Although the lyrics he writes can often come across as pessimistic, songwriter Mike Shinoda insists that it's all for the art.
“In the End.” It’s such a weird one... If you listen to the lyrics, it’s so pessimistic, and I’m not really that pessimistic. Actually, my friends often accuse me of finding the silver lining in things too often. So to write those words and then have that be the biggest song off the album, it forced me to have a different perspective on what that song is for, and what the meaning of that song in the world is.
Basically, the songs were like an outreach. The songs were an invitation to the show, whether you listened to “One Step Closer” and said “That’s so dope — it’s so angry,” or if you listened to “In the End” and there was something about that pessimism and that negativity that you related to, you could come to our show. And it wasn’t a farce. That’s how I felt at the time.
But in the big picture, that’s not who I am. So people would come to the shows because they connected with these negative emotions, and we gave them something positive to rally around. The songs were like, If you feel this way, come together. We always talked about a catharsis. They got to get out all these negative and difficult thoughts and emotions." - Mike Shinoda, Inarguable Legacy of Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory 20 Years Later, Brady Gerber, Vulture (Oct 6, 2020)
Did you know that Chester Bennington of Linkin Park wanted to punch label executives at Warner Bros in the face when producing the band's debut album? Or that the band was rejected by 45 record labels prior to finally being signed? What about the hit song that Chester originally hated and didn't want to include on the album? Stick around and we will answer these questions and more!
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