Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington has once again called out fans who say the band have sold out.
They’ve come under fire from some sections of their fan base because of the change in musical direction on new album One More Light. This led the singer to earlier this month tell fans to “move the fuck on” from their debut album Hybrid Theory.
And in a new interview with Kerrang Radio, Bennington has again reacted angrily to those who say their new music was made for financial gain.
Bennington says: “Either you like the song or you don’t and if you don’t like the song because you hear it and on a kneejerk reaction it’s like, ‘Oh it doesn’t have metal in it so I don’t like it,’ that’s fine.
“But if you’re gonna be the person who says, ‘They made a marketing decision to make this kind of record to make money,’ you can fucking meet me outside and I will punch you in your fucking mouth because that is the wrong fucking answer.
“Because guess what, calling us a sell out for that purpose is… selling out on your fucking excuse as to why you don’t like it. You’re a fucking pussy.”
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He continues: “For any band to take musical risks because you like what you’re doing in spite of what you know some people will say they don’t like – it doesn’t matter if they like it or not. What matters is that you took the chance to do something that you felt was important to you and that’s what being an artist is all about.
“When we did Minutes To Midnight, this was a conversation we literally had, ‘This could end our career.’ We all had that honest conversation like, ‘I know we’re doing this because this is what we love and this is important to us. This could honestly be the worst decision we’ve ever made professionally. Creatively, probably the best thing, professionally, it might be the worst.’ We were like, ‘We’re good with that. We can live with that.’”
He adds: “When you make it a personal attack against who we are as people, like dude, shut up. That means that I can actually have feelings about it and most of the time my feelings are I want to kill you.”
One More Light was released last week, while the band will resume live duties next month with a set at Download Paris on June 9.
Linkin Park 2017 tour dates
Jun 09: Paris Download Festival, France
Jun 11: Prague Aerodrome Festival, Czech republic
Jun 14: Nickelsdorf Nova Rock, Austria
Jun 15: Cracow Impact Festival, Poland
Jun 17: Monza I-Days Milano, Italy
Jun 18: Clisson Hellfest, France
Jun 22: Madrid Download Festival, Spain
Jun 23: Scheessel Hurricane Festival, Germany
Jun 27: Sopron Telekom Volt Festival, Hungary
Jun 28: Norrkoping Bravalla Festival, Sweden
Jul 01: Werchter Rock Werchter, Belgium
Jul 03: London The O2, UK
Jul 06: Birmingham Barclaycard Arena, UK
Jul 07: Manchester Arena, UK
