sadcikov5
30.03.2006., četvrtak
Linkin Park
Sophomore albums are famously tricky affairs. Musicians have their entire lives to pen their debut album, the theory goes, and a relatively short time to follow it up. But what if the debut in question is the biggest selling album in recent memory? And what if the music industry has Hollywood-like expectations for another instant blockbuster? That was the scenario Linkin Park faced when they entered the studio to record Meteora, the follow-up to their multi-platinum debut Hybrid Theory.  That album--which Rolling Stone called "twelve songs of compact fire indivisibly blending alternative metal, hip-hop, and turntable art"--has shipped 14 million units worldwide to date. It was the Number One selling album of 2001. It launched three chart-topping singles including "In The End." And in 2002 it received a Grammy¬ for Best Hard Rock Performance for "Crawling," as well as nominations for Best Rock Album and Best New Artist. After diligently pursuing their craft since the band's humble origins in Southern California circa the mid-'90s, Linkin Park now had the world's ear. To those outside the band, the pressure to follow up that success might have seemed insurmountable. But within Linkin Park, vocalists Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda, guitarist Brad Delson, turntablist Joseph Hahn, drummer Rob Bourdon, and bassist Phoenix weren't sweating it in ways you might expect. Instead of dwelling on outside expectations, they set to work, meticulously crafting each moment of each song to their own exacting standards. The bigger picture developed accordingly. "We don't ever want to have the mindset where we need to sell 10 million albums each time out. That's ridiculous," says Bennington. "It's a blessing to sell that many albums; it doesn't happen very often in this business--even once in your career is an achievement. Our obligation is to our fans. We're not going to get too comfortable and say it's a given that people will run out and buy our albums." "And if you know us, you know the biggest pressure came from within the band," says Shinoda.  "We just wanted to make another great album that we're proud of," says Bourdon. "We focused on that, and worked hard to create songs we love. We're our own harshest critics." If you doubt that, consider this: Shinoda and Bennington wrote 40 unique choruses for MeteoraÍs poignant first single, "Somewhere I Belong," before arriving at the best possible version.         Linkin Park linkin park -Faint |
Green Day
 Green Day was part of the California punk scene. Childhood friends Billie Joe Armstrong (guitar, vocals) and Mike Dirnt (bass; born Mike Pritchard) formed their first band, Sweet Children, in Rodeo, California when they were 14 years old. By 1989, the group had added drummer Al Sobrante and changed their name to Green Day. That year, the band independently released their first EP, 1,000 Hours, which was well-received in the punk scene. Soon, the group had signed a contract with the local independent label, Lookout! Records. 39/Smooth, Green Day's first album, was released later that year. Shortly after its release, the band replaced Kiftmeyer with Tre Cool (born Frank Edwin Wright, III); Tre Cool became the band's permanent drummer. Throughout the early '90s, Green Day continued to cultivate a cult following, which only gained strength with the release of their second album, 1992's Kerplunk. The underground success of Kerplunk led to a wave of interest from major record labels; the band eventually decided to sign with Reprise. Dookie, Green Day's major label debut, was released in the spring of 1994. Thanks to MTV support for the initial single "Longview," Dookie became a major hit. The album continued to gain momentum throughout the summer, with the second single "Basket Case" spending five weeks on the top of the American modern rock charts. At the end of the summer, the band stole the show at Woodstock '94, which helped the sales of Dookie increase. By the time the fourth single "When I Come Around" began its seven-week stay at number one in the modern rock charts in early 1995, Dookie had sold over five million copies in the US alone; it would eventually top eight million in America, selling over eleven million copies internationally. Dookie also won the 1994 Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance. Green Day quickly followed Dookie with Insomniac in the fall of 1995; during the summer, they hit number one again on the modern rock charts with "J.A.R.," their contribution to the Angus soundtrack. Insomniac performed well initially, entering the US charts at number two, and selling over two million copies by the spring of 1996, yet none of its singles -- including the radio favorite "Brain Stew/Jaded" -- were as popular as those from Dookie. In the spring of 1996, Green Day abruptly cancelled a European tour, claiming exhaustion. Following the cancellation, the