I used the dead wood to make the fire rise

Continuing my trip back through the 2010 album charts.

19/09/10 : A Thousand Suns - Linkin Park

I like Hybrid Theory (which I'm quite surprised to see is now 22 years old) but I have to admit I've not even attempted to listen to any other of their albums.  Until now...

Well - this is the sound of a band trying to reinvent themselves to be taken seriously, but not being entirely sure how they should do that.  There's all sorts in there - it's really a bit kitchen-sinky and it does take itself way too seriously, but there are some bright spots.  I enjoyed the more melodic tracks, with "Burning In The Skies" and "Iridescent" standing out for me - I particularly did not like "Blackout" with its shouty rap elements.  Just no.  But it was an interesting, if not entirely enjoyable experience.  I like the album cover though!

We're at #2 in the charts this week with a new entry about to start an eleven week run, although it did manage another 18 weeks in a few runs in '11 and a random single week in '17 - but it's not quite the 145 weeks on the chart that Hybrid Theory managed.  The rest of the top five were The Script, Robert Plant, Phil Collins (all new entries) and Brandon Flowers - and we have one more new entry in the top ten with Interpol at #10.

Wikipedia has waaaay more than I was expecting on the album (448 milliPeppers) and boy is a load of it pretentious guff.  I should have got the title reference though - it's a line in the Bhagavad Gita which was quoted by Robert Oppenheimer during the development of the atomic bomb.  The critics were mostly positive about it with some interest comparisons being made to Public Enemy, Radiohead and Pink Floyd - absolutely none of whom sprung to my mind when I listened to it.  Another critic claimed it was "2010's best avant-rock nuclear-anxiety concept record", which I guess I'd struggle to argue with (or at least come up with a better example).  Commercially it did well, getting to #1 in quite a few countries (including the US) but it polarised their fans - which is not something that surprises me in the slightest because that ALWAYS happens when bands try to change their sound.

"Customers also listened to" Dead By Sunrise, Grey Daze, Fort Minor and Thirty Second To Mars - not bands I can tell you the slightest thing about except that Jared Leto is in TSTM.  And I can't claim Linkin Park are my area of expertise but if you're keen to learn about them, I'd definitely recommend starting with Hybrid Theory rather than this.

12/09/10 - I'm not sure what to do with this
26/09/10 - Charming, but utterly pointless

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