Linkin Park - "The Emptiness Machine"

[Superundercover]

Linkin Park is and will forever be my favorite band of all time! I think Emily sounds great and I am just happy to have new music again! Hopefully we get some more tour dates announced soon!

[Ryan]

[clsvltn]

Do you think this will be #1 on alternative on the 7th day of release? What are the fastest climbs on ALT mediabase to #1 ?

[macattack]

Sept 6, 2024 22:55:17 GMT -5 Daryl the Beryl said:

Sept 6, 2024 16:26:51 GMT -5 Steel Sponge said:

www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/linkin-park-emily-armstrong-danny-masterson-scientology-1235096707/

The milkshake duck effect has come by rather swiftly.

An update to this:

consequence.net/2024/09/emily-armstrong-linkin-park-danny-masterson-statement/

This is a really murky situation. It’s unclear currently if she is still in the cult of Scientology, whether she has left or is trying to leave, and how aware LP and Warner were about all of this (and how much they cared). The lyrics of “The Emptiness Machine” seem to allude to Scientology and not in a positive way, which adds another layer to the ambiguity and mystery.

Right now, I’m choosing to withhold judgement. Beck left Scientology in the late 10’s and never made a formal statement about it either, it was mostly confirmed by leaks and off the record comments from his camp. (I do think he outright said “I’m not a Scientologist” offhand at some point however). It could be years before Emily clarifies herself, and if she is out she will likely not say so until she is many years removed from the cult of Scientology.

[Daryl the Beryl]

Sept 7, 2024 21:54:47 GMT -5 macattack said:

Sept 6, 2024 22:55:17 GMT -5 Daryl the Beryl said:

An update to this:

consequence.net/2024/09/emily-armstrong-linkin-park-danny-masterson-statement/

This is a really murky situation. It’s unclear currently if she is still in the cult of Scientology, whether she has left or is trying to leave, and how aware LP and Warner were about all of this (and how much they cared). The lyrics of “The Emptiness Machine” seem to allude to Scientology and not in a positive way, which adds another layer to the ambiguity and mystery.

Right now, I’m choosing to withhold judgement. Beck left Scientology in the late 10’s and never made a formal statement about it either, it was mostly confirmed by leaks and off the record comments from his camp. (I do think he outright said “I’m not a Scientologist” offhand at some point however). It could be years before Emily clarifies herself, and if she is out she will likely not do it until she is many years removed from the cult of Scientology.

I was more perturbed specifically with regards to the Danny Masterson situation. With that seemingly cleared (the Scientology thing will probably take a while I suppose, and Tom Cruise and Elisabeth Moss are doing fine even if they're still under the cult), I feel much better now, even if I don't agree with the Scientology thing. Fans were not happy about that especially because Chester was a former victim of sexual abuse.

Anyway, as for this song, it's good. Being exposed to Dead Sara earlier probably helped in my enjoyment of the song, and I'm getting Hunting Party vibes from it. I just wished Mike and Emily interacted more in the song, but other than that, I'm satisfied with the song.

[Daryl the Beryl]

Sept 7, 2024 17:53:04 GMT -5 clsvltn said:

Do you think this will be #1 on alternative on the 7th day of release? What are the fastest climbs on ALT mediabase to #1 ?

Both Green Day and blink-182 got to #2 on their 7th day with their recent comeback eras. What I've Done was the last song to debut at #1.

0 2 GREEN DAY American Dream Is Killing Me 2735 0 2735 6.602

0 2 BLINK-182 One More Time 2105 0 2105 6.058

[PrezSquid]

Okay, update. Macattack is correct about 91X holding on this. Only a debut on Thursday, 3 plays on friday and a play on their new music show Planet Nu Nu yesterday.

I’m very interested. I wonder if the news about Emily or if they don’t like it has to do with it. I know 91X is different with how they rotate new music as they barely go past 6 plays a week but i can still tell when a song becomes a part of a rotation and when one doesn’t. It’s interesting considering we play a lot of Linkin Park but not the new songs. We were nicer to Twenty One Pilots this year but that could be because they know I’m a fan

[Juan Carlos]

Most added with 62 Alternative and 70 Active Rock adds, respectively, this week on its impact date. HITS confirms that it closed out the panel in the first format and I assume they did the same in the latter.

[macattack]

Sept 10, 2024 18:40:49 GMT -5 Juan Carlos said:

Most added with 62 Alternative and 70 Active Rock adds, respectively, this week on its impact date. HITS confirms that it closed out the panel in the first format and I assume they did the same in the latter.

Unless HITS is ignoring WEQX and 91X, LP did not close out Alt.

[Juan Carlos]

Sept 10, 2024 19:05:56 GMT -5 macattack said:

Unless HITS is ignoring WEQX and 91X, LP did not close out Alt.

Good point because this is an excerpt of the latest Your Radio Add Recaps HITS article which says that I've written above.

Many congrats to Warner's Rob Goldklang for closing out the panel and landing atop the add board with Linkin Park's "The Emptiness Machine" in its first week.

[Daryl the Beryl]

They'll also not completely close out the panel as WEQX is very anti-mainstream rock/pop punk. They tend to lean more indie and play many of the AAA crossovers, being the only one to play stuff like the new Nilufer Yanya and Wilco singles. They also tend to play some soul as well like Michael Kiwanuka and Black Pumas - the only Alt to still do so after Colors.

The problem with WEQX on AAA is that besides them branding themselves as an alt, they don't touch some of the Americana leaning acts like Kacey Musgraves, Tyler Childers, The Red Clay Strays, etc., and most of the classic rock acts and pre stomp and holler singer-songwriter like John Mayer. They're also not playing MJ Lenderman for example which would be right up their alley. That is in addition to playing some Alt-leaning stuff right now which solidifies their status under the panel. And it is possible they use Discover Weekly for some of their adds as some of their adds aren't even added by most AAAs.

