Linkin Park showed up to the raprock mixer late, but they were the first band with a DJ to sound so utterly alienated, hitching Chester Bennington’s existential wail to the suburban swagger of Mike Shinoda’s rhymes. Five LPs in, they’ve traded turntable scratches for dubstep flourishes, but still lean on Bennington’s harrowing hooks, including the one on “Burn It Down”, one of their best singles yet. But, while they’ve spiffed up their sound for the dance floor, the band found some of its greatest inspiration in pop-wise hip-hop – “Lies Greed Misery”, a sweet-and-sour gem, is guaranteed to make you jump. Who needs rock, anyway?
