Linkin Park vocalist Mike Shinoda has weighed in on the lack of diversity that permeated through the metal scene during the ’80s.
During a retrospective interview with Metal Hammer, Shinoda stewed on the state of the music scene that surrounded the release of the band’s landmark debut album, Hybrid Theory.
Mike Shinoda mused that around the time Linkin Park were coming into their own, he was mostly listening to hip-hop, as he found the lack of diversity within the metal scene alienating.
“At the time,” Shinoda recalled, “if you asked somebody what they were listening to they’d say… ‘Rock. I listen to hip-hop. I listen to jazz.’ It wasn’t until five years later they’d say, ‘Everything.’ Hybrid Theory did some of that work. It was part of the progression towards breaking down boundaries between styles of music.”
He continued, “I listened to 90 percent rap music, then I’d look at a lot of rock bands and I’d be like, ‘There’s something too white.’
“That was one of the things that turned me off, especially hair metal. Hair metal felt like very white music and I was growing up in a very diverse city so I didn’t gravitate to it.”
Shinoda believes that the rise of nü-metal ushered in a new era of diversity within the rock scene — in ways that transcend race alone.
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of metal, rock, indie, pop, and everything else in between.
“And it wasn’t just about race,” Shinoda axplained. “I don’t mean the color of skin. I just mean the culture of it. When nu-metal started at the very beginning, it was a very diverse place.”
He continued, “There was a moment when that term, nu metal, and what it meant, was actually pretty cool. It’s almost impossible to imagine!
“I remember when Korn first came out and when Deftones’ first couple of albums came out, and whatever you think about a group like Limp Bizkit, their first album was really raw.
“There was something really visceral and culture blending that was important.”
Check out ‘In The End’ by Linkin Park:
Linkin Park’s landmark debut album Hybrid Theory recently finally scored the No.1 spot in Australia, 20 years after its initial release.
In a testament to their unwaning popularity, the band’s latest expanded multi-disc reissue of their career-defining album has firmly landed at no.1 on the ARIA chart.
The band released their expansive reissue, Hybrid Theory: 20th Anniversary Edition, on October 9th. The reissue arrived in a variety of formats: Super Deluxe Box, Vinyl Box Set, Deluxe CD, and digitally.
