10 Best Songs Where Hard Rock Bands Went Acoustic

As nu metal quickly started to fall out of relevance, Linkin Park needed to drastically change up their sound to stay afloat. Although Minutes to Midnight may have set up a more alternative leaning side of their sound, A Thousand Suns is the point where some fans thought they went off the deep end, breaking out the electronica soundscapes and never returning to rock and roll again. For an album that gets dogged on for being nothing but ambient noise for half of the runtime, how the hell was an acoustic track able to squeak by at the very end?

Since most of the mindset of this record was to focus on the raw songs to tell a story, the Messenger is the aftermath of what came before on The Catalyst. After talking about the dangers that can come with nuclear fallout, it was not enough and we're left to pick up the pieces as we brace for impact. Before everything goes to hell though, this little song offers a bit of hope, as Chester sings about love keeping us stable and listening to your heart when life gets too much to bear.

Although his delivery may be a bit intense for a song that's just him and an acoustic guitar, it actually works well when you know the story behind the album. This isn't just some guy on the street preaching about being kind to one another. This is a man who's seen the terrors that the world can come to and is pleading with all of us to find some way to survive amongst each other.