The Story Between Me and Linkin Park

This is not a fanfic, just a true sharing about a Linkin Park fan, me.

Ever discovered a plan to make Linkin Park dominating the world and did not agree about that? Find out why LP fans are so stubborn.


- Early Linkin Park Recognition
I've became an LP fan since I was a middle 7th grader. It was 3 years ago, pretty new huh? The only reason I acknowledged Linkin Park so late is because I was a TOTAL nerd. Before I hit the age to go to junior high, I didn't give a damn to anything other than school things. I never hung out with friends, browsed internet, listened to any kinds of music, you name it. The most exciting daily thing I ever did was reading. When I was a 6th grader, my reading hobby led me to the obsession of an anime (Japanese Cartoon-thing) named One Piece. After I graduated and began to recognize the internet, the obsession became an addiction... and I finally was introduced to music. Yay. Ok, so I searched things related to One Piece night and days, then I found something called AMV (Anime Music Video). Some sort of music video, where we pick up scenes that match the entire music's mood. A certain AMV caught my attention. The graphic was excellent, the scenes just matched the music mood, the effects was a professional work, but the best thing I liked about it was the music: Lying From You. Linkin Park. All thanks to junizorofan at YouTube. Technically, it was not the first LP song I ever heard. My parents bought me a compilation with Numb as one of the songs in it, and that was the first I recognized.

- Internet Influence
I watched the AMV over and over again. The two main characters in the AMV were coincidentally my very favorite ones, and their scenes were packed well. They totally described the angsty atmosphere of the song. After I got attracted to the song, I tried to watch the similar AMVs. I also found some bands I liked by using the anime obsession such as Rise Against and Three Days Grace. I didn't remember correctly how, but I ended up downloading EVERY songs on Linkin Park's studio albums from Hybrid Theory to Minutes To Midnight for free through some sites. I guess it took about 3 days to do so because I also downloaded some other band's songs - though not as much as LP's. At the same time, I planned to make an AMV but I kinda failed. With A Place For My Head song in the video maker and edited scenes that didn't even fill quarter part of the song, I came up with nothing. Feeling bored, I browsed things about LP without any serious purpose. I thought I could get some inspiration. I was wrong. I eventually abandoned the AMV project and searched more things about Linkin Park. Apparently LP was nothing but awesomeness. I first visited LPN and LPU, and then fansites like LPA, LPT and LPL, and social networkings. Now, I'm in touch with more LP fans on social networks than the sites that are purposely dedicated to them, because I browse on mobile more than laptop. And my internet connection is just a sucker for those sites. It loads extremely slowly and pisses me off. But enough with that. So my obsession to the anime slowly decreased, and I began my journey to become an absolute hardcore LP fan! I finally dedicated my soul to LP after I hit the 8th grade. I kept up with latest stuffs about them, and really hoped Linkin Park would come to my country again. Because I freaking missed their performance (my lifetime regret). My mp3 player that used to be full with anime soundtracks was turned into a special LinkinPlayer. Simply filled with LP songs... er, and Three Days Grace, Sum41, and Rise Against's.

- Influence to Family & Friends
My family is the one who found out my LP obsession first. My little brother did watch the AMV, too, and I could tell he was kind of fall for it. We basically liked for lots of similar things, though he often denied it. I could watch One Piece all day long and he would stay with me to comment that the show is awful, but at night he'd by any way read the manga (Japanese comic) without me knowing it. So when I started to put up LP tunes in my house TONS of times, he wondered why. I wouldn't answer, because I knew he'd figure it out himself that I already got myself a new obsession! My parents did guess right, too. They bought me a Linkin Park t-shirt for my birthday! Wee! Not thinking twice, I wore the shirt to school and shocked all my pals. At that day, I was supposed to perform a drama with my group and I remember that I used 'Chester' for my role's name, since I wrote the script! From that second, they asked about that and I was notable for being the school's biggest Linkin Park fan. Another story. On a past certain holiday, when I was travelling over southern Java Island with my family, we visited lots of places and we once arrived in an old music shop. Guess what, I did find all the studio albums! I begged my parents to let me buy Hybrid Theory, Meteora, Minutes To Midnight and The Rising Tied all in that moment! I could not miss the chance. The albums were already hard to find, my parents understood and gave me the permission!!! Yay!

- Catching Up With Communities
I signed up for LPN as the first attempt to become their hardcore fan. I felt like I didn't belong to the community and I only visit the site to catch up the latest info. I hadn't signed into the LPU because I wouldn't force my mom to pay the membership. Afterwards, I registered on fanbase websites like LPA, LPL and LPT. Being influenced by public, I made social networks account on FB and Twitter. I was inactive to those communities since two months after I passed to 9th grade. I had an 8-months training, but that was another story. For now, twitter has given me the best LinkinSources. I found out about MikeShinodaClan, Phoenix-Farrell, ChesterBNetworks, and other fansites. I also follow some informative accounts for latest LP news such as KROQ, MTV, and owners of fanbases. I became friends with fellow LP lovers and my already-known classmates!

