Going Mainstream (Linkin Park)

MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT
I had heard a lot of Linkin Parks music before this album came out. I was really excited about being able to hear more of their songs. When I first heard a song from this new album it was Given Up it was good. But it wasn’t the same thing as the music that ‘separated them from other bands’. It was more yelling, less rap. It started with a clapping rythem. It was very aggressive. ‘I’m my own worst enemy’ and ‘tell me what the fuck is wrong / with me’ are two quotes from this song. Both are repeated at least twice during the songs duration.
The second song I heard was What I’ve Done, in my opinion, this sounded just a bit different from something Nickelback would play. I like Nickelback though, so I still consider it good. It had great lyrics, defining problems with the environment - mainly Global warming.
Speaking of songs that also defined problems, there was also Hands Held High. Which was a softer song then Given Up, and the lyrics were mainly rap. The chorus was ‘Amen/Amen/Amen/Amen/Amen’. My favorite quote from this song was; ‘My brother had a book he would hold with pride / A little red cover with a broken spine / On the back, he hand-wrote a quote inside / When the rich wage war it's the poor who die’.
There was also The Little Things Give You Away, which defined the entire problem with hurricane Katrina. ‘The levees are breaking’. This song was a nice way to end their album. The lyrics were repetitive, but not to the point where it was just a couple different words in the chorus.
Another good song, even though it was highly repetitive, was Bleed it Out. Its entire chorus consisted of ‘I Bleed it out / Dig it deeper / just to throw it away’. This song, was one of the few songs that resembled something from their older work.
Leave Out All The Rest, was a mediocre song. It was softer, it had a tone to it that showed it had no place between Given Up and Bleed it Out on the Album. Its lyrics were alright, they were saying (in short), ‘please forgive me, only think about the good things – Leave out all the rest’ (not a direct quote). It ended with ‘I can’t be who you are’ which seemed to be powerful simply because of what the song was saying.
In Pieces, is another mediocre song, it has alright lyrics. But it is another soft song, which typically just isn’t my type of music. It was alright for being so quite.
In Between, was probably my least favorite song next to Valentines Day. Both of them, seemed to have no point in them. In Between starts out with ‘let me apologize to begin with’. And Valentines day is about a guy who doesn’t have a date for valentines day.
Shadow of the Day, seems to have no meaning short of a guy leaving his friends and family. Which has already seemed to be a topic they have already addressed at least once, in other albums. The only difference is that those songs are good, this song is just depressing.
Over all I liked the album. The songs that were good were great. However, ten years can change a band. Their first album was seven years ago. It was a type of music that people haven’t heard much of, it was new. Now their songs that gave them so much attention are being thrown away for more mainstream songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sgycukafqQ

~Mickey