LINKIN PARK's MIKE SHINODA Blames 'Lazy Journalists' For Manufacturing CHVRCHES 'Feud'

LINKIN PARK vocalist Mike Shinoda had some less-than-kind words for the current state of alternative music back in April, when he told Noisey, "There's so much stuff that sounds like HAIM or CHVRCHES or VAMPIRE WEEKEND that I'm full. The thing I'm hungry for is not that. I turn on the rock station in L.A. and it sounds like Disney commercial music."

One of those acts subsequently responded to having their music compared to a Mouse House jingle. In an interview with Joiz, CHVRCHES member Iain Cook called Shinoda's comment a "pointless dig," while singer Lauren Mayberry added that while she understood that Shinoda had a new record to sell, she didn't "like being called a corporate sellout by the man who wrote the theme music for the MTV VMAs."

Mayberry continued that Shinoda's opinion is "not one I would worry about hugely. It's not my kind of music. They've been on the radio for how long, and I just don't listen to that radio station."

In a blog post on his official web site, MikeShinoda.com, the LINKIN PARK singer responded to CHVRCHES' comments with the following piece:

"As we released 'The Hunting Party', I spoke on various occasions about the inspiration of the album. Part of the answer is that the album is a response to a surplus of danceable, safe, indie-pop music that's taken over 'rock.'

"A year ago, we knew the indie-pop thing was a style that our band is capable of making. But we were not interested in pursuing it. Why? Because there is a LOT of it out there. It seemed far more exciting for us to go against the grain.

"In interviews like this one and this one, I plainly explained that, although I enjoy listening to bands like HAIM, CHVRCHES, VAMPIRE WEEKEND, ARCADE FIRE, M83, and PHOENIX, I felt like the genre as a whole was suffering from a surplus of bands in that vein — bands that, in many cases, came after the ones I mentioned. And I made it abundantly clear that my comment was not a dig. But in spite of all that, in an interview recently, the band CHVRCHES was asked to respond to the comment… kinda. They were asked to respond to a version of the comment that was not consistent with what I actually said.

"Now, to be clear, it's a journalist's tendency (if not their main objective) to sensationalize this kind of commentary, and make a fight where there is none. Let's not let them have that.

"I learned a new term this year: 'click bait.' Click bait is when someone titles a piece in a sensationalized way in order to get more clicks. It's what I did with the title of this post. [Pointless Dicks: @CHVRCHES, Laziness, and Cowards.]

"There's a lot I could pick apart about the CHVRCHES interview; after all, the group's singer criticized me for 'saying something that would become a tagline'… by saying something that became a tagline. (Also notable: the journalist printed the title 'pointless dick' but the actual words were 'pointless dig'). But really, my criticism is not with them or any of those bands. I said their names because I was telling the story of how our album began: not because I hate that style music, but because I hate the volume of it. In contrast, one way of looking at it is: the bands I named are the only ones I singled out as being on my 'awesome' list (albeit, there are others who are awesome, and there are yet others who are 'not awesome,' but that's neither here nor there).

"Lazy journalists will simplify words and start conflicts they don't have to fight in. Cowardly bloggers will take sides based on what other blogs think is cool. In contrast, 'The Hunting Party' is a statement about who we are and what inspires us right now. It's a stab out into an unknown. Our fight is with conformity, stagnation, inspiration, and even our own band's complex history. And a big thank you goes out to CHVRCHES and all the bands whose names I've mentioned, for helping us find direction with this album. Because sometimes, knowing where you don't want to go is all the direction you need."

Shinoda told The Pulse Of Radio that his motivation for the heavier sound of LINKIN PARK's new album, "The Hunting Party", was that he wasn't hearing anything he wanted on the radio. "What I wanted was different from what's out there, and part of it was that if you listen to alternative radio, at least in L.A., the rock station out here and, you know, it's not an insult to them but like their listeners want basically pop music," he said.

"The Hunting Party" arrived on June 17 and debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard album chart.

LINKIN PARK will hit the road behind its sixth studio effort in late summer.