Linkin Park - Not A RobotI've already told you this: I think Linkin Park's new album A Thousand Suns is probably the best thing to bless my ears in many many years. I'm not going to review it for you because I've already highly recommend it and you should check it out.

With that said, this post is going to be about why I love Linkin Park. I listen to a lot of other bands, lots of different genres, and lots of different sounds, but Linkin Park is my favorite. So I guess I'll start with my journey to liking Linkin Park.

When I was young, I got my first taste of Linkin Park. I believe the very first song I heard was "1stp Klosr" from Reanimation. As a young lad trying to figure out what music I actually liked, this was a sound that I decided to pursue. At this stage in my life, I didn't know what kind of music I liked, and I didn't ask what other people liked.

After hearing this song, I found out that a friend of mine actually owned the album and I barrowed it from him and enjoyed it. Then, we were walking through the mall, more specifically a Sam Goody, and discovered that this band we both liked had an album called Hybrid Theory. Needless to say, my friend bought it and we listened to it and decided we liked this better than Reanimation, which we learned was a remixed version of Hybrid Theory, plus a few songs.

Also during this time, MTV was playing a live concert of Linkin Park on TV. This just solidified my liking of Linkin Park, and figuring out that this music is the type of music that I want to like.

This was about 2002 I suppose. My friend and I learned that Linkin Park would be releasing a new Album called Meteora in 2003. We were hyped for it. Of course we bought it when it came out, and continued to enjoy it. We were in middle school.

There was a long pause on the Linkin Park front. Mike released his solo album, Fort Minor, which was fantastic, but didn't scratch the Linkin Park itch. There was that Collision Course with Jay-Z, but by this time in my life I decided that Jay-Z was a terrible rapper. No, Linkin Park wouldn't be back in full swing until 2007, which was my last year of high school. My ear had been carved and the music I liked was almost hard coded into me.

Minutes to Midnight was perfect for this time in my life. I loved the heavier vibe it gave. I remember listening to it the first time, and checking to make sure I got the right CD, because it sounded nothing like the Linkin Park I knew, at least at first glance. However, there was Linkin Park in it. They had changed their sound, but yet it fit perfectly. Fantastic.

Then three years later. College. I've become set in the bands that I listen to. Old Linkin Park songs still find their way to my speaker systems. However, I was eagerly anticipating a new album. We got a few singles, such as "Not Alone," "New Divide," and "Black Birds" but I really wanted a new album.

A Thousand Suns hit me like a brick.

I noticed it right away. It was different again, but yet there was that little part of whatever makes a Linkin Park album there. It's just fantastic to know that a band is able to make album after album and push creativity into it that changes, but yet keeps it familiar, even if the familiar is a little bit harder to find.

What's my favorite album? All of them put together.

But what makes this band great in my eyes? What made me choose them as a band I would be following ten years down the road?

First off is that change. If I wanted to listen to the same sound over and over again, I would play Hybrid Theory all the time. But I am not a one sound man, and hearing Linkin Park with a different sound is amazing to me.

If you have ever seen them live, it's amazing. You get a hint of what their live show is like from Live in Texas and Road to Revolution but being their is different. They'll play a variation of old songs that you have never heard before. My favorite live song is from when I went to see them in 2008, and the band leaves the stage, and than Chester and Mike come back on, the lights are low. Mike starts playing the piano sequence, that slowly gets faster and than slows down again... than Chester starts slowly singing "Breaking the Habit." It was great. Their ability to change even their old songs and make them new again is one of things I like about them.

Their music videos are also fantastic. It's kinda a minor point, but I like every single one of their music videos. Mr. Hahn directs them, and he does a great job. They're usually very artsy fartsy but they fit the song and they are completely different from most music videos I see from popular bands.

Linkin Park has always evolved. The change between Hybrid Theory and Meteora was subtle, but there is definitely an evolution. You can hear a little bit of Minutes to Midnight in "Faint." Ironically, "New Divide" bridges the gab between Minutes to Midnight and A Thousand Suns. You could probably listen to all of their songs in order and you probably wouldn't notice the change as much. Or maybe you would. I don't think that's a bad thing.

The best products of creativity are done when the artist is crafting something that they want to craft. That's the biggest reason I love Linkin Park. They are passionate about their music. As with anything with art, that passionate gets translated into the final product, and usually the more passion the greater the end result. So keep doing what you are doing Linkin Park.

'Cause even a blueprint is a gift and a curse. 'Cause once you got a theory of how the thing works. Everybody wants the next thing to be just like the first.
- Linkin Park, When They Come For Me