To visit our student-to-student file sharing network

Linkin Park: Crawling with Violence and Uniqueness

As people evolve, so does their preference in music style. Linkin Park music style combines rock, hip-hop and electric noise. They are also well known for their emotional, dark and edgy lyrics. The song Crawling off their album Hybrid Theory illustrates this. The lyrics and the music style are what sets them apart from the pack and is a good explanation for all of their recent popularity and attention.

If you have ever tuned into a top 40, rock, or hip hop station you are more than likely familiar with the lyrics, "crawling in my skin these wounds they will not heal". This is the opening line in the song Crawling, whose lyrics are written by Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda. "My walls are closing in...I've never felt this way before so insecure," also spitted from Bennington and Shinoda. They are often referred to as very dark and edgy. In interpreting this song it's evident that the artist was trapped in pain and fear, suffering from pain and unbearable pressure. "Angst, anger and emptiness repeatedly wash over the listener,"said Bob Waliszewski of Plugged In in a music review over Linkin Park's album Hybrid Theory, "The Los Angeles band oozes frustration, confusion and hopelessness."

The band has been compared to Korn, Limp Bizkit and Godsmack lyrically and style wise. Korn has been known for starting the harsh extreme and edgy lyrics. Linkin Parks lyrics can be tied to Bennington's childhood experiences. He was sexually assaulted as a child by a family friend. Then in high school was mocked as a nerd and became entangled with drugs. For this reason Linkin Park claims that they write their songs so that their listeners can relate the lyrics to their own experiences. Maybe if the listeners are schizophrenic or suffer from a psychological disorder where they feel trapped and suffer from insecurity all the time. Its also commented that their lyrics aren't as hostile as the bands that they are compared to such as Korn.

Linkin Parks music style on the other hand can be noted as unique, effective and popular. They use a mix of rock and hip hop that crashes loud-soft dynamics throughout the whole album. There is great evidence that this works being that Linkin Park had the single most selling album of 2001 selling 4,812,852 copies according to lauchnews.com. The name of their album greatly represents their music style. The word hybrid stands for the merging of music styles. Janiss Garza said in an album review, "The longevity of heavy rock is due to its ability to constantly develop and evolve; what worked for AC/DC and Judas Priest in the late '70s, or Metallica and Anthrax 10 years later is not going to cut it today. At the moment, hard music is nearing the end of a phase that began somewhere around Korn--harsh, extreme and edgier than ever before." The only arguments about this style are that the hard core rock and hip hop fans tend to not like to mix the styles.

In conclusion Linkin Park's Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda merge the emotional and introspective feelings to shape them into violent, empty and dreary expressions. They also unite the styles of hip hop and rock into their beats.

Keywords:

Keywords General: