In a new interview with the Broken Record Podcast, Linkin Park’s co-lead singer Mike Shinoda addressed criticism surrounding the band and their decision to continue on with singer Emily Armstrong in place of late frontman Chester Bennington.
When asked about the difficulties of reinventing Linkin Park, Shinoda explained that he and his bandmates took those challenges head on, seeing this new era as a risk worth taking.
“I think that one of the things that really drove us is the idea that if we had just, like, hung it up and said, ‘Okay, that was a good run,’ and call it quits, that is such a sh*tty way for the band to end or stop making new music. That is like an awful story. No one wants to read that book,” he said.
“And instead to be able to say, like, ‘And then the guys dusted themselves off and got up again.’ That to me is exactly the book I want to read. That’s the thing that’s the hardest to do and the most intimidating, the most challenging, the most that could go wrong, honestly. And, for ourselves and for our kids, for our fans, to do it and say, ‘Yeah, we took huge risks on this.’
He continued, adding that they fully expected to face doubters in regards to their comeback:
“There’s so much about the new music, the new lineup, and everything else… I mean, before we even put out– before anybody knew anything we were like, ‘Okay, here’s a laundry list of the things that people are not going to like.’ [Which are] all of the things that they ended up not liking.
“Like, all of the things that anybody in the internet argued about and continues to argue about our band. If anyone thinks that we didn’t think of those things, they’re crazy. We live and breathe this band. We thought of all those things. We were like, ‘Okay, is that okay? That’s going to be okay, right?’”
Taking aim at these critics, Shinoda clarified that he has accepted the fact that they may lose some fans because he feels the band’s new direction has opened them up to a whole new audience.
“The open mouth-breather, neckbeard, misogynist metal fan who loved our band, who loved our first two records, and hasn’t listened to the band since, but thinks he’s a Linkin Park fan. He’s going to hate this band and be vocal about it. So, that’s okay. Like, great. Because that person’s going to get replaced by, ostensibly, like a 15-year-old girl who’s like, ‘I’ve never been into loud music before and I want to learn to play guitar now. And I love that.”
