Linkin Park / What I’ve Done / April 02, 2007
♫ What I’ve Done
I used to be an insanely huge Linkin Park fan. I defended them at the height of their mainstream success, at a time when everybody asked, “Seriously, why does anyone like them? They are not that great.” I couldn’t describe it, although I remember coming up with excuses like, “They combine hip hop and rock and even some orchestral elements to create a delicious hybrid of musical awesomeness.” Or something. And I will deny this later, but I totally went and stood in line on the day of Meteora’s release back in 2003. Let me repeat that: 2003. It has been four years since their last album. Four long, ungodly years filled with unforgivable side projects and horrible rock/rap collaborations.
So you’d think after four years of getting all the hypothetical shitty third records out of the way, they would all come together and create a masterpiece of da Vinci proportion. But nay, my friends, instead, we get “What I’ve Done,” a very lackluster come-back single. When the song first started up, a haunting piano melody, with an almost excruciatingly simple drum beat that crashes into the full-fledged melody I could swear Linkin Park had already written this song, already sang these lyrics, somewhere on some other album. While Meteora was a step forward, it seems this single is, well, maybe not a step backwards, but certainly not a step of progression. It’s just…very, very simple. Very angsty Linkin Park, circa 2000. For a single, it was a very poor choice, and I’m left thinking that if this is the best on the disc, it’s not even worth the $12.99. So long, Linkin Park. Time to let go of what I’ve done. Nah nah, nah nah.
♫ Official Site
♫ Buy Minutes to Midnight
Linkin Park / Minutes to Midnight / May 15, 2007
appears 