The evolution of linkin park

Three years ago, I would have been proud to stand up in a crowded room and claim that I was linkin park’s biggest fan. I would have gladly gone against anyone who dared to oppose.

Now, I’m sitting on my couch, lazily flipping through channels when one of their earlier songs, “Somewhere I belong” began playing on vh1.

I was entranced. The guys on my TV screen appeared ordinary. They wore button down shirts in shades of gray,dark green and navy and plain pants with non-descriptant shoes. The lead singer, chester bennington even wore black square glasses (The really nerdy kind)

But when they started playing, thats when the music took over. The real people that hid beneath that calm outer facade began to unleash themselves on their viewers with their instruments and their music. The pain, the feelings, and of course, the raw power.

But in 2007, the very same band shocked me beyond belief. There stood chester bennington, wearing black leather pants, a black shirt and a sick looking black leather jacket(which was apparently, lent to him by the front man Ryan Key of the famous band yellow card) and aviators. (yes AVIATORS). His yellow blonde hair was dyed black and spiked. I wondered why my idol was trying to look like an imitation of Bono from the legendary band, U2.

The music video he appeared in, titled “What I’ve done” was very well shot and edited. The video showed pollution, deforestation, homesslessness, natural disasters, obesity, anorexia, and so on. What kind of point are you trying to prove? That the world is a bad place to live in? That humans are big baddies? That we should be trying more, to make a difference? In my opinion, the lyrics of the song were a bit ambiguous.

“What I’ve done” belonged to an album titled “Minutes to midnight”. A captivating name and a promising cover. But it didn’t deliver what I thought they had promised to deliver. Obviously , my assumption was very, very wrong. Linkin park invented a whole new genre of music with minutes to midnight. I call it, dance rock! Rock music, you can bust a few Britney spears moves to! (No offence to Britney or her fans, in my opinion, she’s an exceptional dancer and a very talented musician)

In my eyes, linkin park had died. I mourned for a year, after which, cchester came up with a new band and linkin park released a new album-both of which, linkin park’s biggest fan showed no interest in.

I sit here, in my favourite faded black linkin park tshirt, my red and black glasses in place (They were inspired by chester’s look in one of his music videos) , hope in my heart praying that the musicians I once revered as gods, come up with an album better than meteora and hybrid theory put together and reclaim their positions in the charts and in their #1 fan’s heart.....