A Thousand Suns Criticism

I am an avid user of social networking sites. Using these websites along with me are millions of other people who talk day-in day-out about various topics. Being one of the most prolific rock bands around, Linkin Park is one of these topics often debated. I don't think my views are sacrosanct, so I like to gain people's input on issues which interest me. 'A Thousand Suns' is an album that caught my attention, as much for its musical diversity as for its not-so-musical yet innovative methods in conveying its message -Wisdom Justice and Love, The Requiem, etc. The reception ATS has received on such social platforms ranges from Excellent, Critical acclaim to moderate, average and down to the deepest pitfalls of derogatory animosity. As the title of this article suggests, I will focus primarily on the negative criticism about ATS.

I've been searching on YouTube of some 'A Thousand Suns' songs, I have developed a certain foreboding for the comments section on such videos, expecting them to be filled with stereotypical, uninformed, myopic rantings by one-track-minded listeners whose musical taste hardly differs from heavy metal guitars and whining about parental problems. Upon summoning up the courage to examine comments sections, I find that my estimates are exaggerated, the highest-rated comments are usually pro-Linkin Park (if you know what I mean). I always like to dig deeper and go past the first page. That is when I come across the occasional ''WTF is this'', ''pop-shit'' type of responses from supposed former 'fans'. I pray God I will one day be able resist the urge to respond to such comments. I'm not going to dabble into any fallacious rhetoric about respecting these responses and regarding them as innocuous opinions. An opinion as far as I'm concerned is an individual perception of a given thing, based on fact and derived from an unbiased angle. When that begins to spill into intensely hostile commentary, someone's got a little problem expressing themselves. Upon confronting such people, be it via a harmless question such as ''It's a different style, that doesn't mean it's bad'' or an aggressive rebuke like ''GTFO, find something else'', the responses from the haters are often abusive tirades launched against the band and its fans, ''LP is gayyyy'', ''This is for justin bieber fans'', etc. And so begins a war of words between fans and haters which has no end in sight.

That is just a general overview of the situation, the same scenario occurs on Facebook, my very dear Twitter and on any other site where topics are often debated. The main concern is, what do people hope to gain from listening to music? Every living person will agree that music is to be related to, and should have relevance to an individual or a situation. If this is the case, why is there so much hate towards ATS?. That is a question I will address soon. I would hardly willingly say I hate someone, but a certain YouTube user named 'PHW' is an exception. There is hardly any ATS song officially uploaded which is devoid of his over-exaggerated negative comments about Linkin Park. He is a very unsavoury fellow, but I did get the chance to speak to him, confronting him about his narrow-minded taste. After a hoard of antagonistic commentary, he avoids my question and begins launching insults at people who generally like ATS. I wish to hell I had confronted him about that and responded with the question, ''What is good music to you?'', but somehow I didn't.

Basically, the point of this overview is to establish one simple point; 'A Thousand Suns' is undoubtedly a lyrical masterpiece, an album I can relate to personal, political, even faith-based issues, which is what music should achieve, a 'three-dimensional ambience' which can be applied to almost any life situation. Anyone would agree with me on this, as long as one-plus-one remains two. The musical component, however, is what attracts diverse views. I personally love it, but from a hardcore nu-metal fan's point of view, it isn't a milestone compared to 'Hybrid Theory' or 'Meteora'. It's a whole new kettle of fish, one that requires open-mindedness and patience to embrace. I can see the elements of Linkin Park's earlier works missing from it, so it makes sense they do not like it. But there is a problem when people go overboard and drag it through the mud simply because it differs from old stuff. Such people miss the general point of music, and I really hope they will come to terms with their immaturity before it's too late. Thank you for reading this, if you are a faithful fan bothered by ATS criticism, I really hope this has put you at rest.

