"Numb" - Linkin Park (Meteora)
This kind of "modern rock" does nothing for me. Even if I was able to ignore the ever-present my-life-sucks theme (which is pretty danged tough to do) the music alone would drive me away.
Start with a little Nine Inch Nails-esque intro bit, slip into the lighter part of the first verse (which on "Numb" sounds like Depeche Mode) and then smash into the chorus...full of crushing, down-tuned guitars. Now repeat this for several more go-rounds, then finish up with the Nine Inch Nails thing.
Have people's attention spans dwinded so much that they can't remember the Reznor sound? Gees, it was only a coupla years ago.
(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)
Article comments
1 - Craig Lyndall
You know what's even funnier about that?
They have forgotten the sound that was bastardized from Reznor to the point that he didn't really sell a killer amount of his most recent album, which was probably his best work.
If you ever get the chance, check out The Fragile. You won't be disappointed on that journey.
2 - Mark Saleski
that's the double-cd, right?
i have listened to it and it is pretty good.
very long though.
i gotta go back to it.
3 - Craig Lyndall
yeah it is the double. I have a tendency to break it out whenever I am going on a road trip or something and can listen to it the whole way through. It ties together like that with recurring melodies and things, so it is probably worth it.
4 - Tom Johnson
I'll chime in here - there is some really, really good stuff on The Fragile. I'm not a fan of his lyrics, but I think he's got a great ear for intriguing sounds. The entirety of The Downward Spiral is absolutely fascinating to listen to on headphones when you have time to really listen close. To hear how he constructed those songs - it's all obvious upon close inspection - shows what an amazing talent he has for finding neat little sounds to loop and mutate. (Neat fact about "Piggy": each of the drumsets that build up near the end was recorded in a different room to get different sounds.) The Fragile, of course, isn't quite as fascinating on that level, being more of a "band" album, but has some really strong compositions. I could do without the very Marilyn Manson-esque "No, You Don't" (which manage to both bore me and irritate me at the same time) and the purposely provocative (and therefore decidedly not) "Starfuckers, Inc." As with most double-albums, it could have been trimmed and made a really intense long single disc, but that's what the skip buttons are for, right?
What I'd really like to hear is an entire album of instrumentals. He always throws a few really interesting instrumental bits on each album, but I think a whole album - or maybe a soundtrack - would work really well. I really expected Reznor to have a big career outside of NIN, but he doesn't seem to have taken advantage of that. His work with other bands and his soundtrack work in the mid-late 90s seemed like it was the beginning of something big, but he's kind of fallen back on trying to be the goth-industrial king - at a time when that just isn't really selling anymore. He needs to step out of that "woe is me" facade and just concentrate on making music. The attitude in his lyrics, to me, holds him back and keeps making him look more and more like he's desperately attempting to keep up with the teen crowd. Too bad. He's an artist who likely could "mature" and wind up making much more artistically impactful music. I'll keep listening . . . one of these days it's going to occur to him too.