office successes. So, again, not sure what you're harping on about. People's opinions are always going to differ, if that's your point. That's life.

Don't You Forget About Me - Documentary on John Hughes. Watch it and you'll understand what I was referring to.

I'm continuing the thread

All I was trying to do. Sorry if I wasn't clear enough in my attempt at some humor/sarcasm.

RELAX.

Good advice.

Sorry man, truly. Didn't think you would take it so personal or as a direct attack against you. Was just my way of showing that (with the John Hughes comment) that professional people don't matter as much as they people who listen to it and the only opinion I'll wanna hear from is fellow Neowin's.. Again sorry man.

I hope you can accept this:

Psst: Relax man, just joshing ya. :)

I'm hoping just enough people will buy this cd so they don't get dropped, because the next change in direction just might be the next Hybrid Theory.

I'd welcome that. Just don't think this album at any shape matches up to what LP produced with Hybrid Theory and Meteora .

[Techno_Funky]

The Album grows on you, what I like (in no order).

Burning In The Skies

When They Come For Me

Robot Boy

Blackout

The Catalyst

The Messenger

I really miss the old LP though.

[Knife Party]

so far... its about average...yeh

[ThePitt]

I dont know what happend to them. Seems like they are with their own (really bad) projects and now they reunite just to make some money. The album is crap by definition. I didnt hear something good from them since meteora.

And Professional (payed) Reviews means nothing. If something is bad, is bad, there is nothing a "professional" (mercenary) can do.

[Skulltrail]

I never really listened to Minutes to Midnight much, I have a great appreciation for Meteora and Hybrid Theory. How does it compare to some of their legacy tracks? Will give it a listen :)

Doesn't sound anything like Meteora or Hybrid Theory. In those times, Linkin Park was a great band. But now they got sort of soft and emotional instead of that I-Dont-Give-A-****-Lets-Live-Life personality they were initially known for. I honestly do not like A Thousand Suns. It's worse than Minutes to Midnight. However, their unreleased underground CD (IDK why the **** they DIDN'T release it before), Across the Line, is pretty good. It's like a mesh of Minutes to Midnight and Meteora with the single, The Catalyst and Wretches and Kings.