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All Linkin Park Songs LOOK The Same
12 Aug 2007, 16:57
As if we didn't already know, here's the proof:
What I've Done
Faint
Somewhere I Belong
Crawling
Numb
Lying From You
It's too funny not to point and laugh at!!
Each image above shows the audio level in (roughly) the first 90 seconds of a Linkin Park song. The tempo has been adjusted for a few tracks for better visual alignment.
What this goes to prove is just how generic and formulaic Linkin Park are... or a lot of music from a lot of genres, come to think of it.
Listen to enough mainstream music on a daily basis and it's hard not to start feeling bored with the fascinating intro, followed by the oh so surprising start (not), followed by a bit of filler till you get to the chorus, which is usually, what, about five words on repeat?
Basically, you know the whole song within the first 30 seconds. The rest is more of the same. If you're unlucky, the first track on an album sets the scene, the rest is more of the same. And if you're really musically illiterate, the first song on the first album sets the scene, the entire discography from that point on is just more of the same. I give you Linkin Park as a prime example, but also throw in The Strokes because they illustrate the point even better.
From a punter's point of view, if we're just after some sonic wallpaper, this is enough. A bit of a hook here, a catchy melody there, they make money, we have a laugh. Job done. In this sense, they're the commodity, we're the consumers. It's not music, it's merchandising. This is what the music industry is all about. They seduce us into buying the same song in various guises over and over again. Not only that, they make us think it's a good idea. Is there any other industry that gets us to buy the same thing again and again? On this scale?
*gets off soap box, dusts it down, ready for the next person*
Source for images: here
What I've Done
Faint
Somewhere I Belong
Crawling
Numb
Lying From You
It's too funny not to point and laugh at!!
Each image above shows the audio level in (roughly) the first 90 seconds of a Linkin Park song. The tempo has been adjusted for a few tracks for better visual alignment.
What this goes to prove is just how generic and formulaic Linkin Park are... or a lot of music from a lot of genres, come to think of it.
Listen to enough mainstream music on a daily basis and it's hard not to start feeling bored with the fascinating intro, followed by the oh so surprising start (not), followed by a bit of filler till you get to the chorus, which is usually, what, about five words on repeat?
Basically, you know the whole song within the first 30 seconds. The rest is more of the same. If you're unlucky, the first track on an album sets the scene, the rest is more of the same. And if you're really musically illiterate, the first song on the first album sets the scene, the entire discography from that point on is just more of the same. I give you Linkin Park as a prime example, but also throw in The Strokes because they illustrate the point even better.
From a punter's point of view, if we're just after some sonic wallpaper, this is enough. A bit of a hook here, a catchy melody there, they make money, we have a laugh. Job done. In this sense, they're the commodity, we're the consumers. It's not music, it's merchandising. This is what the music industry is all about. They seduce us into buying the same song in various guises over and over again. Not only that, they make us think it's a good idea. Is there any other industry that gets us to buy the same thing again and again? On this scale?
*gets off soap box, dusts it down, ready for the next person*
Source for images: here
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Darsa wrote:
Hehe, kinda funny you only gave What I've Done from MTM. The other songs are NOT the same. -
macriti wrote:
i think its quite easy to understand.. Mike's rap is lower part, and Chester's screams are high part.. and they usually start with telling rap and following with screaming.. it's(was) their style..
but pics are really funny) -
sonathia wrote:
Haha, yeah that is true. In fact they're not only really similar, they all are soooo boring :))
and the lyrics always are about 'the pain i feel inside'
Thank you for another good article. ;)
Cheers! -
Darsa wrote:
Ever heard MTM?
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ArtBear wrote:
Haha, Great find! I don't think I have heard Linking Park, but I think this formula could fit about any pop-metal band. -
Babs_05 wrote:
You probably have heard some Linkin Park, if only on instore radio while you shopped. They've been pretty mainstream for most of this decade, and therefore unavoidable.
Having said that, I still haven't heard the Umbrella-la-la song in full! Yayyy me! : ) -
maplejet wrote:
That's sadly a flaw for LP. Compared to other nu metal/alt metal bands out there, there are probably more deeper bands out there where songs follow different formulas.
LP knew they needed to change on the third album, but they made way too much of a change into ballads. -
reiced wrote:
Lol you're comparing all the songs that sounds similar, of course it'll look similar d'oh. -
neverwake wrote:
One can only hope they listen to their fans before releasing another 'experimental' album and losing all of them. And you're right, they needed to change, since their style of music had all but died.
MTM is definitely a very different album from their first two, and comparing the song structures in it wouldn't give you such nice matching pictures. -
oliver97point1 wrote:
lmao -
IanAR wrote:
Since I've not recently consumed a bath-full of LSD, I'm having trouble seeing how this's relevant to 3 Mustaphas 3 :P Ian -
Babs_05 wrote:
I like to live dangerously. :P
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RiotRadio wrote:
Woah, stop right there.
The Strokes ??
