Living Things (Linkin Park album)

Did You Know?

• Living Things (Acapellas and Instrumentals) was released on iTunes on June 25, 2012, one day before the main album.
• The band collaborated with Canadian musician Owen Pallett on the album.

Background and recording

Recording for Living Things began in March 2011 and concluded in April 2012. In June 2011, Chester Bennington told Kerrang! that the band had been working on new material for two months, describing the music as great and noting they were ahead of expectations. Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin served as producers. Rubin stated that the band was further along at that early stage than on the previous two albums. Bennington said Rubin gave the band space to be themselves and pushed them toward fresh takes on their sound, while calling the Shinoda-Rubin partnership "our golden ticket."

Composition

Bennington stated in Kerrang! that the band returned to more familiar territory on Living Things, incorporating guitar work, big choruses, and heavier electronic elements to create a wall of sound without becoming too metal. He said lyrics would be personal and avoid politics, focusing on relationships. In an interview with Spin, Bennington noted the band now had the skills to take ideas and avoid sounding nü-metal, while Shinoda said they could reinvent that vibe.

The two previewed five songs and announced a collaboration with Owen Pallett. Bennington told Live 105 the band embraced their past, taking the best pieces of their previous four albums. Shinoda told NME the album would not return to nu metal but captured a feeling they had not pursued in years. He described the album as more rap-centric than the previous two and told Musique Mag they wanted it to be more energetic and song-based compared to A Thousand Suns.

Release and promotion

The band toured with Incubus and Mutemath on the 2012 Honda Civic Tour. A concert at Berlin's Admiralspalast Theatre was recorded and shown in theaters on June 25, 2012. They performed a private concert at the 2012 X Games in Los Angeles and announced a first tour of South Africa for November 2012. On March 28, 2012, Shinoda confirmed "Burn It Down" as the first single, released to radio and iTunes on April 16, 2012, with a music video directed by Joe Hahn. The band created the Linkin Park GP iPad app with the Lotus F1 team. On April 15, 2012, Shinoda announced the album title Living Things and pre-orders starting April 16. The album was released on June 26, 2012. A worldwide interactive scavenger hunt began May 9, 2012, culminating in the premiere of "Lies Greed Misery" on BBC Radio 1 on May 24, 2012.

Reception

Living Things debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 223,000 copies sold, beating Maroon 5's Overexposed by 1,000 sales. It fell to number five in its second week with 64,000 copies. The album reached number one in seventeen countries and was certified Gold in Australia and Switzerland. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart with 41,000 copies and at number one in Canada with at least 20,000 copies.

As of 2014, it had sold 681,000 copies in the United States. Chad Childers of Loudwire said the album expanded their worldview while adding anger from their early work. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic noted defined structure and sustained mood. Dave Simpson of The Guardian observed more personal themes and highlighted "Burn It Down" and "Roads Untraveled."

Johan Wippsson of Melodic found it too pop-oriented. Jordan Blum of PopMatters called it a good entry but not as special as its precursor. Phil Mongredien of The Observer praised the band's boldness.