Linkin
Park's origin began in 1996 when rapper guitarist Brad Delson and the
infamouis Mike Shinoda started a band called Xero. Other members of the
band were Mark Wakefield the vocalist, Joseph Hahn the DJ, Rob Bourdon
the drummer, and "Phoenix" Farrell the bassist. Brad Delson and
emcee/vocalist Mike Shinoda attended the same high school together,
where Delson also met the band's drummer, Rob Bourdon. Shinoda then
hooked up with DJ Joseph Hahn while studying painting at the Pasadena
Art Center. Xero made a four track demo tape including: Fuse, Stick N'
Move, Rhinestone, and Reading My Eyes. Mark left the band before they were called "Hybrid
Theory" because things didn't work out, but he has always been a really
good friend of theirs. Now Mark is Taproot's manager. The guys played
around for fun and started getting attention from friends. So they set
up a show at LA's Whisky and got signed to Zomba Music Publishing their
1st show. They were with the bands System of a Down and SX-10. Later "Phoenix" chose to leave the band to tour with
another band, called"The Snax". Also while Phoenix was with the band
when they were "Xero" he left the band at some point to tour with
another band Snax (more info on Snax on Phoenix's pg). He is not the
bassist on the Hybrid Theory ep, Kyle Christner was bass. Once Phoenix
finished up w/ the Snax tour he came back as a permanent member of
Linkin Park. Kyle is now in the band NoseDive. So basically Phoenix was
the bassist for "Xero", Kyle was the bassist for "Hybrid Theory" and
Scott was just a temporary bassist for linkin park until Phoenix came
back. (Scott can be seen in the 'One Step Closer' video). The rest of
the gang continued to play together primarily for fun. They later,
signed with Zomba Music an occasion that came about when they played at
The Whiskey Club in Los Angeles. The final addition to the band came in
the form of Chester Bennington. Magical Chester was absolutely the
missing catalyst. His extra-ordinary voice lets him deliver the lyrics
at a gentle yet aggressive pace. He can hit pitch notes like no other.
Chester humbly even
blames this on "years of singing" and "scar tissue". They started getting serious from there but "labels
weren't really catching on" so they changed a few things and were
looking for a new singer. About 2 yrs later or so Chester joined the
band. That's when they changed their name to "Hybrid Theory". Chester had previously been in the band Grey Daze
which had done pretty well and had some offers. (more grey daze info on
chester's pg)...so he met Mike and the guys through mutual friends in
the industry. They met through their law firm Miniet Phelps and Phelps.
The firm told "xero" that they had a guy in Phoenix
(Chester) who might be good for the job and sent Chester a demo. He was
asked to sing/make up something to the demo. He really wanted the job
so he went to a recording studio to do it professionally. Within 3 days
he had finished recording it.The guys were surprised when Chester
called and said he was done and would fly to S. California because it
was his birthday. He supposedly left people at his party or birthday
and worked on the tape. They asked to hear the tape over the phone
first. Once they heard it,they were blown away and told him to fly
over. Once Chester was in the band, they focused on making
demos and used their connections at Zomba to get their demos out to
people who would listen. Eventually after a buzz started, Warner Brothers was
interested and signed them to their label. Then "Hybrid Theory" changed
their name to "Linkin Park" to avoid legal hassles w/ another band who
had the same name. They chose "Linkin Park" because Chester used to
drive by Lincoln Park in Santa Monica, CA (which was a middle class
neighborhood where lots of homeless people hung out) after practice and
it grabbed his attention & the guys in the band liked how it
sounded. They changed the spelling so that they could buy the domain;
lincolnpark.com was already taken and too expensive to buy. They also
think it's cool because there are so many Lincoln Parks that everywhere
they play people think they are a local band. Chester has been recorded to say he wanted a name
which was unique, "where the music could define the name rather than
the name define the music". Phoneix pulled a mythical rebirth and
rejoined the band fulfilling his destiny. New demos were made and the
chase for a record label was on. Warner Records were lucky to hear the
music, like it and sign up Linkin Park. A massive page in their history
was written. Ask Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson for a wish-list
of bands he'd like to tour with, and he's ready with a response. "We
told our manager, 'Pick a band and we can tour with them.' Our music
reaches out in so many directions that there's pretty much an unlimited
amount of cool bands with which we could play." Delson is
understandably proud of the diversity and uniqueness apparent on the
band's debut album, Hybrid Theory (the band's original name). Built on
an aggressive hard rock foundation, flavored with hip-hop vocal styling
and electronic flourishes, Linkin Park's sound is utterly their own, an
accomplishment strengthened by the band's remarkably powerful and
unforced songwriting. But almost everything about Linkin Park has been
unforced, including their Southern California origins. Linkin Park released their debut album, Hybrid Theory
In October, 2000. Hits like One Step Closer, Crawling, and In The End
were born. Hybrid Theory eventually received 8x platinum. Hybrid Theory
does not follow a trend set up by a lot of other bands in that it
doesn't contain any curses or swear words. This was because the band
wanted to write lyrics honestly and they
thought that unnecessary swear words take away attention from the
music. They wanted something that the public could listen to over and
over again and enjoy repeatedly. At it's completion they felt they had
achieved this feat with Hybrid Theory. Linkin Park was in demand. Come January 2002, Hybrid
Theory received three Grammy nominations for "Best Rock Album" and
"Best New Artist." A month later, Linkin Park walked away with an award
for "Best Hard Rock Performance" for "Crawling." After Hybrid Theory was released, Linkin Park's fame
permitted them to tour all over the world. They toured with bands like
POD, 3 Doors Down, and System Of a Down. July of 2002, saw LP release the Hybrid Theory Remix
album, Reanimation. These remixes included talent from rappers like
Black Thought and 20 tracks were cut. In March of 2003, LP released their 2nd year album,
Meteora. The first single "Somewhere I Belong" was an instant hit. The
second annual Projekt Revolution tour got underway in spring 2003 with
Linkin Park joining Mudvayne, Xzibit and Blindside; Summer Sanitarium
dates with Metallica, Limp Bizkit, Mudvayne and the Deftones followed
in July and August. This album
includes hits like Somewhere I Belong, Numb,, and Faint. Included on
Meteora and Reanimation were ground breaking extras. They contained
enhanced portions. These parts of the discs included videos and other
extra "goodies" fans could view on their PC. The band wanted to use
technology and let the fans to see the process of making albums . This
helped them share all the "Blood, Sweat and Tears," they put into
making the albums . Linkin Park has won numerous awards including an award
at the VMAs. Their popularity has grown world-wide. They are now truly
international with a multitude of fans. From their hybrid genres to
their non offensive swear-free lyrics, to their use of turntables and
samples, Linkin Park cover a truly versatile ground and provide an
entertaining and unique performance.
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