Linkin Park is not doing themselves any favors with a portion of their fanbase who clamor for their older, more aggressive sound, with frontman Chester Bennington telling fans to move the fuck on. Fans responded by throwing a jug at Chester during the band's recent performance at Hellfest.
This leads us to a new interview with Corey Taylor, where he was promoting the new Stone Sour release, Hydrograd. In speaking to Alternative Press, he lamented about how some bands are too focused on pigeon-holing themselves within a sub-genre of hard rock or metal:
“It’s because people are growing up very specifically categorized— there’s a very specific sound for active rock, there’s a very specific sound for alternative, there’s a very specific for this and that and the other one— and everyone is terrified to step outside of that box because there’s no proven way to make money when you step outside of that box. We’ve never given a shit. We’re either thin or flush. That’s just the way we like to run. To a lot of bands, ‘rock’ is a dirty word. They won’t even call themselves a rock band anymore; they’ll call themselves alternative bands all day, and it’s like, ‘No, fuck that. Are you kidding?’ I had a band, who I won’t mention by name, tell me to my face, ‘We’re not rock anymore, we’re alternative.’ And I was like, ‘That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.’ I said, ‘Why? What are you scared of?’ And they wouldn’t answer the correct way, so I just walked away from the conversation. I just think people are too worried about keeping up appearances, about some sort of backlash.”
Taylor then used Linkin Park as a perfect example:
“I tell you what, give him shit for the way he said it, but look at Chester [Bennington]. At least Chester’s standing up for his new shit instead of hiding behind a wall of rhetoric because they’re afraid of not making money. Linkin Park is at least trying to do something different. You may not like it, but who gives a shit? There are people out there who will like it, and they’ve at least got the balls to do it. I understand why the reaction to what he said was what it was, but he’s got a point, man. Fuck you if you don’t like the new shit. People are so afraid of risk, that the only way you really win is if you risk, and that’s all we’ve done our whole career.”
While Taylor supports the band's decision to explore their sound, he does not support trashing fans. Last month, he noted:
“I understand where he’s at. God, I would’ve never say it the way he did, but you get frustrated and you want people to embrace the evolution,” Corey said. “At the same time, you should probably be very, very fortunate that people this far along the line still love that music you made.”
Stone Sour's Hydrograd is out today.
