- The Hybrid Theory EP features "Carousel", "And One" and "Part Of Me". They are all about people who for various reasons keep their feelings locked away. The other three tracks on the EP, "Technique", "Step Up" and "High Voltage" are from the perspective of tough hip hop guy who is very outspoken on his feelings and doesn't let people mess with him. "Carousel" features the stories of two drug addicts who can't face their own problems. The end of "And One" features a hip hop interlude where he alternates between confidence and fear, which could indicate the EP takes place in the mind of someone who is bipolar - looking tough on the streets but broken on the inside. "Part Of Me" features the guy going crazy from the clash between his states of mind and wishing he could just get rid of his worry entirely.
- That doesn't explain Minutes To Midnight. They had a new sound and a few protest numbers on that album even before A Thousand Suns.
- Minutes To Midnight did have a few protest numbers, but the whole album wasn't dedicated to war. Most of the songs were just about random subjects, such as "Valentine's Day" being about losing your lover and "Bleed It Out" being about the pain and misery in trying to write good songs.
- Wasn't the T-Virus reverse-engineered from the Mother virus, which was itself found in a dead queen ant?
- "When They Come For Me" is definitely this - Shinoda knew that fans of the old stuff would skip to a track where he raps, so he made the lyrics about how stupid fans are to expect the same thing every time.
- This might be true, although they did release the entirely acoustic My December as a B Side not long after. She Couldn't is also an oddball because it isn't a song where Chester and Mike talk about something happening to them, it's a song showing compassion for someone else. It is likely that had the song been released as a single the band might not have maintained their momentum - proven true when they did start doing ballads for Minutes To Midnight, and many fans turned on them, saying they'd 'gone emo'.
- Hybrid Theory, Gold/Silver - October 2000
- Meteora, Ruby/Sapphire - March 2003
- Minutes To Midnight, Diamond/Pearl - Mid May/Late April 2007
- A Thousand Suns, (Japanese) Black/White - September 2010
- Living Things - June 26, 2012; Black/White 2 - June 23, 2012 (Japan)
- Recharged - October 29, 2013; X/Y - October 12, 2013 (worldwide)
To boot, The ATS CD and DVD covers follow the same coloring and design scheme of the Black and White covers. Something is clearly afoot.
- The Hunting Party doesn't fit this pattern, but it did come out very close to the Japanese release of Pokemon Art Academy. Maybe now they've decided to just put the release dates anywhere near anything Pokemon, rather than tying release dates to major installments.
- A song in Reanimation sampled the first Pokemon movie, as well. Hmm...
Linkin Park is part 2 of this story. Tensions are extremely high now, and protesters are openly clashing with police in the streets. Some civilians are trying to ignore the conflict; a bunch of them have their own fish to fry, after all (Crawling, Don't Stay, In The End, etc) but some are beginning to take up arms against the government (Rebellion, The Catalyst, Jornada Del Muerto). Things are getting ugly reaaaaally fast. Then the shot heard round the world happens...
Breaking Benjamin is part 3. There's no turning back now. The world is engulfed in an all out civil war. Many of their songs are from the perspectives of rebel fighters (Into The Nothing, Fade Away, Had Enough, I Will Not Bow, Unknown Soldier). For the hapless civilians on the sidelines, their lives are slipping through their fingers. War is stressful, and entire families are breaking apart, due to arguing, loss of homes or death (What lies Beneath, You, Breath, So Cold, Anthem Of The Angels, Diary of Jane, Angels Fall, Sooner or Later). Violent crime is also skyrocketing thanks to the chaos (Lights Out, Crawl, Water, Believe).
Disturbed is part 4, when the fighting gets really intense and nears a turning point. Pretty much all of their songs are Protest Song s; with the release of Immortalized, it seems the rebels are winning. Only time will tell, though...
See that page for more.
Which happened in Lincoln Park, Chicago.