Tags: a, criticism, linkin, park, suns, thousand

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ali Zartash on October 27, 2010 at 5:09pm

ATS is a very good album! . LP has matured and has produced music about Neuclear war and they are not wrong. Neucler warfare between humans will be the end. The apocalypse will be man-made. We will fight amongst ourselves and be the cause of our extinction. And LP has also given the solution to all this is one of the most touching and amazing songs i've heard: "The Messenger". Yes, the only solution is LOVE. We have to spread love and teach its importance to everyone else. LP's next album should be a little bit ore rock. If they have a problem screaming and stuff like that the should try to use guitars more instead of computer generated sounds because they are a rock band. LinkinPark rules and should rock as well!!!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ali Zartash on October 27, 2010 at 7:11pm

im a punk and i should like metal music but i do like metal music but i just love this album i dont know why its so mature and the lyrics are so touching but they should be slow styled but they shoud be a bit rock and use a bit of guitars only a bit

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by madLPSOLDIERx on October 27, 2010 at 8:40pm

When I first listened to LP, I was still a kid so into rock. Because of them, my music taste has grown.

You do have to keep in mind that when you go into Youtube, 90% of hate rests there because most are really just a couple of punks (not 'Ali Z.' punk) behind a computer, commenting anonymously. Ok, so my percentage is high but you get the point.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ali Zartash on October 27, 2010 at 9:10pm

u know what dudes? i tried burning in the skies with my electric guitar and my friend played the drums i sang chesters vocals with force(like nu metal) and my friend rapped mikes vocals rap-style! IT WAS AMAZING!!!
ill try to make a video and upload to youtube if i have time cuz i have to study(i hate studying)!!!!!!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Storm_Rider00 on October 27, 2010 at 9:58pm

Haha, yeah upload when you have time.

Ali Zartash said:

u know what dudes? i tried burning in the skies with my electric guitar and my friend played the drums i sang chesters vocals with force(like nu metal) and my friend rapped mikes vocals rap-style! IT WAS AMAZING!!!
ill try to make a video and upload to youtube if i have time cuz i have to study(i hate studying)!!!!!!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Storm_Rider00 on October 27, 2010 at 9:59pm

Glad someone gets the point. Thanks. Thumbs up to you 2.

KatyBourdon*luvz*Bourdie™ said:

Everything you have just said sums it up perfectly. I agree fully 100 percent and I am one of the fans that welcome the change because i want to see them for their talent and for their creativeness, not them just listening to the fans who are saying "I want this back" or "i want that track again". Its been made already, why repeat something that was already perfect? And as you said, it all comes down to the fans just stay one sided and don't accept the change as fluidly as others. Also it's very interesting to see how they can all put their favorite styles together, throw it into a "melting pot" stylistically and you know for sure its been made by Linkin Park without even being told who its by because u can hear their elements.In my opinion, i believe every one of their albums is a milestone. Each one they have matured on, whether it be lyrically or stylistically or the band themselves. Its been almost 10 years for me to be listening to them and I still am shocked by each and every project they do.
Now as for the comments on Youtube, I, myself, have tried to refrain from commenting when people go all hating on LP because I care about the music and the band and I don't like seeing negative comments about my favorite band. Like Chester said on the Making of Minutes to Midnight "I appreciate democracy but when it comes to music I like, I have very strong feelings about it" I have very strong feelings when it comes to my music and it seems you do as well, so if I have my right to speak, I'm gonna give my opinion and people wont like it but I never said they had to like it. And yes, it just comes down to one track minded people that cant accept the change as others can, which makes them immature about the new sound.
GOSH! i dont think i've wrote this much on here....at least i dont think. =) SO i give u 2 thumbs up over all!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Storm_Rider00 on October 27, 2010 at 10:08pm

Yeah I get it. True.

madLPSOLDIERx said:

When I first listened to LP, I was still a kid so into rock. Because of them, my music taste has grown.

You do have to keep in mind that when you go into Youtube, 90% of hate rests there because most are really just a couple of punks (not 'Ali Z.' punk) behind a computer, commenting anonymously. Ok, so my percentage is high but you get the point.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lode Jersiebe on October 28, 2010 at 4:45am

http://www.fuse.tv/ontv/shows/top-40-2010/round-1-vote-19.html?poll...
"The Catalyst" should win this!! Go vote! You can vote unlimited!!

"A Thousand Suns" is my favorit album right now of the entire music history!!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by JJB10 on October 28, 2010 at 3:46pm

I think what you said sums it up nicely. People have to accept that music moves on, just because they've created a new sound doesn't mean it's a step back. I for one love this new album, I think Linkin Park are musically more creative than any other band out there at the moment.