So yeah as long as they're around they won't close the panel, as they've mostly not been kind to Linkin Park except the first two era singles, which they've stopped playing as well.

[maseruck]

Top 10 on Alt:

0 8 LINKIN PARK The Emptiness Machine 1618 0 1618 5.342

Top 10 on Active:

0 6 LINKIN PARK The Emptiness Machine 1287 0 1287 3.095

First in audience on both.

[CoJoFan]

Could this be the first song since Tom Petty & The Heartbreaker’s “The Waiting” to debut at #1 on BB Mainstream Rock.

[maseruck]

Sept 11, 2024 10:32:21 GMT -5 CoJoFan said:

Could this be the first song since Tom Petty & The Heartbreaker’s “The Waiting” to debut at #1 on BB Mainstream Rock.

That debuted at #11. 2nd week was #1.

[Daryl the Beryl]

Sept 11, 2024 10:32:21 GMT -5 CoJoFan said:

Could this be the first song since Tom Petty & The Heartbreaker’s “The Waiting” to debut at #1 on BB Mainstream Rock.

Nope, Thursday's gain will be a bit less due to the song premiering on Thursday night.

The same applies for Alt as Cage is still gaining.

[Daryl the Beryl]

Sorry for the double post, but just to add on to the WEQX block and etc. - in general it is very difficult to get a clean sweep of the panel on any three formats.

For Alternative, two stations mainly form the rebelling - WEQX and KPNT. As mentioned earlier, WEQX avoids mainstream rock and most pop punk unless they lean alternative like Royal Blood, QOTSA, Foo Fighters, etc. They also avoid much of the "Audacy/iHeart-core" being pushed. KPNT on the other hand, doesn't add much indie pop, and are on the opposite side of the spectrum, adding the 2000s core acts and newer active bands. Truthfully speaking, while both of them play the occasional stuff that doesn't fit alt traditionally, some of the stuff that only WEQX and KPNT are playing should do something on Alternative; the aforementioned Nilufer Yanya, Dehd, Beach Bunny, etc., on WEQX's end, and Judas Mind, Plastic Boxes, Suffocate City and the Sleep Theory singles would be worthy active crossovers that KPNT has helped to push, but we can't have nice things. I'm not asking for those to go top 10 or 20, but a top 40/50 entry would suffice. Most recently, both WEQX and KPNT did not add Too Sweet and End of Beginning, though WEQX has added Hozier's follow-up. Besides WEQX and KPNT, Audacy and iHeart don't touch most of the bottom region of the chart unless it's (usually) a streaming hit. The best bets to get a clean sweep are the popular straight up alt bands like Cage, Foo Fighters, Green Day, etc. (WEQX has added most Green Day stuff, though strangely, not "Dilemma")

Due to the consolidation of the active and heritage rock stations, it's just as hard to clean sweep mainstream rock due to the active-leans not being keen to add older acts like Rolling Stones and Collective Soul, and it's also hard to convince the heritage-leans to add the more (non-Metallica, etc.) metal-leaning stuff - I don't think WMMR (one of the most successful rock stations in the country) added MAGNETIC by Wage War, and neither them nor WIYY have yet to add the new Black Veil Brides, although both recently started playing Suffocate City, so it's not a total block. Best bet would be some of the veterans.

AAA has changed so much due to the non-comms causing such a paradigm shift in the format - who would have expected Fontaines D.C. to get a top 20 (and crossover to Alt, at that) on AAA? That being said, commercials (or stations following the old AAA playbook) tend to avoid some of the indie-leaning stuff. For example, Sirius XM The Spectrum did not add Take a Bite by beabadoobee even though it hit #1 on MB AAA. On the other hand, non-comms tend to avoid some of the conventional stuff that commercial AAA plays, which is why Coldplay's latest lead single (along with it being extremely safe and the song underperforming on Alt as well) became their worst performing lead (assuming Yellow is one) on AAA even though it still made the top 10; it was their first to miss the top 5. Snow Patrol's last lead absolutely bombed for this reason as well. Best bet for a clean sweep would be an act like Nathaniel Rateliff, The Black Keys or Beck who's too big to ignore. Not even the Lumineers can get a clean sweep due to some non-comms not liking them.

[BlueSwan]

I honestly think this is one of the best things LP have ever done and Emily sounds amazing on this song. Props to them.

[haven]

(as someone who hasnt paid much attention to this format) hearing about WEQX & KPNT is interesting, because they're two of the only stations that play Underscores on a semi-regular rotation. Basically what im saying is: their rebellion is doing good things, keep doing the rebellion.

[maseruck]

Top 5 on Alt:

0 5 LINKIN PARK The Emptiness Machine 1906 0 1906 6.01

Top 5 on Active:

0 3 LINKIN PARK The Emptiness Machine 1522 0 1522 3.549

[janinho]

#1 debut in Germany. First #1 for them.

[BlueSwan]

#4 debut in the UK. Their highest ever placing.

[Daryl the Beryl]

Eighth day effect: Alt -214, MR -207.

[rainie]

debuts at #21 on the hot 100 -- i'm actually really surprised it didn't at least make it into the top 15. i wonder how much the negative buzz abt the scientology stuff hurt it ? (i know that was def a turn off for me, though at the end of the day i think there's a definite difference between someone who was born into the church like she was vs someone who joined it out of their own free will)

also does anyone hear guilty all the same in the chorus of this ?

[Ryan]

[thirddegree50123]

This had to be a very good song...and it is. Like others have said, the Scientology thing is extremely cringe (although the fact that she was born into it makes me believe she might be more of a victim of it). But you can't deny that she sounds great on this. Looking forward to the album