Southern California-based Linkin Park may be, by the band's own reckoning, at least, the most popular hard rock group of the past 10 years. They began as forerunners of the much-maligned nu-metal movement and have gradually morphed into something more complicated and interesting.
Linkin Park's 2010 album "A Thousand Suns" was a supercharged, politically minded electro-rock album that occasioned many previously unthinkable critical comparisons to Radiohead. Fans were less enamored of the band's new sound; its latest release, "Living Things," is a return to form that can't help but feel the slightest bit like a retreat.
In advance of the band's upcoming show with Incubus (they're co-headliners, and each will play full sets), frontman Chester Bennington called in from — well, he's not exactly sure where he's calling from ("Somewhere in, um, North America?") — to talk about being famous, feeling guilty and that time he met The Cure's Robert Smith. It did not go well.
Q: Your last album did really well with critics. Did you feel like Arcade Fire for a week?
A: Yeah. It's funny that you would say it, because we're used to not getting a lot of critical acclaim. We're used to the opposite. Typically, we don't get a lot of praise for our creativity in the same way that other bands may. We're definitely not the cool band of the month, but for some reason we stick around, and people like what we do. It was crazy. We were reading articles, and people were saying nice things about us. It was kind of a shocker.
Q: They were using words like "Radiohead."
A: Yeah, that was getting thrown around a little bit after "A Thousand Suns." People were comparing — not comparing but saying that "A Thousand Suns" was like our "OK Computer" or our "Dark Side of the Moon." That was flattering, because those are two bands we really admire, but we just try to be ourselves.
Q: It seems to have polarized fans more than critics.
A: Yeah, with us we've always had a polarizing effect on people, and on our own fan base. ... There's always gonna be people who think they know what the band should be doing more than the band (does). I kind of find that funny, that people who aren't in the band think they know what we should be doing better than we do.
Q: Your new album debuted at No. 1, which isn't easy for a rock band these days. Do you (have a feel for) how difficult it is out there?
A: It was actually really surprising to me. All of our records have gone to No. 1, with the exception of "Hybrid Theory," which is funny because that's sold (the most copies). No other band has had that kind of success with the charts since we've come out, I guess. And I don't think a lot of people think of us as that band.
Q: Ever wonder why you got picked?
A: I wish it was a popularity contest, and we got like, voted in, because then it would be easy to tell other people, 'This is how we did it ... ' It's not something we deserve. It's not like I was born into this world to be a rock star. ... Everyone's special, everyone has their own story. I like to go to the grocery store. I like to pick my kids up from school. I like to do my laundry. I just like to be a normal person. It's hard for me to think about myself as a big rock star.
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