Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries. Its following studio album, Meteora, continued the band's success, topping the Billboard 200 album chart in 2003, and was followed by extensive touring and charity work around the world. In 2003, MTV2 named Linkin Park the sixth greatest band of the music video era and the third best of the new millennium behind Oasis and Coldplay.
Having adapted the nu metal and rap metal genres to a radio-friendly yet densely layered style in Hybrid Theory and Meteora, the band explored other genres in their next studio album, Minutes to Midnight, which was released in 2007. The album topped the Billboard charts and had the third best debut week of any album that year.[9][10] The band has collaborated with several other artists, most notably with rapper Jay-Z in their mashup EP Collision Course, and many others included on Reanimation. The band's most recent work, the concept album A Thousand Suns, was released on September 8, 2010. Linkin Park has sold over 50 million albums worldwide and has won two Grammy Awards.
History
Early years (1996–1999)
Originally consisting of three high school friends, Linkin Park’s foundation was anchored by Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, and Rob Bourdon. After graduating from high school, the California natives began to take their musical interests more seriously, recruiting Joe Hahn, Dave "Phoenix" Farrell, and Mark Wakefield to perform in their band, Xero. Though limited in resources, the band began recording and producing songs within Shinoda’s make-shift bedroom studio in 1996. Tensions and frustration within the band grew after they failed to land a record deal. The lack of success and stalemate in progress prompted Wakefield, at that time the band's vocalist, to leave the band in search of other projects. Farrell also left to tour with Tasty Snax and other bands.
After spending a considerable time searching for Wakefield's replacement, Xero recruited Arizona vocalist Chester Bennington. Jeff Blue, the vice president of Zomba Music, had referred him to the band in March 1999. Bennington, formerly of Grey Daze, became a standout among applicants because of his unique singing style. The band changed its name from Xero to Hybrid Theory. The newborn vocal chemistry between Shinoda and Bennington helped revive the band, inciting them to work on new material. The band’s renaissance culminated with a change in name; from Hybrid Theory, the band once again changed its name, this time to Linkin Park, a play on and homage to Santa Monica’s Lincoln Park. However, despite these changes, the band still struggled to sign a record deal. After facing numerous rejections from several major record labels, Linkin Park turned to Jeff Blue for additional help. After failing to catch Warner Bros. Records on three previous reviews, Jeff Blue, now the vice president of Warner Bros. Records, helped the band sign a deal with the company in 1999. The band released its breakthrough album, Hybrid Theory, the following year.
Hybrid Theory (2000–2002)
Linkin Park released Hybrid Theory on October 24, 2000. The album, which represented half a decade’s worth of the band’s work, was edited by Don Gilmore. Hybrid Theory was a massive commercial success; it sold more than 4.8 million copies during its debut year, earning it the status of best-selling album of 2001, while singles such as "Crawling" and "One Step Closer" established themselves as staples among alternative rock radio play lists during the year.[16] Additionally, other singles from the album were featured in films such as Dracula 2000, Little Nicky, and Valentine. Hybrid Theory won a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance for the song "Crawling" and was nominated for two other Grammy Awards: Best New Artist and Best Rock Album. MTV awarded the band their Best Rock Video and Best Direction awards for "In the End". Through the winning of the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance, Hybrid Theory’s overall success had catapulted the band into mainstream success.
During this time, Linkin Park received many invitations to perform on many high-profile tours and concerts including Ozzfest, Family Values Tour and KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas. The band also formed its own tour, Projekt Revolution, which featured other notable artists such as, Cypress Hill, Adema, and Snoop Dogg. Within a year’s stretch, Linkin Park had performed at over 320 concerts. The experiences and performances of the precocious band were documented in its first DVD, Frat Party at the Pankake Festival, which debuted in November 2001. Now reunited with former bassist Phoenix, the band began work on a remix album, dubbed Reanimation, which would include works from Hybrid Theory and non-album tracks also. Reanimation debuted on July 30, 2002, featuring the likes of Black Thought, Jonathan Davis, Aaron Lewis, and many others. Reanimation claimed the second spot on the Billboard 200, and sold nearly 270,000 copies during its debut week. Hybrid Theory is also in the RIAA's Top 100 Albums.
Meteora (2002–2004)
Following the success of Hybrid Theory and Reanimation, Linkin Park spent a significant amount of time touring around the United States. The band members began to work on new material amidst its saturated schedule, spending a sliver of their free time in their tour bus' studio. The band officially announced the production of a new studio album in December 2002, revealing its new work was inspired by the rocky region of Meteora in Greece, where numerous monasteries have been built on top of the rocks. Meteora features a mixture of the band's previous nu metal and rapcore styles with newer innovative effects, including the induction of a shakuhachi (a Japanese flute made of bamboo) and other instruments. Linkin Park's second album debuted on March 25, 2003 and instantly earned worldwide recognition, going to No.1 in the US and UK, and No.2 in Australia.
Meteora sold more than 800,000 copies during its first week, and it ranked as the best selling album on the Billboard charts at the time. The album's singles, including "Somewhere I Belong", "Breaking the Habit", "Faint", and "Numb", received significant radio attention. By October 2003, Meteora sold nearly three million copies. The album's success allowed Linkin Park to form another Projekt Revolution, which featured other bands and artists including, Mudvayne, Blindside, and Xzibit. Additionally, Metallica invited Linkin Park to play at the Summer Sanitarium Tour 2003, which included well-known acts such as Limp Bizkit, Mudvayne and Deftones. The band released an album and DVD, entitled Live in Texas, which consisted of audio and video tracks of some of the band's performances in Texas during the tour. In early 2004, Linkin Park started a world tour titled the Meteora World Tour. Supporting bands on the tour included Hoobastank, P.O.D. and Story of the Year.
Meteora earned the band multiple awards and honors. The band won the MTV awards for Best Rock Video for "Somewhere I Belong" and the Viewer's Choice Award for "Breaking the Habit". Linkin Park also received significant recognition during the 2004 Radio Music Awards, winning the Artist of the Year and Song of the Year ("Numb") awards. Although Meteora was not nearly as successful as Hybrid Theory, it was the third best selling album in the United States during 2003. The band spent the first few months of 2004 touring around the world, first with the third Projekt Revolution tour, and later several European concerts.
Side projects (2004–2006)
Following Meteora's success, the band postponed working on a new studio album for the next few years. Instead, Linkin Park continued to tour and work on many side projects. Bennington appeared on DJ Lethal’s "State of the Art" and other work with Dead by Sunrise, while Shinoda did work with Depeche Mode. In 2004, the band began to work with Jay-Z to produce another remix album, entitled Collision Course. The album, which featured intermixed lyrics and background tracks from both artists' previous albums, debuted in November 2004. Shinoda also formed a new band, Fort Minor, as a side project. With the aid of Jay-Z, Fort Minor released its debut album, The Rising Tied, to critical acclaim. At the same time, the band's relationship with Warner Bros. Records was deteriorating rapidly on account of several trust and financial issues. After months of feuding, the band finally negotiated a deal in December 2005.
Linkin Park also participated in numerous charitable events, most notably raised money to benefit victims of Hurricane Charley in 2004 and later hurricane Katrina in 2005. The band donated $75,000 to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation in March 2004. They also helped relief efforts for the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami victims by staging several charity concerts and setting up an additional fund called "Music for Relief". Most notably, however, the band participated at Live 8, a series of charitable benefit concerts set up to raise global awareness. Alongside Jay-Z, the band performed on Live 8's stage in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a global audience. The band would later be reunited with Jay-Z at the Grammy Award Ceremony 2006, during which they performed "Numb/Encore", en route to winning a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. They were joined on stage by Paul McCartney who added verses from the song Yesterday. They would later go on to play at the 2006 Summer Sonic music festival, which was hosted by Metallica in Japan.