band spent the rest of the year resting and writing new material. The end result is what is called by many, the best album of their career, Nimrod. Nimrod was well recieved by most critics and fans. The album sold 80,000 copies in it's first week to land at #10 on the Billboard charts. The first single from Nimrod was "Hitchin' A Ride". The single made it to #5 on the modern rock charts and was in heavy rotation on MuchMusic and MTV. The next single the band released would not make it to number one (it's highest position was #2), but it is now probably the most well known songs Green Day ever wrote. Featuring Billie Joe on accoustic guitar and vocals, "Time Of Your Life" became the song to play in any remotely sad situation. The song was even used on the last ever episode of the hit TV show Seinfeld (it was also the most watched finale in the history of TV). Along with Seinfeld, the song was also played on E.R on two different shows. Nimrod has sold about two million copies, the lowest sales total out of their three major label albums, but it probably garnered the band more respect than they could have expected with another Dookie or Insomniac. The band also vastly improved their live show and even one "Best Live Performance" at the Kerrang awards. After nearly two years with barely any mention of the band, Green Day returned in late 1999 to play Neil Young's "Bridge School Benefit Concert", their first live accoustic performance. Green Day began recording their follow-up to "Nimrod" shortly after, which would eventually become "Warning:". Early in the recording process, the band decided to fire their new producer, Scott Litt, and produce the album themselves, marking the first time since "Kerplunk" that anyone but Rob Cavallo produced the bands recording. After they finished recording, Green Day decided to do something else they hadn't done before headline the 2000 Vans Warped Tour. Green Day played an amazing set and brought more fans to the tour than any other year in Warped's history (their Toronto performance alone attracted 7,000 more fans than they had any other year).  "Warning:" was released in the fall of 2000, and is by far Green Day's most ambitious album to date. If its first singles, "Minority" and the album's title track, are any indication, the album could prove to be extremely successful. Just four weeks after the release of "Minority", it sat atop Billboard's Modern Rock chart; no other Green Day song has hit the top that fast. In September of 2004 Green Day released "American Idiot", an album which lashes out against the American government and the media. "American Idiot" was the first Green Day record ever to debut at #1 on the Billboard Charts, and other music charts around the world. The album's title track, was an instant success. The follow up single, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" experienced a must greater success. "American Idiot" was nominated for seven Grammy awards, and took home one, "Best Rock Album". In August of 2005, Green Day took home 7 Video Music Awards from MTV.  Green day |
Fort Minor
 Fort Minor - Remember The Name Fort Minor's MySpace Page  How do you thrive in the shadow, substantial and arena-sized, of a group that has sold over 35 million albums? If you're Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, the answer is: shine your own light. Shinoda is half the vocal firepower of the multi-platinum, Grammy-winning band Linkin Park, trading diaphragmatic diatribes with singer Chester Bennington and infusing the searing alternative rock with equally intense hip-hop. From album to album, Shinoda and his bandmates have garnered a reputation based on their appetite for striking new ground. On his first outing alone, Shinoda is ready to show people that he is still hungry. Shinoda's rap roots have always had to share space with other elements until now. Fort Minor is a wholly unique, unadulterated hip hop album, owing as much to Shinoda's polished lyricism as his musical adeptness. The variety of themes, styles, and moods he creates make this "side project" likely to do much more than simply satisfy existing LP fans; it threatens to expose Shinoda as a rap devotee who is as at home in hip-hop as he is in the cross-genre hybrid of Linkin Park. The Rising Tied, the much-anticipated debut of Shinoda's Fort Minor, will be released by Machine Shop Recordings/Warner Bros., in Fall 2005.  