Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda clarifies band mate Chester Bennington’s statement
Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington recently spoke with the U.K.’s Metal Hammer, and during the chat, he commented that he thinks the group “kept metal alive” thanks to the massive success of their debut album, 2000’s “Hybrid Theory.” The album mixed rap and metal like never before.
Now, Linkin Park multi-instrumentalist Mike Shinoda has spoken out about Bennington’s comments about “Hybrid Theory.” He thinks the whole thing was blown out of proportion.
“He basically said that pop music was ruling the world, and we made a case for (commercially) viable heavy music. NBD,” Shinoda said on Twitter.
Shinoda added that he believes the quote was actually taken “out of context” by many media organizations. Bennington made the comment after asked what he thinks about the people who believe Linkin Park wasn’t a “true” metal band.
“I think that’s really funny — just those words, ‘the integrity of metal,'” Bennington said. “In my opinion we actually kept metal alive.” Bennington went on to say that a range of younger groups have named Linkin Park as the reason they started making music.
“Maybe not the best choice of words, but the sentiment wasn’t as outrageous as today’s rock news would have you think,” Shinoda said of the quote.
While Linkin Park isn’t exactly a “metal” band, they do have a take on nu-metal that, personally, I think has helped keep heavy music in the mainstream.
In other news, Linkin Park are currently working on their upcoming, seventh studio album.
Photo by Anne Erickson
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