I think guitarists knock bands like Linkin Park because their music is really basic and relatively easy to play. If you have become a proficient guitar player, you don't find their music (or other bands like them) very challenging. I agree with Christoph. I'll listen to their music now and then when it comes on the radio, but I probably would never buy their CDs.

But as guitar players, we cannot forget that bands like Linkin Park inspire many people to start playing the guitar BECAUSE their songs are so easy to play. I think that is a good thing. I'm sure all of us can think back to the first song or riff that we ever learned to play. I would bet that it was not Yngwie Malmsteen's Blackstar.

I remember being in a garage band when I was a kid and torturing my neighbors with a 90 minute rendition of Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water. Not the whole song mind you, just that beginning riff with several very bad attempts at guitar and drum solos. As awful as that probably sounded( we did tape it --that how I know it was 90 minutes), that was some of the most fun that I can remember having playing guitar. If Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, etc...inspire others to get into a band, pick up a guitar, and play I think that is a pretty good starting point.