- Be Objective
First times I became fan of LP, I felt an excessive confidence in my mind to force everyone to be LP hardcore fans. I became sensitive with anything and everything about Linkin Park. If LP shows up on TV, I will scream like a desperate fangirl. If some kids talk about music, I will barge in and babble about Linkin Park. Those happened until I went 9th grade. Before the maturity got over me, I would just answer "the best band in the world!!" when somebody asked my reason to be so obsessive. Nothing satisfying, though. My mature atttude started since I listened to some other bands that I felt like: Rise Against, The Corrs, Three Days Grace, Sum 41, Deftones, Shinedown, Papa Roach, Avenged Sevenfold, My Chemical Romance, 30 Seconds To Mars, and anything similar to them. I realized that everyone got different tastes of music, and although LP is the best band in the world for me, I'd like to be objective and try something new. I don't need to be hysterical or cursing whenever I find out some guy speaks bad things about LP. I'll tell that person my opinion and ask about theirs. The easiest examples are found lately: some Linkin Park 'so-called fans' just complained about their new album A Thousand Suns and wanted them to go back to 'nu-metal' genre. The people says ATS was a crap, or a too-experimental project. On the other side, lots of LP fans still stick with the band and said they love the stuffs, the tracks were awesome, and other complimenting points. When I listened to ATS, I could feel why some people felt disappointed and why the rest got satisfied with it at the same time. A Thousand Suns review coming up on next post.

- Why I Like Linkin Park
My first amazed impression was the scratches and sound effects on the music. They got their own DJ. Reanimation album, contains the remixes of previous album tracks, it was dope. Joe Hahn, other than turntabling, also directed LP's video clips. Makes the whole members have equal portion of tasks to do. The next thing was the rap. Mike Shinoda, being a keyboardist and a rhythm guitarist, also raps along with Chester's voice and screams. Creating an insanely new innovation in rock music world. There are too many good things to say about Linkin Park. Their music evolves, where on each steps always bring brand new atmospheres, and the changes are going great. Linkin Park knows how to create and play music that will shake people's moods and make them addicted to it. The instruments seem to be basic, but to know this you gotta take a closer look. The teamwork. Lots of members on a group often causes internal conflicts, but this thing never bothers them. In my thoughts: Mike may not be the best rapper or keyboarder ever, Chester may not be the best vocalist in the world, Brad may not be playing crazy guitar techniques to top himself on greatest guitarists rank, and so on, but the modesty is what makes the teamwork go well. There are no expert guitar techniques, or some advanced drumming, or crazily-fast keyboard playing, or else, but they know how to turn some kind of basic music into perfect describing of life and emotion reliever. Linkin Park has all the tracks you need for all your moods. Other than musical stuffs they create, Linkin Park is not a bad band, either. They are modest. I mean, they are all talented on loads of things, and even after getting popular, they had never acted weird or doing things that are intended to gain public attention. They live their life like us, but keep giving their fans the attention they need. One more thing: they're not selling out. Artists can do anything with their creation.

Sober Head

It's the journey, not the destination-

What? Kalimat seperti itu tampaknya sudah terkenal bukan? "Yang terpenting adalah proses, bukan hasil." kira-kira begitulah terjemahan bebas petikan di atas. Memang sesat, tetapi konsepnya sama:
Persiapan ---> Perjalanan ---> Destinasi. Perjalanan lebih diutamakan dibanding destinasi, karena lebih banyak yang bisa diambil pelajaran dalam perjalanannya. Dan itulah hidup. Bila anda mementingkan destinasi dibandingkan perjalanan, untuk apa anda hidup? Toh bakal mati juga. *provokasi, mohon maaf bila tersinggung*

Dalam praktek kehidupan sehari-hari, tentu ada saja yang kita petik hikmahnya secara sadar maupun tidak. Contoh ekstrim adalah misalnya kita tidur seharian pada suatu hari libur. Apa pelajaran yang bisa diambil? Bahwa tidur seharian itu membosankan -___-' *pengalaman pribadi* dan kita melewatkan satu hari yang cerah yang bisa kita gunakan secara produktif *bukan berarti bekerja*. Saya pribadi di hari libur memang tidak melakukan apa pun yang biasa saya lakukan di hari biasa seperti buat PR ataupun belajar *bo~ring*. Waktu libur bisa kita manfaatkan untuk menambah life skill atau keterampilan non-akademik, misalnya memasak/membuat kue, berlatih bermusik, berolahraga, membuat novel/komik, dan sebagainya. Lebih bagus lagi bila ada yang bisa diajak bekerja sama!

Kok jadi ngelantur..
Bagaimana tentang kutipan "Yang terpenting adalah proses, bukan hasil."?

Yup. Untuk mendapatkan hasil yang bagus, diperlukan juga proses yang memadai. Di akhir bulan Ramadhan yang suci ini, selain telah meningkatkan ibadah anda, apa pelajaran yang anda bisa dapatkan? Apa pengalaman anda selama sebulan yang penuh berkah ini?