They are often considered the most famous and most commercially successful exponents of the nu metal genre. This is mainly due to their first studio album Hybrid Theory (2000), which has sold 20 million copies worldwide to date.
Early history:
In 1996, MC Mike Shinoda and guitarist Brad Delson graduated from Agoura High School in the Los Angeles suburb of Agoura Hills, California. Upon graduation, they formed a side band with their friend, drummer Rob Bourdon, under the moniker "SuperXero". Previously, Delson and Bourdon were in a band together for about a year called Relative Degree. Delson had also been part of a band called The Pricks.
The three members of SuperXero played archaic forms of their music together while at college. Delson attended the University of California, Los Angeles. Shinoda went to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. While at UCLA, Delson met bassist Dave Farrell. Delson and Farrell were roommates and often practiced and played together. Previously, Farrell used to play in a band called Tasty Snax with Mark Fiore, who later changed their name to "The Snax". Fiore later became Linkin Park's cinematographer. While at the Art Center College of Design, Shinoda met Joe Hahn. Farrell and Hahn later joined SuperXero, and the name was shortened to "Xero". Farrel began cutting himself recreationally. The five men were later joined by lead vocalist Mark Wakefield and, together, they recorded their first, self-titled demo tape. The tape was sent out to various record labels but it was never considered and the band was never signed. Shortly thereafter, Wakefield left the band.
Wakefield left, Shinoda began auditioning for a new vocalist and at the same time Delson began interning for a Warner Bros. Records A&R representative named Jeff Blue as part of his communications degree. Blue alerted Delson and Shinoda to Chester Bennington, a young vocalist from Phoenix, Arizona who was looking to join another band, after being the vocalist for Grey Daze (formerly known as Sean Dowdell and His Friends) from 1993 to 1997.
Shinoda and Delson sent Bennington a tape containing instrumentation for a song and he recorded vocals for it. He then called Shinoda and played the song over the phone. This was the start of things to come as the band was instantly impressed by the vocal abilities of Bennington and it did not take long to realize the advantages of his voice and his ability to mould it to be both soft and thought-provoking as well as hard and attention-grabbing.
Once Bennington had joined the group, they attempted to have the band signed. Unfortunately, the name was already taken by a 70s and 80s band from Australia so they changed their name to Hybrid Theory and the band's line-up solidified — almost. Farrell temporarily left the band due to previous commitments with The Snax/Tasty Snax and, as such, wasn't able to record bass for their first, self-titled EP. Instead, Delson and a bassist named Kyle Christner played bass. Released in mid-1999, only one thousand copies of Hybrid Theory EP were pressed. Several copies were sent to various record labels, including Warner Bros. Records. The rest of the copies were given to early members of the band's newly formed street team. Farrell was temporarily replaced by Scott Koziol. Scott appears in the video for "One Step Closer" from the Hybrid Theory album.
The band was subsequently signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1999 thanks to Blue. However, they were forced to change their name again due to a trademark issue with a British electronic group called Hybrid.There were several suggestions for the bands new name, including Clear, Probing Lagers, Ten P.M. Stocker (an inside joke for the band since they were always recording and practicing material late at night). When the band was creating Hybrid Theory they used to park their cars outside and there was a time limit, 1 am, until which they could park. As Bennington said, "We've probably spent more money on parking tickets than Warner Bros. makes annually!"
Bennington eventually suggested the use of the name "Lincoln Park" because he would drive by it in Santa Monica, California (now known as Christine Reed Park). He drove past the park on his way to the recording studio every day when the band was recording demos for its debut album. Bennington thought that since there are Lincoln Parks all over the country, the band would be recognized as a local band no matter where they went. He also liked the name because it had no meaning, allowing the music to describe itself. The group bore the name Lincoln Park for a few months, but when they decided to register a domain name, they found that "lincolnpark.com" was already taken. Because the band couldn't afford to purchase it, they simply changed the spelling from "Lincoln" to "Linkin" and purchased the domain name "linkinpark.com".
Recent events:
In December of 2005, Mike Shinoda (who also produced Hybrid Theory EP, Reanimation and Collision Course) was confirmed as the co-producer for the next Linkin Park album. On February 8, 2006, the band announced the producer for their third studio album would be Rick Rubin and who has worked with such bands as The Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, System of a Down and many others.
During the Grammy Award Ceremony 2006 Linkin Park joined with Jay-Z and Paul McCartney, where they performed the song "Numb/Encore/Yesterday". The band went on to win a Grammy award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.
