Artykuł - Hit Parader 2/2001 ( Zespół )

Linkin Park's Mike Shiinoda still finds it hard to believe that he's in a band whose debut album Hybrid Theory has gone doiuble platinum. The dark-haired singer is still trying to come to grips with the notion that the group he shares with vocalist Chester Bennington, guitarist Brad Delson, drummer Rob Bourdon, bassist Pheonix Farrell and turntable wiz Joe Hahn has emerged as one of the last year's most amazing rock and roll success stories. And he's still trying to comprehend the life-changing impact that fame and fortune will have on his relatively lovely existence.

"I can already tell the differences," Shinoda said. "I can tell it when people recognize me on the street, and I can tell it by the number of phone calls I get. Being in a successful band does impact your life inb a lot of ways.I don't think any of us was really ready for this. We weren't the kind of band that set out from Day One to become rich and famous Rock Stars. We just wanted to play some good music -- and we still do."

Clearly, playing "good" music has been at the core of Linkin Park's amazing run from anonymity to international acclaim. While it may well be true that this California-based rap/metal machine never truly expected to be the break out hard rock sensation of last year, in their hearts they always sensed that they had the musical goods to make a true run at stardom. Needless to say, this multi-faceted unit always hoped they'd be enjoy break-out status with the release of their debut album, and they always believed in the quality of their product. But even the most optimistic forces around them sensed that in today's over-crowded rock marketplace, success might be a long, hard climb for a band that believed in artistic integrity more than a theatrical overkill.

"We looked around, and we were always honest with ourselves," Delson said. "We saw that a lot of the bands that were selling a lot of records were doing some really outrageous things. We knew that wasn't us. But we were willing to just do what we do best and then hope that someone would notice."

Notice? You bet! Virtually from the day of its appearance in September 2000, Hybrid Theory was a sensation. Songs such as One Step Closer helped propel the band to the top of the charts while quickly transforming the disc into a million-selling smash. Even the band's tours immediately became the talk of the music industry due to their power, precision and overall panache. Indeed it seemed that this highly entertaining and extremely talented unit had somehow managed to circumvent the clumsy first steps normally associated with a young band's ascension and moved right on to assuming a premiere position in the New Metal pecking order.

"We've been a little lucky, I guess," Shinoda said with a smile "We've been able to tour with some really good bands, and being part of the Ozzfest last summer was like the icing on the cake. I think that really put us over the top in terms of people knowing who we are."

Well, so exactly who are Linkin Park? In many ways they are a band that perfectly reflects the musical transitions that have characterized the 21st Century metal movement. As shown throughout Hybrid Theory, this is a group that has come of age in an environment where making rap with metal, hip-hop with hardcore is no longer some grand, illogical "experiment". For this band bringing together such seemingly diverse musical reactants is the way music is supposed to be played. In Linkin Park's world such diversity simply reflects the music they grew up listening to and when added to the strong melodic sensibilities that this L.A.-based unit shows throughout their album, ou end up with what very well may be hard rock's next revolutionary step.

"Nothing is contrived with us, it's all natural," Shinoda said. "Our goal has been to bring together a lot of relly different and distant musical elements. Nothing is set and nothing is safe. This is a continually evolving experiment that sometimes surprises us as much as it does the fans."

Originally formed back in 1996 by these hugh school friends under the name of Hybrid Theory, Linkin Park started on their musical path with minimal expectations. Almost immediately they set to work building up a grass root following that within a year's time would come from both near and far in order to hear the band play at various small shows throughout the Southern California area. Soon these loyal followers had been recruited as "foot soldiers" in the groups fast-growing musical army, passing out flyers and generally getting the message out about LP's brigade's fresh approach to "heavy-hop" fusion. The word-of-mouth obviously did its job. After two years of perfecting their complex sound and honning their their songwriting edge, the band decided to cut a self-financed , three-song EP. That effort eventually landed on the desk of major label executive, who upon hearing the band's hook-laden metal-meets-rap sound quickly moved in to sign the group to a record deal.

"We've been lucky in that we've been able to take time to work on our music and get it just the way we wanted it to be," Shinoda expplained. " There wasn't prressure to compete with other bands on some 'scene' and we didn't feel the need to fit in. We were off doing our own thing, drawing on all our inspirations and interests."

Linkin Park's own "thing" dynamics have certainly paid dividends on their debut album disc. Throughout Hybrid Theory the band's plaintive, compelling musical interlude to full-throttle metallic roar (often within the matter of seconds) marks them as a band in full control of their rock and roll ingredients. On such songs as Crawling, Points of Authority and their anethemic smash One Step Closer, these guys manage to rock , rap and rant with an ease and power that is nothing short of amazing. Now, two million albums later this band that began life with minimal dreams and marginal expectations is on the verge of becoming one of the true champions of the entire New Metal movement.

"At first all we wanted was to be noticed," Shinoda said. "The, once that started to happen, our focus shifted towards getting some respect. That's a big issue because once you get that from fans and from other musicians you can really fel a level of accomplishment. For us, that's very important."

Autor : Bill Madison