Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington Okay with Nu Metal Classification

2012-08-19

Story by Charles Ken

Linkin Park frontman says the guys have accepted being labeled ‘nu metal’

A decade after Linkin Park first created the “nu metal” aura, the guys are finally comfortable with the label. After all, there’s something to be said for crafting a new musical genre, which is just what the band did with their 2000 release “Hybrid Theory,” a set that featured a novel mix of hip-hop and alternative metal in hits such as “One Step Closer,” “Crawling” and “In the End.”

“I think for the first time in our history, we’re actually OK with being recognized as a nu metal band, especially for what we did early in our careers,” frontman Chester Bennington recently told Revolver Magazine (via the PRP). “Because the truth is that when we were first doing it, nobody else really was, especially in terms of integrating the hip-hop thing.

“There were guys like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and stuff that Anthrax and bands like that had done. But otherwise there was, like us, and Limp Bizkit. And Limp Bizkit, they were … awesome, dude!”

Bennington added that, at the time, Linkin Park didn’t feel that they were doing anything all that different. “I don’t think there were any other bands fusing those sounds the way our band and their band was,” he said. “But at the same time, it never felt like we were doing anything that was so ‘out there.’ We just felt like we were making the music we wanted to make.”

Linkin Park are currently out on the Honda Civic Tour in support of their current full-length, “Living Things,” alongside fellow alternative rockers Incubus. Find the full tour itinerary here. (Photo credit: Anne Erickson.)

 




Charles Ken
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