Welcome to a brand new session of Berating the Popular, in today’s class we’re going to cover three topics, ‘Shadow of the Day’, director cuts, and WTF happened to Linkin Park.

In the MTV version of ‘Shadow of the Day’, Chester Bennington gets up in the middle of the night to go outside and watch the riot he was viewing on his TV. This turmoil tears him up so much that he has to stand there and turn his back to the fighting and the flames. I would love to tell you there is more to the story but there really isn’t. That’s it. That’s all that happens. He walks around for four minutes and some change. Nice. There are a thousand fundamental questions that are just begging to be answered. Like, Joseph Hahn really directed this? Why the hell is Chester getting up at 11:55 p.m.? Where is the rest of Linkin Park? Why is he suiting up for a riot? Does Mike still rap for this band? Let me give you my favorite moments from the video.

0:46 What is he dipping a hot dog bun into for flavor?
0:58 They cannot decided what parts of the song they should lip synch.
1:15 What is he shaving? Why?
2:48. You should pause it here just to check out Chester walking through a crowd that contains both rioters and the riot police.
3:01 Molotov cocktails totally blow up cars. That’s just science.
3:34 Chester sticks his head up to look like a lizard soaking up the sunlight. Is this supposed to be inner turmoil?

Now if you are not completely befuddled you can watch the director’s cut of the video which lays out the story behind the video. Apparently Chester is a terrorist (which I don’t believe) I also don’t believe that Chester Bennington would live anywhere near a prime riot location.. He bombs something. It’s lame and it ends.

The studio did make the video worse buy cutting out all the bomb making and terrorist aspects. I guess they didn’t want the only person left in Linkin Park to be branded a terrorist.

I believe the formula for a bands utter destruction to be something along the lines of, Unwanted Popularity + Time = Drastic Changes to the Sound. Bands are always looking to change. I wouldn’t accept this behavior from my girlfriend, why would I want it from my music. I fell in love with something they had. They were giving me what I wanted and now they are depriving me of it. I understand the need to change but it should not be so drastic. Change needs to happen through evolution. Keep the sound moving forward, improve it, refine it but completely change it and you burn your audience. The band’s sound use to be about screaming, rapping and dj-ing it all together, with songs about looking inward, now they are a bunch of whinny bitches talking political. Really it’s just Chester singing softly — it’s now his band. Where are Mike and Joe Hahn? Other projects I assume.

Now I’m complete aware that the readers of this site have never liked Linkin Park and are extremely glad about their new terrible sound. This formula haunts all bands. It’s like a genetic defect in their blood. Who remembers the Killers and Arctic Monkeys before their new sound? It happens to the best and worst of bands. Maybe that’s why Death From Above 1979 quit after a single LP. Either way it’s destroying good music and no amount of riot videos are going to cover that up.

In contrast this is what Linkin Park used to be about.