Minutes to Midnight (2006–2008)
Linkin Park returned to the recording studios in 2006 to work on new material. To produce the album, the band chose producer Rick Rubin. Despite initially stating the album would debut sometime in 2006, the album was delayed until 2007. The band had recorded thirty to fifty songs in August 2006, when Shinoda stated the album was halfway completed. Bennington later added that the new album would stray away from its previous nu metal sound. Warner Bros. Records officially announced that the band’s third studio album, entitled Minutes to Midnight, would be released on May 15, 2007 in the United States. After spending fourteen months working on the album, the band members opted to further refine their album by removing five of the original seventeen tracks. The album’s title, a reference to the Doomsday Clock, foreshadowed the band's new lyrical themes. Minutes to Midnight sold over 625,000 copies in its first week, making it one of the most successful debut week albums in recent years. The album also took the top spot on the Billboard Charts.
The album's first single, "What I've Done" was released on April 2, and premiered on MTV and Fuse within the same week. The single was acclaimed by listeners, becoming the top-ranked song on the Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks and Mainstream Rock Tracks charts. The song is also used in soundtrack for the 2007 action film, Transformers. Mike Shinoda was also featured on the Styles of Beyond song "Second to None" which was also included in the film. Later in the year, the band won the "Favorite Alternative Artist" in the American Music Awards. The band also saw success with the rest of the albums singles, "Bleed It Out", "Shadow of the Day", "Given Up", and "Leave Out All the Rest", which were released throughout 2007 and early 2008. The band also collaborated with Busta Rhymes on his single "We Made It", which was released on April 29.
Linkin Park's touring and live shows have, among other things, included a performance at Live Earth Japan on July 7, 2007. and headlining Download Festival in Donington Park, England and Edgefest in Downsview Park, Toronto, Canada. The band completed touring on its fourth Projekt Revolution tour before taking up an Arena tour around the United Kingdom, visiting Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester, before finishing on a double night at the O2 arena in London. Bennington stated that Linkin Park plans to release a follow-up album to Minutes to Midnight. However, he stated the band will first embark on a United States tour to gather inspiration for the album. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Bennington said that the band had already begun writing new material for the album, and Shinoda too stated that the album could well be released in late 2009. Mike Shinoda also announced a live CD/DVD entitled "Road to Revolution: Live at Milton Keynes", which is a live video recording from the Projekt Revolution gig at the Milton Keynes Bowl on June 29, 2008, which was officially released on November 24, 2008.
A Thousand Suns (2008–2011)
In May 2009, Linkin Park announced they were working on a fourth studio album, which was planned to be released on 2010. Shinoda told IGN that the new album would be ‘genre-busting,’ while building off of elements in ‘’Minutes to Midnight.’’ He also mentioned that the album would be more experimental and “hopefully more cutting-edge.” Bennington also addressed the media to confirm that Rick Rubin would return to produce the new album. The band later revealed the album would be called “A Thousand Suns.
While working on the new album, Linkin Park worked with successful film composer Hans Zimmer to produce the score for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The band released a single for the movie, entitled “New Divide.” Joe Hahn created a music video for the song, which featured clips from the film. On June 22, Linkin Park played a short set in Westwood Village after the premier of the movie. After completing work for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the band returned to the studio to finalize their album.
On January 19, 2010, Linkin Park released a new song entitled "Not Alone" as part of a compilation from Music for Relief called Download to Donate for Haiti in support of the Haiti Earthquake crisis. On February 10, 2010, Linkin Park released the official music video for the song on their homepage.
On April 26, the band released an app for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, a game called "8-Bit Rebellion!". It featured the band as playable characters, and a new song called "Blackbirds" which was unlockable by beating the game. The song was also later released as an iTunes bonus track on A Thousand Suns.
