To Mike Shinoda
Mike, I don’t know if you or any of the other guys will happen to read this comment but I just wanted to put this out there. I have been a fan of you guys since the earliest days. I have the Hybrid Theory EP. I was a member of the LPU 1-2-3.0’s, etc. I used to love rocking out to Linkin Park but you guys moved away from the sound that made you great. I know as an artist you want to expand and explore your music, but with your recent change in music – for me it feels like you alienated your original fans.
I’ve bought all your CDs and DVDs, even your lastest one although it was a great disappointment to me and my friends, they even laughed at me for buying it. As I write this to you guys I still have my original Hybrid Theory silk poster, signed by all of you hanging up in my room. With Minutes to Midnight, I was shocked to hear everyone was saying it was terrible as at the time I had not heard it yet, but once I listened to the whole thing I can easily see why. I could only find 2-3 songs on that whole album that I could identify belonging to you, the rest…. I don’t know. I had renewed hope for you guys when I saw the New Divide video, which I put among my top 5 of your guy’s songs (Dedicated from LPU 2.0 also among the top 5). Going from what I thought was perhaps a return to Linkin Park’s great sound with New Divide, I found A Thousand Suns a vast disappointment.
Shortly after the album came out my brother asked me if I wanted to go see you guys live, once again (for about the 8th time by the way, Linkin Park was my first concert experience so it was always exciting to see you guys. ) and for the first time ever I had great great hesitation in wanting to go. If I were to place it on a scale of 1-10 of the desire in going, it was maybe a 3.5 at best. So the date finally came when it was time to go see you guys and I was actually excited to see you guys live again. It was awesome to hear all your songs from the first 2 albums, and amazing to hear New Divide live for the first time, but when you guys switched to your A Thousand Suns material… I actually got so bored I began to fall asleep…. Out of the hundreds of concerts I’ve gone to this has never happened! 😦 …
You guys came around on tour again recently and I didn’t even hesitate on passing your show this time, which is a first :(. I LOVE going to concerts but that spark Linkin Park had for me seems to have died. I don’t hate you guys for wanting to explore new sounds and all that, you have to enjoy what you do. I hope that you guys can take all the negativity generated from your last 2 albums and just see how amazing your fans are and how much your music means to them, which is why they are so vocal about it. I do not have much else to say to you all other than I used to consider myself one of your biggest fans, but with your latest album I can no longer say that. I wish you guys the best and I look forward to checking out your next album and seeing where it goes….
-Alex
P.S. Mike, if you do read this, will there ever be a Fort Minor PT 2?
xander0387 
Spot on post, man. I feel the same way. I’ve seen LP 7 times now and the ATS tour wasn’t even that exciting for me- mainly because the setlist never changes and I, like you, didn’t really like MTM and liked ATS even less. I have LP tat’s, every merchandise item possible from 2000-2006 but now I just can’t seem to feel the same way about them. They’ll still always mean a lot to me because of what they were, but they’re nowhere near the same band anymore. I just feel a bit let down in their new pop direction- to me, it seems like a complete sellout- trust me, that hurts saying that. I’m just saying what I feel. I miss the rapping, I miss the screaming. I miss the guitars. I miss the unique energy and sound that LP always had. Now, they sound very similar to other bands. I really hope Mike at least makes another Fort Minor album. Even though he says he can do what he did in FM, in LP, that’s just not true. He’s rapped on 5 studio tracks with LP in the last 7 years. “Get Me Gone” might have something to do with it. LP sells more cd’s than FM did or ever would. Maybe it’s about the money. It’s disheartening to think that your former hero would ever put greed over musical integrity.
Anyways, sorry to rant here, I’m posting here as well in hopes that Mike reads this. He may, he may not. We’re just two fans who bought ATS and added to the sale numbers that reflects why LP is making music the way they are today; because it sells well. Hopefully we’ll one day we’ll regain our love for LP music. They’re great individuals who really did inspire me everyday- that’s why it’s so frustrating to me to see them wasting their talent as of late. Let’s hope things change for the better.