In a new interview with Anthony Fantano, LINKIN PARK‘s Mike Shinoda discussed the massive success of band’s debut album Hybrid Theory.
With 27 million copies sold around the globe, Hybrid Theory is the best-selling debut album since GUNS N’ ROSES‘ Appetite for Destruction.
After interviewed asked how are bands surviving with no touring with also very few still actually buying albums, Shinoda responded: “That’s actually interesting because way back in the day, on the first album, we were right on the lucky side of the cusp of the Napster explosion, so the reason Hybrid Theory is still the biggest debut of this of the millennium or so, the reason it’s as big as it is, is because everybody still bought CDs.
“They bought tons of CDs because the way the system is still evolving like those counted for a lot. When we got our Diamond awards, our trophies for Hybrid Theory, the label was like, ‘This is 10 million US only, you guys have sold 30-something in the world just off one record. This will never happen again.’
“They can change the numbers and say, ‘Oh, you know, streams are worth this much now…’ and make it an equivalent or whatever, or in a different digital-to-physical equivalent, this will never happen again because of the timing,” he continued. “I think one thing that has changed culturally with… I know with your channel [The Needle Drop] in particular, it’s a lot of people who really do love, who are passionate about music, who love to find music — that’s where new stuff breaks, meaning that’s where stuff that’s going to eventually be big gets found.
“But I think even more importantly, I think it’s where artists who wouldn’t otherwise be able to make a living doing what they do, that’s where their core audience actually is, with you guys. Like DEATH GRIPS – if your ecosystem didn’t exist, DEATH GRIPS would be bagging groceries. What else would they do? What else would Zach [Hill, drums] do if he couldn’t play drums and produce that crazy sh*t? Would he do session work for people? They wouldn’t hire him, he’s too wild of a player. He didn’t even take traditional drum lessons, he doesn’t really do that.
“I watched them play, that dude plays weirder than any drummer. I’ve seen a lot of drummers, he plays weird. You can’t hire that guy to come in, for example, One Direction – not in a million years will he even be on the one list, he won’t be the thousandth person on the list.
“But in the context of what he actually does, it’s spectacular, it’s one of the best versions of that thing that has that I’ve ever heard.”