Executive Produced by Jay-Z (who collaborated with Linkin Park on 2004's Collision Course), The Rising Tied is produced and mixed by Shinoda, who wrote every track, played nearly every instrument and "slaved over every detail." While Shinoda chose the name Fort Minor to reflect the dynamic between opposites something big and strong vs. something small and slight (or musically dark) the name of the album is also a play on words. All of the guest artists on The Rising Tied, says Shinoda, are coming up together in the music world. Among them are Machine Shop acts Styles of Beyond and Holly Brook, as well as Common, John Legend, Kenna and Black Thought (of The Roots), among others. While remaining an essential shard in the mosaic of Linkin Park, the desire to create songs that resonated with his youth as a hip-hop producer and MC led Shinoda to write, then record, a progression of hip-hop-rooted songs. As they began to coalesce into an album bearing Shinoda's solo imprimatur, he also felt it was essential to keep it "organic," making his own samples and breakbeats with live instruments, and avoiding sequenced keyboards. The Rising Tied, channeling some of the signature dynamics and frustration of Linkin Park, reveals a more personal range of themes slagged inside a distinctly hip-hop crucible. Not to say that it's an entirely homogenized collection. On the first single, "Believe Me," excerpts from a decaying relationship tremble over a seismic breakbeat, infused with Latin percussion and a cello-bass line that reflects Shinoda's love of classic rock. "High Road," bouncing to Billy Joel-like piano progressions, adopts a humorous tone even as it gives the finger to someone who once told him to "stick to keyboards, don't rap." More funny business comes into play in "Remember the Name," with Shinoda transforming a traditional rapper's brag into a subtler call for respect, all done in the third-person. What's the formula for success? Shinoda answers, in a walking tempo, "This is 10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will, 5% pleasure, 50% pain, and 100% reason to remember the name." Another song that shifts traditional perspectives is "Where'd You Go?," a lament for those on the road as felt through the experience of those left behind. Shinoda warns, "'Where'd You Go' makes my wife cry every time she hears it." On "Right Now," inspired by Robert Altman's iconoclastic film Short Cuts, Shinoda, Black Thought, and S.O.B. offer a hodgepodge of scenes, invoked to the rhythm of a chopped-up piano loop, which stitch together disparate lives during any given moment. Home-town pride inspires Shinoda's unexpected and highly personalized picture of Los Angeles in the candid "Back Home," while sarcasm drives the irresponsible zeitgeist of "Petrified," a precarious anthem built on swagger, fear, and the heaviest beat since Ice Cube's "Wicked."  Clearly, the most unique song of this album or any album, for that matter is a rap-flavored recollection of the U.S. internment of Japanese citizens during World War II. "Kenji," featuring the voices of Shinoda's aunt and father who were interned in the U.S. during the 1940s, paints a bleak picture of those who lost everything after being thrown into what were known then, euphemistically, as "relocation camps." Shinoda explains, "I went to the Japanese-American National Museum in L.A. last year, and it reminded me of all the stories my family had told me, how they were put into internment camps here in the U.S., not because they had done anything wrong, but simply because they fit a profile. I had to write a song about it." With Fort Minor and The Rising Tied, Shinoda appreciated the chance to tackle a new theme outside the normal subject matter of Linkin Park. Tackling big goals seems to be Shinoda's modus operandi. Notwithstanding an expectation to pursue a career in the visual arts, Mike decided instead to become a musician while working toward his B.A. in Illustration from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Having already taken ten years of piano lessons, he first began to work as a hip-hop MC and producer. In the mid-1990s Shinoda joined with guitarist Brad Delson, turntablist Joseph Hahn, drummer Rob Bourdon, bassist Phoenix and vocalist Chester Bennington to form Linkin Park. The band's debut, Hybrid Theory, became the worldwide ..1-selling album of 2001, earning a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance ("Crawling") and various other awards. Its subsequent albums Reanimation, Meteora and Live in Texas - have continued to widen the band's fan base and critical acclaim; all together the catalogue has sold upwards of 35 million albums. On July 2 in Philadelphia, Linkin Park performed as part of the African aid/debt relief effort Live 8, to a live audience estimated at nearly one million people. Mike Shinoda's personal philanthropic efforts are growing as well. In the past five years, he has started a scholarship at his alma mater and been involved in groups such as United Way, AIDS Project L.A., Densho, the Japanese American National Museum, Arthritis Foundation and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Last year, Linkin Park launched Music For Relief, an organization to aid the rebuilding of Southeast Asia; the band played a sold-out show in Los Angeles to support the cause, raising over $2 million for relief efforts. For more information about Fort Minor and The Rising Tied, please visit www.fortminor.com.     vrh |
