Mike Shinoda Names Linkin Park’s Most ‘Polarizing’ Album
Linkin Park's career has mostly been filled with positive returns when it comes to fans scooping up their albums, but that doesn't mean every record has immediately connected with its audience. In a new interview with Anthony Fantano (seen below), Mike Shinoda reveals which album from the band's catalog is their most "polarizing" work.
His answer? "A Thousand Suns which was our fourth record, it wasn't as commercially successful as the earlier ones because nothing could be - that would be impossible," says Shinoda. "It was very polarizing. It got one or five stars by everybody, so we ended up with three-star ratings all over the board because half the people hated it with all of their heart and soul."
The album was viewed by many at the time as a big change in direction and the furthest they had veered from the sounds of their Hybrid Theory breakout, but it still debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart.
Shinoda reveals that it's taken a while for the impression of the album to turn where their fans are concerned. "Now we're at a point where if you ask the average person who's relatively familiar with the band what their favorite record is, a lot of them say that one," said Shinoda. "It's changed, the whole relationship with the band has changed."
He continues, "People go, like, 'Man, that was like the first album I ever bought, that's how I learned to play guitar! And then I moved on to guitar that was harder...' And that was part of the thing we were like, 'Yeah, Brad [Delson] could actually play much more difficult stuff...' But we loved how that sounded and we wanted to make stuff that a kid who couldn't really play guitar, and he'd be like, 'Yeah, let's play this riff!'"
"I appreciate that being older," said Shinoda. "I do love the idea of being in a position to maybe be a good teacher or a role model if I know something that somebody else doesn't know."
A Thousand Suns, issued in the fall of 2010, was the band's fourth studio album. It did hit No. 1 but so far has only been certified as a platinum record. The album yielded the singles "The Catalyst," "Waiting for the End," "Burning in the Skies" and "Iridescent."