Linkin Park's A Thousand Suns

Almost a year after Linkin Park's album, A Thousand Suns, came out, I still hear a lot of shit talk about it as well as the band. I'm kind of sick of it. I think VERY highly of LP and it makes no sense to me how hardcore LP fans can hate the new album that much.

People are calling them sellouts which I don't understand. Just because a band changes their sound doesn't mean they are selling out. A band that sells out, after changing their sound, is a band that changes they sound for record selling. LP purposely made this album NOT radio friendly and they proved successful from what I've seen. Also I think it may have sold less copies than any of their other albums. They also aren't selling as many concert tickets either. So how is that selling out? What I don't get is how some fans think that if the band made another NuMetal album, they wouldn't be selling out.... This makes NO sense to me. I think a band that makes the same album over and over again is selling out. For example, AC/DC. They say they won't chance their sound because they don't want to "sell out". I'm sorry but they are selling out making the same album over and over and over. All their songs sound the same and they get boring. If you buy one AC/DC album you already have the all. 

I think A Thousand Suns is unlike anything I have heard. I think it is very unique and I love the new sound. I think it brought a new genre to the table. They even put an acoustic song on the album which was a first for them. It is a very beautiful song but still has Chester's strong, powerful voice. This album personally got me more into the band than ever before. I love them so much. No matter what the criticizes say I love this album and it is one of my favorites.

According to LP though the next album with be different and I'm very curious to see what happens. I will admit I'm afraid but I think I will love it because every album gets better and better. And this band never ceases to amaze me.

Rockstars, Drugs and Alcohol

I always figured that my faovrite bands were pretty clean when it came to drugs and alcohol. But I was proven wrong (at least of one band).

The band that I thought put drugs in the past, was Linkin Park. I just recently found out that Chester Bennington got over a drug addiction. I knew that Chester had a drug addiction in his teens, but I never guessed that he got back into drugs and alcohol. I was really upset to hear this. It started in 2005 when he divorsed his wife. But I have not been trying to think about it too much because Chester says he is sober now. I just really really hope that it doesn't happen again. I don't want to see him unhappy and I don't want him to be like most of the rockstars. I want him to stand out and show that you can overcome it and that you be an amazing musician and not have too be on drugs or alcohol.

This is one of the reasons I love Alice Cooper so much. He was an alcoholic and he knew he needed help so he got it and he has been sober for 25 years. I wish more rockstars could do this. I wish John Entwistle would have done it. :'(

But I hope this is the end of Chester's addictions. I don't want to wake up one morning and hear he had an overdose or something. I would be devestated.

I also hate the my friend was right. I did see LP as being angels (for the most part) but I was wrong. Although, I have read about 2 of the 6 members doing drugs, and these were from LP sites. Just two of them and both are sober now. Rob Bourdon was the other one. I would have NEVER guessed that. But his addictions happened in high school as well as Chester's first addiction. So, 4/6th of the band is as like I thought.

I'm not sure why I have to get into band's personal lives. Most of the time I am upset by it (and a lot of it happened in the past and is over now). I just think very highly of my favorite rockstars and I want them to be happy. I mean they make me happy (most of the time). When you have addictions like that you are not happy. Chester even talked about suicide. I don't know how I would have taken news of his suicide, had it happened, especially since I didn't know he was having a problem in the first place.

I know Chester will never read this but if I could I would love to tell him that even though those dark years helped him write songs for this solo album and even for LP, that I would much rather him be sober than doing drugs to write music. I have a feeling his music would still be amazing.

Gangsters Today versus Gangsters In the 20's

Lately I have been very interested in the Mafia. I play Mafia Wars on Facebook and I have started watching The Sopranos. I was thinking about how badass the Mafia was and still is (but also very scary). They were the ultimate gangsters. Gangsters today don't even compare.

Before I go on let me just say that some of the following pictures are graphic so read on at your own discretion. 

When I think gangster I think of guys wearing pin strip suits and fedoras and carrying Thompson Submachine guns or sawed off shotguns. It is a plus when they have that thick Italian accent or even better the Italian look and the Brooklyn accent. Gangsters today wear baggy clothes, baseball caps, hoodies, lots of "bling" and sometimes carry handguns. This to me is not gangster. I think they looks stupid. They aren't badass. I think, that they think, they are badass but their not. I never really thought about any of this until I saw this painting by Mike Shinoda called "Follow The Leader":

I do like that he had The Godfather as the oringial gangster because members of the Mafia were the original gangsters. And I am pretty sure that most gangsters today were influenced by this, but I still don't think that today's gangsters are that impressive. As you can see all the guys in the background are/were rappers and I will admit that some 90's rappers were pretty gangster but today's rappers are not. I know that there are rappers that have been shot and it is tragic. But I don't these attacks are as brutal as the attacks the Mafia carried out. 

Most people today think of this when they hear "gangster":

But this is what I think of:

And this is the kind of things that those gangsters did:

These are real gangsters. These gangsters are a lot more brutal then today's gangsters. And they are the original gangster. They are the definition of the word "gangster".

As a side note I am, in no way, trying to offend anyone. This is just my opinion and my Italian heritage talking. I mean no disrespect. So please don't take this too seriously.

RED on Leno

I'm a little late but on February 19th, RED performed on Leno. They played "Not Alone". The performance was great but I was disappointed with the song they played. It is an amazing song but I was hoping for a a faster song that I could rock out too. Other than that it was awesome!

 

While on the subject of RED, on Fridays the band gets on Facebook and answers questions from fans. The past two weeks I asked them questions and both times they answered. I was very excited. :D

RED's performance on Conan O'Brien

I ended up missing RED's proformance on Conan O'Brien last night but a video was posted online the next day.

I think they nailed the performance. From comments on Conan's website, it seemed that people liked them. I hope this can put them on the map because they totally deserve it.

Even more exciting though is they are going to be the musical guest on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" on Wednesday, February 16. They are finally get their big break after three albums. This is great because I cannot being to explain how amazing I think this band is.

They played "Faceless", which was the first single of the new album called Until We Have Faces.

RED on Conan

RED is going to be on Conan's show tonight. This is very exciting because, as far as I know, this is their first REAL tv exposer. If and when the video comes out I will post it.

The Epic-ness That Is RED

I love music. It probably my biggest interest. There are many bands that I like but there are some that I find amazing. Now, if you know me you might think I'm going to say Green Day, Linkin Park or The Who, but the band I'm talking about is none of the above. The band I'm talking about is called RED. They are a Christian metal band.

There music is very unique to me. These guys put more passion in their songs than anything I have ever heard before. It is hard to explain in words how this band makes me feel, but the singers voice and the lyrics put a chill down my spine, literally. The music is very calming, least for me, but sometimes it can almost bring me to tears also. I think one thing that also adds to their music is the strings. A lot of their songs have violins and such in them. I think that is want gives the music such a passionate feeling. In my opinion they are one of the greatest bands ever, but they are not very well known, so most people wouldn't say that.

This song inparticular is one that gives me chills

Their third album comes out on Feburary 1. It's called Until We Have Faces. If it is as good their first two albums then I except it to be great! The album leaked on the internet already but I have not listened to it because I would rather wait until I buy the album. From other people's reaction, it seems to be a good album.

Here is the first single off of the album.

Only more day to wait!