Just because you love one album doesn't mean you have to compare that to the new one; they're both telling completely different stories and completely different messages. I think ATS gets its message across amazingly well. Throughout the album there's a whole variety of different emotions that are just waiting to be let free.

Yes it's different and I'll agree to some extent that some songs don't sound like they belong on a Linkin Park album, but this is how they've decided to move on and if you give it the chance it deserves I'm sure you'll agree that both ATS is brilliant and Linkin Park are still as awesome as they have ever been.

As for Youtube comments, I very rarely read them myself. I don't want to sound like a snob but I often find the people writing the comments come across as having a limited eduction, that's not to say they're stupid - they may be children after-all but there seems to be a growing trend of hatred engulfing Youtube that instantly makes anything new or innovative "gay" which is usually closely followed by something along the line of "it was better before...".

If that's your taste then I won't argue against it but if it was me then I would just stay away from it rather than trying to belittle the people who think differently.

Back on the subject of ATS, most LP fans I've spoken to about the new album agree that it's a different direction for LP but it's certainly not going backwards, that is for sure.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Delilah on October 29, 2010 at 7:35am

you said very eloquently what hopefully a lot of people still think, at least I do, thank god for people like you. It feels good to read the positive messages. Without going to other forums, I felt there was enough hate messages on this one, sadly. LP music fusion of styles and the lyrics have logically attracted a broad range of people, who feel they can relate to it. Among them, the head banging kiddies with anger issues. And ATS is for musical grown-ups (independently of the age) in my opinion. However everyone should be entitled to their opinions and is free to like it or not to like it. But the animosity and the insults make me also really mad. LP doesn't deserve that. Like you said, ATS needs time and patience to embrace, but once you're in, it's so intense, I can't even describe it. I went from surprise at the first listening, to amazement, to shere addiction. Oddly enough I went through these phases with the previous albums. But in ATS, there are beats in there, sounds, they're not even supposed to exist on this planet! I love the previous albums to death, including the head banging, the guitar riffs, the pain and anger, and those two blessed vocalists (gee how I love these voices). but l do think ATS is an incredible artistic masterpiece, with on top an absolutely admirable message.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dex on October 29, 2010 at 4:35pm

I get what you are coming from, but I actually don't agree with you.

Firstly, your definition of an opinion is only yours. The dictionary meaning of the word does not require an opinion to be either based upon fact, or to be unbiased.
Secondly, I understand why it bothers you, I really do, I spend a lot of time here trying to stop trolls like that from continuing.
But really, some people have lower IQ's than others, and some people were never taught how to express themselves with words. The only thing these people understand is insults and abuse. That's not their fault, it is a product of either their genetics or their upbringing, and that doesn't give anyone a right to deny them the ability to vent their feelings, whether it's done in a trollish way or not.

Censorship is extremely dangerous, and that's basically what you are asking for here.
People like Mario Savio, who Linkin Park obviously agree with because they put him on the album, fought for our right of speech. If we take that away from some people simply because they are incapable of making an intelligent argument, then we are nothing but dictators.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Storm_Rider00 on October 29, 2010 at 4:40pm

I understand, but I'm not asking for censorship, just for people to be a little more open-minded. Because we have the gift of freedom of speech does not give us the right to misuse it. We are all entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

Dex said:

I get what you are coming from, but I actually don't agree with you.

Firstly, your definition of an opinion is only yours. The dictionary meaning of the word does not require an opinion to be either based upon fact, or to be unbiased.
Secondly, I understand why it bothers you, I really do, I spend a lot of time here trying to stop trolls like that from continuing.
But really, some people have lower IQ's than others, and some people were never taught how to express themselves with words. The only thing these people understand is insults and abuse. That's not their fault, it is a product of either their genetics or their upbringing, and that doesn't give anyone a right to deny them the ability to vent their feelings, whether it's done in a trollish way or not.

Censorship is extremely dangerous, and that's basically what you are asking for here.
People like Mario Savio, who Linkin Park obviously agree with because they put him on the album, fought for our right of speech. If we take that away from some people simply because they are incapable of making an intelligent argument, then we are nothing but dictators.