You’ve probably seen the meme about accidentally crashing your family’s computer while trying to download Linkin Park songs from Limewire or other equally dodgy websites.
At the same time, you were surfing YouTube while waiting eagerly to install LiNkiNg-pArK-NuMb.exe on your prized Creative Zen MP3 player.
And what were you looking at? Most likely, Naruto had an epic battle with Sasuke, cut and edited to sound from Linkin Park’s track Faint: Good Old His AMV, or an anime music video.
For some reason, Linkin Park’s tracks have been go-tos for the creators of these videos, and continue to provide inspiration for the band’s own official videos.
Ahead of the Meteora Anniversary Edition release on April 7th, Mike Shinoda spoke to Metro.co.uk about making a video for one of the band’s latest projects, the newly released track Lost.
“It was actually a reference to AMV that made us decide to make the Lost video,” he explained. “Hey, anime!
“When Meteora came out in 2003, YouTube was a whole new thing. Whatever they liked, it was often anime.
“They made these animated music videos with the music of Linkin Park and it became so trendy that you can see them everywhere. Even now if you google AMV you can find Linkin Park You’ll see the results, and that was the problem, so we referenced it in our video for Somewhere I Belong, and we referenced it frequently in our video for Breaking The Habit, which is an animated video. I can’t help but do anime!”
Lost was originally slated to appear on Meteora’s original album, but as Mike previously explained to Metro, it lost its place on Numb on the tracklist.
And 20 years later, released nearly six years after the death of frontman Chester Bennington, fans got to hear his powerful vocals again.
The music video is anime-inspired and uses artificial intelligence, with Mike stressing that the AI ”doesn’t run the show”, but the Linkin Park footage and the animated film. It combines the work of director Maciej Kuciara and artist pplpleaser.
He explained that they teamed up to combine the original anime with the original music using AI.
Mike recognizes that “AI can be very controversial for some people,” but for him it’s a matter of intent. what other skills? Or are you willing to respect it? In this case, I feel like I’m using it as an add-on behind the original material.
The musician, who has been “loosely tracking AI” for almost a decade, had the idea of creating an AI chat bot as part of marketing ahead of the release of his 2017 album One More Light, but it just didn’t work out. It wasn’t the right time.
“I had this concept of creating this character that fans could talk to 24 hours a day. “So I was like, ‘Okay, this isn’t a good idea at the moment.'”
“But I love the idea of using AI to speed up or optimize workflows using AI.”
The band has changed their website to look like the 2003 website to download NuMb.exe, alluding to the announcement of the Meteora Anniversary Edition due earlier this year.
When asked about it, Mike laughed.
As well as celebrating Meteora’s anniversary, Mike is looking to the future as he works on solo music, including a new track for Scream 6 and working on the track Still Alive with Demi Lovato.
A few years ago, it would have been surprising for the members of Linkin Park to team up with Demi – but Mike noted that the star was “starting to lean more rock and roll” and that she was “hands on.” ‘reaching out’ to see if they’re interested in the job…together.
“She’s tremendously talented, has a world-class voice, and is at a very interesting turning point in her musical career and life.”
Mike himself is thrilled with the direction his music is taking, and that he’s “explosively” returned to “writing original material with his own voice” only “in the last few months”. is clarified.
“I am just having a great time.
“I’m in a very creative space right now, writing whatever I want for myself and others. I’m hoping to release a lot of music this year.”
Meteora Anniversary Edition has been released.
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