You'll have to explain and prove that to me, my dear. -
Babs_05 wrote:
Uh-oh. I was hoping you wouldn't see. :'D
Right, well, after the deep discussion you and I had last year, and I went away and listened to The Strokes' first album again, (as promised), I kind of didn't change my mind, sort of thing. I tried really hard to hear what you were hearing, I really did, as you put your argument across so well, but in the end, I went back to my original opinion, which was 'heard one, heard them all'.
See, thing is, what I can't forget is the day I was round at my friend's, who had just acquired said album, and he wanted to play me a track he liked, except he couldn't find it because he couldn't work out which one it was. I had to bite my lip so I wouldn't smile. (What's the betting he realises who I am now and remembers the day and then finds this journal and then batters me?!?) -
RiotRadio wrote:
Ok the, I have to agree that they are very similar to each other in terms of sound. That I give it to you.
BUT !! but but but !! In terms of structure they are all different from each other, and (I believe) are still the product of great songwriting. Of course they're also super catchy and there's some fantastic guitar playing, which is probably a big plus for a musician.
On another note, I'd recommend you to have a listen to songs like Vision Of Division, Electricityscape or Razorblade on their latest (3rd) album. On this album they really evolved from their original sound and offer something completely different. Not sure if you'll like them, but it'll probably change at least a bit your opinion of heard one, heard them all.
Cheers -
Babs_05 wrote:
Noooooo! This wasn't meant to happen. Nooooo! Nooooo! Not more Strokes. I won't survive. I won't be able to breathe. I'll go off my food. ...actually... that's not a bad idea ... where are the songs?? I'm back in my pre-Christmas clothes from last year, let's go a dress-size further! :D:D:D
Have you done covers of them? Do covers and I'll watch you on YouTube. Good idea? -
Dranix wrote:
The most of the tracks are premixed by themselves in their little studio, and they are using a sound with a lot of mids... so its nothing very special I think, you can compare with a lot of bands u won't find many differences(depending on your musical preference) many songs with an aggressive mid sound, and an intro which is a bit more silent ;), like their style actually is... and then some shouts, which do almost always look like this, its just typically and nothing special.
What you compared is just the volume ;), nothing else.
I don't get at all whats so special about it.
You also can find some techno or trance songs, jazz or music of almost any other genre (hey brutal death metal is just one big line ^^, maybe you should compare these ;)) but thats the way many songs are builded up.
Don't get me wrong,
Its just the way it is ;) -
RiotRadio wrote:
Haha I'd love to Babs, but 1) those songs are almost impossible to transpose in an acoustic version and 2) even if I managed to do it, it wouldn't prove my point at all.
What I want to prove and you to agree on is that not all their songs are similar, and that on their last album they departed a lot from their sound recognisable in 90 % of their previous work.
Just listen to Vision Of Division. Please ?
At least until the guitar solo ends (at 2 minutes and a half). Then I give you the permission to stop.
Don't mind the video itself, it's the only one I found with the song. And The Strokes aren't always good when playing live, so... yeah. -
Babs_05 wrote:
Ok, just for you. : )
... I let it finish and just sat and listened. Not bad. You're right, it's not like all the others, ... but it's just one song out of how many? -
RiotRadio wrote:
On their complete catalogue, yes it one song out of a whole lot. But on the album First Impressions Of Earth, it's more like one out of two.
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RiotRadio wrote:
I'd be curious to see though how it'd look like if you tried the volume thing with The Strokes like you did with Linkin Park.
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Aioth wrote:
I'd also be interested in a visual comparison of some Strokes songs. -
gifool wrote:
I third that. I used to like Linkin Park (Numb is still listenable), but then I turned 14. Listening to some of the stuff I used to listen to in late primary school and early high school makes me shake my head. The problem is, a lot of the people I go to school with now listen to:
Justin Timberlake, *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Asian opera (eurgh), soundtracks of Disney movies, various emo and garage rock bands etc. Its quite disturbing that so many people's music taste will never evolve past listening to the shit that is forced into your ears on the radio/in the mall/at movies. I cannot believe that their musical taste suffers from such severe tunnel vision and that they think the songs actually sound different.
(Btw I think the JT/NSYNC/BSB thing is due to my school having a high concentration of Asian guys who seem to love that stuff - anyone who can explain this phenomenon to me, please do.)
I went off topic a bit, but I think that songs sounding the same goes to the heart of mainstream music and what most people listen to, which is the same familiar stuff over and over. In fact, it doesn't necessarily have to be pop, if your older brother listens to metal all the time, then you might end up listening to lots of metal and never listen outside of that genre.
Anyway thats my overly-large 2 cents. -
joanofarctan wrote:
This is as good a piece of graphical evidence as I've seen in terms of showing the formulaic nature of contemporary pop music, though i suspect you'll find similar amplitude patterns in a whole range of compositions, including classical. Perhaps not to this extend though :) -
erikfrey wrote:
What a great post! I wonder if the songs are similar enough that they could be audio-aligned.