The official website recently was closed down for remodeling. However, fans were treated to being able to watch "Making of..." videos, the whole Live in Texas concert and all the music videos (excluding all of the rare Reanimation videos except for Pts.Of.Athrty) that the band has produced to date, as well as use the message boards and read news about recent events concerning the band.
Linkin Park performed live in August 2006 at Summer Sonic, hosted by Metallica in Japan. A new song, tentatively codenamed Qwerty and also referred in various websites as Behind Your Lies, leaked on numerous websites after being played at the concert. They also performed "Reading My Eyes", a song from their Xero demo tape. Qwerty (live and studio version), Reading My Eyes (live) and other exclusive live and studio tracks are available on Linkin Park Underground V6.0 Limited Edition Fan Club CD.
On August 29, 2006, the entire catalog of Linkin Park, including their collaborative work, was added to the iTunes music store. Linkin Park had been one of the few remaining major-label bands not selling digital versions of their music.
Mike Shinoda said recently in an interview with KROQ that the band expects their new album to be released towards the beginning of 2007. This was reconfirmed in an interview with MTV.com. For more information, see Linkin Park's third studio album.
Linkin Park appeared on MTV's Total Request Live (TRL) on Wednesday, September 27, 2006. Chester Bennington was recently interviewed by MTV. It was stated Linkin Park's new album will not be the same nu-metal style they have produced in the past. "We're straying away from a lot of the predictable sounds we've had in the past, but there's no question in your mind when you hear it that it's Linkin Park," Bennington said. "We've always said we write the music we write so that we can spread our wings as far as we want and try new things and go anywhere. I think we're really going to prove that with this new record." The new album is said to be a mixture of punk, classic rock and vintage hip-hop.
In October, Phoenix and Mike Shinoda appeared at the Fuse Fangoria Chainsaw Awards show and stated "As of maybe a week and a half, two weeks ago, we went from 30 down to 17ish song wise, and that's an exciting point for us. The album is starting to take a little bit more of a shape." When talking about co-producer Rick Rubin, Mike Shinoda stated, "Rick is one of those guys where you can go through any door you want to go through. We're trying everything, just messing around with it until it sounds good."
In a November interview with Rolling Stone magazine, the band stated that they have narrowed their songs down from 120 to 17. Mike also described one of the songs that they are working on, titled Accident, and how it sounds different from other material that they have released, "The guitar sounds like Metallica, the beat sounds like Motown, and there's a Stones-like groove to it. But it's got rapping and Clash-style vocals - so if that's not fucked up enough for people to stop calling us rap rock, then I don't know what else to do."
Linkin Park's official website has confirmed that they will be headlining with My Chemical Romance for the Bamboozle Festival, taking place on May 5 and May 6 2007 in New Jersey. The concert will be in East Rutherford, at Giants Stadium parking lot. Mike said that we can expect to hear many of the new songs off of their upcoming 2007 release.
In a recent interview with Blender Magazine, the December 2006 issue, the band almost revealed the name of the new album. Chester said it will be titled T... and T..., a fill in the blank puzzle. The interviewer guessed that it might be Trials and Tribulations. However, in a more recent interview Phoenix stated that the album title hasn't been chosen yet.
The band also revealed that the studio they are recording in what was the home of the famous old time gangster Benjamin Bugsy Siegel, and also the home of Harry Houdini's mistress. The band revealed also that they are using vintage guitar, and drums out of wood. The album has been said by Blender to be due by February of 2007.
On December 12th, Phoenix was interviewed by the Linkin Park Association where he cleared up some things about the new album.
According to the Linkin Park Association, the new edition of Blender Magazine states currently that Linkin Park's new album will be out in March 2007. However, other sources indicate the album will be released February 20th 2007. This has caused quite some debate and frustration amongst fans on various Linkin Park message boards.
On January 26, 2007, the band confirmed that they will headline the annual German festivals Rock am Ring and Rock im Park on June 1st-3rd 2007, along with rock band Smashing Pumpkins.
On January 30, 2007, they were announced as one of the headliners of the Download Festival in the UK alongside My Chemical Romance and Iron Maiden. The festival commences on the 8th of June.
G-Unit member Young Buck has a track with Mike Shinoda on his new album "Buck the World" due out March 20th. The track is called "Wrong Man" and is produced by DJ Paul and Juicy J.
Farrell has confirmed on the Linkin Park Underground that after a year of writing and recording, the first single of their highly anticipated third album will be released in March 2007.
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