A Thousand Suns was released on September 14. The album’s first single, “The Catalyst”, was released on August 2. The band promoted their new album by launching a concert tour, which started in Los Angeles on September 7. Linkin Park also relied on MySpace to promote their album, releasing two additional singles, “Waiting for the End” and “Blackout” on September 8. Furthermore, a documentary about the album’s production entitles, A Thousand Suns: The Full Experience was available for streaming on the band’s MySpace page. On August 31, 2010, It was announced that the band would perform the single live for the first at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010. The venue of the debut live performance of the single was Griffith Observatory, an iconic location used in Hollywood Movies. "Waiting for the End" was released as the second single of A Thousand Suns.
Linkin Park reached No.8 in Billboard Social 50, a chart of the most active artists on the world's leading social networking sites. In other Billboard Year-End charts, the band reached No.92 in the "Top Artists" chart, as well as A Thousand Suns reaching No.53 in the Year-End chart of the Billboard Top 200 albums and No.7 in the 2010 Year-End Rock Albums, and "The Catalyst" reaching No.40 in the Year-End Rock Songs chart.
On January 11, 2011, an updated version of Download to Donate for Haiti was launched, called Download to Donate for Haiti V2.0, with more songs to download. For the updated compilation, the band released Keaton Hashimoto's remix of "The Catalyst" from the "Linkin Park featuring YOU" contest. "Burning in the Skies" was released as the third official single of A Thousand Suns on March 21, 2011.
Shinoda designed two t-shirts, in which the proceeds will go to Music For Relief to help the victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami disasters. Music For Relief released Download to Donate: Tsunami Relief Japan, another compilation of songs, in which the proceeds will go to Save the Children.
On April 13, 2011, Shinoda confirmed that the album's fourth single will be "Iridescent". He also confirmed that there will be a new, slightly shorter version of the song, which will be part of the soundtrack of the upcoming film Transformers: Dark of the Moon, continuing the streak of Linkin Park songs being the theme songs of the Transformers films (after "What I've Done" and "New Divide"), as well as the fact that a music video will be shot for the single. The video was directed by Joe Hahn, who directed the videos for both of the previous songs.
The band were nominated for six Billboard Awards in 2011 for Top Duo/Group, Best Rock Album for "A Thousand Suns", Top Rock Artist, Top Alternative Artist, Top Alternative Song for "Waiting For The End" and Top Alternative Album for "A Thousand Suns", but did not win any award.
Fifth album (2011–present)
In June 2011, Bennington revealed to Kerrang! that Linkin Park has begun working on new material for their next album. He explained, "We've been working on a new record for the past two months. The music is great and we're well ahead of where we're expecting to be. There aren't a whole lot of noises going on, but there are a lot of good songs. It will probably get a very polarized reaction. Which pleases me. As an artist, I want a reaction." The singer added that the band would be looking to tackle controversial topics on their new album, rather than the more personal subjects of their older material. "We've learned how to write serious songs and serious lyrics. We've learned how to deal with politics, faith and other things. Those are things that can get preachy really quickly, which we don't want to do. So you need to learn to talk to people and not at people.", he said.
Rick Rubin will be producer of the new album. He said the group has been in the studio writing for a follow-up to A Thousand Suns. "Typically we'll have a once-a-week meeting to go listen to the songs that they're coming up with and talk about them. For so early in the project, they are much further along than they have been on the last two albums we did. On A Thousand Suns there were still a lot of irons in the fire. We knew, 'OK, we can't do this forever. Let's leave this batch and we'll come back and address it when we start up again.'", Rubin said.
Musical style
Both Hybrid Theory and Meteora combine the alternative metal, nu metal, and rap rock sound with influences and elements from hip-hop, alternative rock, and electronica, utilizing programming and synthesizers. William Ruhlmann from Allmusic regarded it as "a Johnny-come-lately to an already overdone musical style," whereas Rolling Stone described their song "Breaking the Habit" as "risky, beautiful art". Linkin Park has cited Hed PE as one of their biggest influences.
In Minutes to Midnight the band experimented with their established sound and drew influences from a wider and more varied range of genres and styles, a process Los Angeles Times compares to a stage in U2's work. In it, only two of the songs feature rapping, and the majority of the album can be considered alternative rock. NME magazine's Dan Silver criticized the band's approach, calling it the "sound of a band trying and failing to forge a new identity", and referring to the song "Hands Held High", a song about terrorist attacks and war, as "far and away the funniest thing you will hear all year".
The vocal interplay between Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda plays as a major part within Linkin Park's music, with Bennington being the lead vocalist and Shinoda as the rapping vocalist. On Linkin Park's third album, Minutes to Midnight, Shinoda sings lead vocals on "In Between", "Hands Held High", and on the B-side "No Roads Left". On numerous songs from band's fourth album, A Thousand Suns, such as the album's four singles, both Shinoda and Bennington sing. On the most of tracks off the record, the band notably used electronic drumbeats along with outro drumbeats. The album has been regarded as a turning point in the band's musical career by notable critics. James Montgomery, of MTV compared the record to Radiohead's Kid A, while Jordy Kasko of Review, Rinse, Repeat likened the album to both Kid A and Pink Floyd's landmark album The Dark Side of the Moon. Shinoda stated that he and the other band members were deeply influenced by Chuck D and Public Enemy, further elucidating "Public Enemy were very three-dimensional with their records because although they seemed political, there was a whole lot of other stuff going on in there too. It made me think how three-dimensional I wanted our record to be without imitating them of course, and show where we were at creatively". The record further features a "Political Element" consisting notable speeches by American political figures.
Band members
- Current members
- Chester Bennington – vocals (since 1999)
- Mike Shinoda – vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboard, production (since 1996)
- Rob Bourdon – drums (since 1996)
- Brad Delson – lead guitar, backing vocals (since 1996)
- David "Phoenix" Farrell – bass guitar, backing vocals (1996–1998, 1999, since 2001)
- Joe Hahn – turntables, keyboard, samples, backing vocals (since 1996)
- Former members
- Mark Wakefield – vocals (1996–1998)
Discography
Hybrid Theory
Hybrid Theory is the debut album by American rock band Linkin Park, released on October 24, 2000 through Warner Bros. Records. The album was a huge commercial success, having sold over 10 million units in the United States alone as of 2010 and peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 while also reaching high positions on other charts worldwide.
Recorded at NRG Recordings in North Hollywood, California, and produced by Don Gilmore, the album's lyrical themes deal with problems lead vocalist Chester Bennington experienced during his adolescence, including drug abuse and the constant fighting and divorce of his parents. Hybrid Theory takes its title from the previous name of the band.
Four singles were released from the album: "One Step Closer", "Papercut", the Grammy Award-winning "Crawling" and "In the End", the latter which was responsible for launching Linkin Park into mainstream popularity. At the 2002 Grammy Awards, Hybrid Theory was nominated for Best Rock Album. The album is listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It was ranked #11 on Billboard's Hot 200 Albums of the Decade. A special edition of Hybrid Theory was released March 11, 2002, two years after its original pressing.
Track listing
1. "Papercut"
2. "One Step Closer" 3. "With You"
4. "Points of Authority"
5. "Crawling"
6. "Runaway"
7. "By Myself"
8. "In the End"
9. "A Place for My Head"
10. "Forgotten"
11. "Cure for the Itch"
12. "Pushing Me Away"
Meteora (album)
Meteora is the second studio album by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released on March 25, 2003 through Warner Bros. Records, following Reanimation, a collaboration album which featured remixes of songs included on debut studio album Hybrid Theory. Linkin Park released singles from Meteora for over a year, including "Somewhere I Belong", "Faint", "Lying from You", "From the Inside", "Breaking the Habit" and "Numb".
Meteora is the most successful album in the history of the Modern Rock TracksNumb" was the biggest song of the year on the chart. The album has sold over 10 million copies worldwide to date, and was ranked #36 on Billboard's Hot 200 Albums of the Decade. The song "Session" was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, losing to Jeff Beck's "Plan B. chart, a chart that specializes in radio play (with its audience impression) of alternative rock songs. "
Track listing
1. "Foreword"
2. "Don't Stay" 3. "Somewhere I Belong"
4. "Lying From You"
5. "Hit the Floor"
6. "Easier to Run"
7. "Faint"
8. "Figure.09"
9. "Breaking the Habit"
10. "From the Inside"
11. "Nobody's Listening"
12. "Session"
13. "Numb"
Minutes to Midnight (album)
Minutes to Midnight is the third studio album by American rock band Linkin Park. Released on May 14, 2007, through Warner Bros. Records, the album debuted at number one in the United States and in 15 other countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada. The album was produced by Mike ShinodaRick Rubin. Minutes to Midnight features a shift in the group's musical direction. For the band, the album marks a beginning of deviation from their signature nu metal sound. and
Linkin Park started work on their third studio album which begun in 2003. However, while touring to support Meteora in 2004 before the project was resumed later, they postponed work on it. Mike Shinoda formed Fort Minor, while Chester Bennington formed Dead by Sunrise. They returned to working on the record, as they have Rick Rubin produce it with Shinoda. They took on a different musical direction afterward. A few unrevealed-to-the-public mistakes occurred while recording the album, postponing it to several dates. Within mixing the album, some touches were added. After artwork and the rest of it was complete they decided to release "What I've Done" as its lead single by April 2007. It was finally released in North America on May 15, 2007.
In the United States, the album had the biggest first week sales of 2007 at the time, with 625,000 albums sold, going on to be certified double platinum in the United States, New Zealand, Italy, Ireland, and Australia and certified platinum in Canada, France, Switzerland and in the UK. Despite its commercial success, Minutes to Midnight received mixed reviews from critics. Rolling Stone It was ranked #154 on Billboard's Hot 200 Albums of the Decade. magazine named it the twenty-fifth best album of 2007.
Track listing
1. "Wake"2. "Given Up"
3. "Leave Out All the Rest"
4. "Bleed It Out"
5. "Shadow of the Day"
6. "What I've Done"
7. "Hands Held High"8. "No More Sorrow"9. "Valentine's Day"
10. "In Between"
11. "In Pieces"
12. "The Little Things Give You Away"
A Thousand Suns
A Thousand Suns is the fourth studio album by American rock band Linkin Park. It was first released on September 14, 2010. The album was written by the band and co-produced by Linkin Park vocalist Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin, who previously worked together to produce Minutes to Midnight (2007). The lead single for the album, "The Catalyst", was sent to radio and released to digital music retailers on August 2, 2010.[dated info] The band is currently promoting the album through the A Thousand Suns World Tour.
A Thousand Suns is a concept album dealing with human fears such as nuclear warfare. "On this record, the concepts blend human ideas with technology [...] Human fears, your fear of what's going to happen in the world, the music kind of references that", said Mike Shinoda on an interview with MTV. The album's title comes from the Hindu Sanskrit scripture, the Bhagavad Gita: "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one," a quote made famous by J. Robert Oppenheimeratomic bomb. in reference to the
Although commercially successful, the album received mixed reviews upon release. The album as a whole has been likened to a progressive rock album, and compared to Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon and Radiohead's Kid A.
Track listing
1. "The Requiem"
2. "The Radiance" (featuring an interview portion of J. Robert Oppenheimer)3. "Burning in the Skies"
4. "Empty Spaces"
5. "When They Come for Me"
6. "Robot Boy"
7. "Jornada del Muerto"
8. "Waiting for the End"
9. "Blackout"
10. "Wretches and Kings" (featuring an interview portion of Mario Savio)11. "Wisdom, Justice, and Love" (Linkin Park, Martin Luther King, Jr.)
12. "Iridescent"
13. "Fallout"
14. "The Catalyst"
15. "The Messenger"
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