I mean, he's not wrong. That's what made Linkin Park so special was their ability to be gently relatable in a way that pulled you in instead of shoved you away. And their music rocked hard as hell while they were at it. Maybe those Ozzfest crowds weren't feeling "Crawling" so much (I bet they were though) but no chance they could resist "By Myself."
Speaking to the Broken Record Podcast, Shinoda recounted:
“It’s funny because we were, in the context of the bands and the festivals and the shows that we were doing, we were the least bro-ey bros of the lineup. We were on these shows with — it was Ozzfest — and people were just waking up, getting drunk, blacking out, and then waking up next morning and chugging Pedialyte to rehydrate and then drink again.”
“I have nothing against all those folks from those tours. A lot of really sweet performers, great dudes in bands. The energy was very masculine. The crews were all bros with tattoos and beer guts, and that wasn’t our… Even way back in like, 2002–2003, that wasn’t really our scene.”
A legendarily considerate band, Linkin Park made a lot of friends by cleaning up their green rooms and forsaking any kind of rock star excess. One of the best parts about loving Linkin Park for your entire life is being safe in the knowledge there are no unsavory rumors coming, these guys were squeaky clean and god bless em for it.
Watch the full interview below:
