|
|
Linkin Park
Genre(s) Alternative Rock
Nu Metal
Rapcore
Years active 1996 - present
Label(s) Warner Bros. Records
Machine Shop Recordings
Associated
acts Fort Minor
Dead By Sunrise
Members
Chester Bennington
Rob Bourdon
Brad Delson
David "Phoenix" Farrell
Joe Hahn
Mike Shinoda
Former members
Kyle Christener (Stand-in)
Scott Koziol (Stand-in)
Mark Wakefield
Linkin Park is a band from Agoura Hills, California. They formed in 1996,
and have since sold more than fifty million albums, and won two
Grammies.[1][2][3] They first achieved mainstream success in 2000 with their
debut album, Hybrid Theory, which has since been certified Diamond by RIAA.[4]
The band’s following studio album, Meteora also garnered success, topping
the Billboard 200’s album charts in 2003, and was followed by an extensive
touring and charity work around the world.[5]
Linkin Park is recognized for adapting the Nu-metal genre into a radio
friendly style, creating many successful singles, such as In the End,
Crawling, and Numb, which were number one singles in several countries.[6]
They are also known for their several collaborations, most notably with
rapper Jay-Z in their mash-up album Collision Course, and a plethora of
other artists on Reanimation.[6] The band’s latest album, Minutes to
Midnight, which was released in May 2007, has stemmed away from their
previous Nu-metal sound venturing into various other genres.[7] Despite
receiving mixed reviews from both critics and fans, the album topped the
Billboard Charts by selling nearly 625,000 copies debut week, making it the
best debut week of the year.[8][9]
Band History
Early years
Originally consisting of three close high school friends from Agoura High
School, Linkin Park’s foundation was anchored by Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson,
and Rob Bourdon.[10] After graduating from high school, the California
natives later began to take their musical interests more seriously,
recruiting Joe Hahn, Dave "Phoenix" Farrell, and Mark Wakefield to perform
in their band, then titled Xero. Though limited in resources, the band began
recording and producing songs within Shinoda’s make-shift bedroom studio in
1996.[10] Tensions and frustration within the band began to increase after
the band 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 for other projects.[10] Later, Farrell would also leave the
band in order to tour with Tasty Snax and other bands.[11][12]
After spending a considerable time searching for Wakefield’s surrogate, Xero,
now known as Hybrid Theory, recruited Arizona vocalist Chester Bennington.
Jeff Blue, the vice president of Zomba Music, referred Bennington to the
band in March of 1999.[13] Bennington, formerly of Grey Daze, became a
standout among applicants for his unique and vivid singing style. The
newborn chemistry between Shinoda and Bennington helped revive the band,
inciting them to work on new material.[10] The band’s renaissance culminated
with a change in name; from Hybrid Theory, the band changed their name to
Linkin Park, a play on and homage to Santa Monica’s Lincoln Park.[10]
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. Now aside with Warner Bros. Records, the band released
their breakthrough album, Hybrid Theory, the following year.[13]
Breakthrough success
Linkin Park released Hybrid Theory on October 24, 2000. The album, which
represented nearly half a decade’s worth of the band’s work, was edited and
polished by music producer Don Gilmore.[10] Hybrid Theory was well received
by music fans; The band sold more than 4.8 million records 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 playlists during the year.[11] Additionally, other
singles from the album were featured in movies such as Dracula 2000, Little
Nicky, and Valentine.[11] Hybrid Theory was also nominated for three Grammy
Awards, including best new artist, best rock album, and best hard rock
performance (for Crawling).[14] MTV also awarded the band their Best Rock
Video and Best Direction awards for In the End.[10] Through the winning of
the Grammy for best hard rock performance, and for Best Rock Album, Hybrid
Theory’s overall success had catapulted the band into the mainstream's
attention.
During this time, Linkin Park received many invitations to perform on many
recognized tours and concerts including Ozzfest, Family Values Tour and KROQ
Almost Acoustic Christmas.[11][15] The band also formed their own tour,
Projekt Revolution, which featured other notable artists such as, Cypress
Hill, Adema, and Snoop Dogg.[13] Within a year’s stretch, Linkin Park had
performed at over 320 concerts.[10] The album debuted on July 30, 2002,
featuring the likes of Black Thought, Jonathan Davis, Aaron Lewis, and many
others.[16] Reanimation claimed the second spot on the Billboard 200, and
sold nearly 270,000 copies during its debut week.[17]
Meteora debuts
Following the success of Hybrid Theory and Reanimation, Linkin Park spent a
significant amount of time touring around the United States. The band began
to work on new material amidst the saturated schedule, spending a sliver of
their free time in their tour bus' studio.[18] The band officially announced
the production of a new studio album in December 2002, revealing their new
work was inspired by Meteora, a historic monastery in Greece.[19] Meteora
featured 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.[10] Eponymous to
Meteora, the Linkin Park's second album debuted on March 25, 2003 and
instantly earned worldwide recognition.[10]
Meteora sold more than 800,000 copies during its first week, and ranked as
the best selling album on the Billboard charts.[20] Music videos for some of
the album's singles, including Somewhere I Belong, Breaking the Habit, Faint
and Numb, received significant radio attention.[21] Eventually, Meteora sold
nearly three million copies by October 2003.[22] The album's success allowed
Linkin Park to form another Projekt Revolution, which featured other bands
and artists including, Mudvayne, Blindside, and Xzibit.[10] Additionally,
Metallica, a famed heavy metal group, invited Linkin Park to play at the
Summer Sanitarium Tour 2003, which included well-known acts such as Limp
Bizkit, Mudvayne and Deftones.[23] 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.[10]
Meteora also earned the band additional awards and honors. The band won
MTV's awards for Best Rock Video (Somewhere I Belong), Viewer's Choice Award
(Breaking the Habit).[24] 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.[24] Although Meteora was not nearly as successful
as Hybrid Theory, it was the third best selling album in America during
2003.[11] 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.[11]
Side projects and charity work
Following Meteora's success, the band postponed working on a new studio
album for the next several 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.[11] In 2004, the band began to work with Jay-Z in order to produce
another remix album, entitled Collision Course. The album, which featured
intermixed the lyrics and background tracks from both artists' backgrounds,
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 their debut album,
The Rising Tied to critical acclaim.[25][26] On the home front, the band's
relationship with Warner Bros. Records was declining rapidly on account of
several trust and financial issues.[27] After months of feuding, the band
finally negotiated a deal in December 2005.[28]
Additionally, they also participated in numerous charitable events. Linkin
Park helped raise money to benefit victims of Hurricane Charley in 2004 and
later Hurricane Katrina in 2005.[11] They also helped relief efforts for the
2004 Tsunami victims by staging several charity concerts and setting up an
additional fund called "Music for Relief".[29] Most notably, however, the
band participated at Live 8, a series of charitable benefit concerts set up
to raise global awareness.[30] Alongside Jay-Z, the band performed on Live
8's stage in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a global audience.[30] The band
would later be reunited with Jay-Z at the Grammy Award Ceremony 2006, during
which they performed Numb Encore/Yesterday, en route to winning a Grammy for
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.[31] They would later go on to play at the 2006
Summer Sonic music festival, which was hosted by Metallica in Japan.[32]
Reemergence
Linkin Park finally returned to the recording studios in 2006 to work on new
material. Despite initially stating the album would debut sometime in 2006,
the album was pushed off to 2007.[33] The band recorded nearly thirty to
fifty songs in August of 2006, when Shinoda stated the album was halfway
completed.[34] Bennington later added that the new album would stray away
from their previous nu-metal sound.[35] 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.[36] After spending
fourteen months working on album, the band opted to further refine their
album by removing five of the original seventeen tracks.[33] Minutes to
Midnight sold over 600,000 copies in its first week, making it one of the
most successful debut week albums in recent years. The album also captured
the top spot on the Billboard Charts.[9]
The albums first single, What I've Done was released on April 2, and later
premiered on MTV and Fuse within the same week.[37] The single was acclaimed
by listeners, reaching the Billboard Hot 100 days after its debut, and later
was the top ranked song on the Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks and Mainstream
Rock Tracks charts.[38] Billboard has reported that two other singles, Given
Up and Shadow of the Day, are scheduled to be release later in the year.[39]
However, such details have yet to be officially confirmed by the band.
Style
Both Hybrid Theory and Meteora intertwined the nu metal sound with
industrial rock, synth rock, and drum and bass influences and elements,
utilizing programming and synthesizers. All Music Guide regarded it as "a
Johnny-come-lately to an already overdone musical style,"[40] whereas
Rolling Stone called "Breaking the Habit" "risky, beautiful art."[41]
Minutes to Midnight experiments with both the band's established sound and
other genres and styles, a process Los Angeles Times compares to a stage in
U2's work. [42] In it, only two of the songs feature rapping. It also is
their first album to feature guitar solo's and to have songs sung entirely
by Mike.
Linkin Park's use of two separate vocalists has become a large part of their
music. Chester Bennington is most known for his growling and screaming
vocals common in various forms of metal, while also using more melodic
vocals, and has placed 46th in Hit Paraders list of "Heavy Metal's All-Time
Top 100 Vocalists".[2] Mike Shinoda is the group's MC, and does all of the
rapping. Mike has also done all of the backing vocals live, and in their
latest album, Minutes to Midnight, he sings two songs entirely by himself:
"In Between", and the b-side "No Roads Left".
Band members
Current
* Chester Bennington – lead vocals, occasional guitar (1999–present)
* Rob Bourdon – drums (1996–present)
* Brad Delson – lead guitar, strings (1996–present)
* Dave "Phoenix" Farrell – bass guitar (1996–1999, 2001–present)
* Joe Hahn – turntables, programming, samples, beats (1996–present)
* Mike Shinoda – vocals, emcee, rhythm guitar, keyboards/piano, strings
(1996–present)
Former
* Mark Wakefield – Vocals (1996–1998)
Stand-ins
* Kyle Christener— Bass guitar (1998–1999) Stand in bass player during
Phoenix's absence from the band during the Hybrid Theory EP.
* Scott Koziol— Bass guitar (1999–2001) Stand in bass player in the Hybrid
Theory album. Records on the song One Step Closer and appears in the video.
Discography
Albums and EPs
* Xero Sampler Tape (1997)
* Hybrid Theory EP (1999)
* Hybrid Theory (2000)
* Reanimation (2002)
* Meteora (2003)
* Collision Course (2004)
* Minutes to Midnight (2007)
Videography
DVD/VHS
* Frat Party at The Pankake Festival (2001)
* Reanimation (DVD-Audio) (2002)
* The Making of Meteora (Limited Release) (2003)
* Live In Texas (2003)
* Breaking The Habit (2004)
* Collision Course (2004)
* Live 8 (2005)
* Minutes To Midnight (Limited Release) (2007)
References
1. ^ Marketwire.com, Linkin Park on top of the charts, Retrieved on June 07,
2007
2. ^ Rock On The Net, GRAMMY AWARDS: BEST RAP/SUNG COLLABORATION, Retrieved
on June 14, 2007
3. ^ Rock On The Net GRAMMY AWARDS: BEST HARD ROCK PERFORMANCE, Retrieved on
June 14, 2006
4. ^ Recording Industry Association Of America, [1], Retrieved on June 13,
2007
5. ^ Soundspike.com, Album Chart: Linkin Park’s ‘Meteora’ shoots to the top,
Retrieved on March 19, 2007
6. ^ a b MSN Music, Linkin Park: Biography, Retrieved on June 14, 2007
7. ^ MTV.com, Linkin Park Say Nu-Metal Sound Is 'Completely Gone' On Next
LP, Retrieved on June 14, 2007.
8. ^ Billboard.com, M2M holds the top slot for the current week, Retrieved
on May 28, 2007
9. ^ a b Billboard.com, Linkin Park Scores Year's Best Debut With
'Midnight', Retrieved on May 28, 2007
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l AskMen.com, Linkin Park – Biography Retrieved
on March 20, 2007
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Rockdetector.com, Linkin Park – Rockdetector Biography
Retrieved on March 20, 2007
12. ^ Livedaily.com, LiveDaily Interview: Linkin Park’s Dave 'Phoenix'
Farrell Retrieved on March 20, 2007
13. ^ a b c Lptimes.com, Band History Retrieved on March 20, 2007
14. ^ United Stations Radio Network, Linkin Park's Grammy Noms Are Icing On
The Cake Retrieved on March 26, 2007
15. ^ MTV.com, Linkin Park, P.O.D., Nickelback, More To Play LA’s KROQ Fest
Retrieved on March 26, 2007
16. ^ United Stations Radio Network, Linkin Park’s 'Reanimation' Set For
July 30 Retrieved on March 26, 2007
17. ^ Yahoo! Music, Linkin Park Remixes Chart With Number Two Debut
Retrieved on March 26, 2007
18. ^ Warner Bros. Records, "The Making of Meteora" (2003) [DVD], Released
on March 25, 2003.
19. ^ MTV.com, Linkin Park Get Their Tempers Under Control To Complete New
LP Retrieved on June 10, 2006
20. ^ Yahoo! Music, Linkin Park 'Meteora' Debuts At Number One, Sets Aside
Tix For Military Retrieved on April 8, 2007
21. ^ Yahoo! Music, Linkin Park Says 'Faint' Is Equal To Other Songs
Retrieved on April 8, 2007
22. ^ LAUNCH Radio Networks, Linkin Park Album Certified Triple Platinum
Retrieved on April 8, 2007
23. ^ VH1.com, Linkin Park : Biography Retrieved on April 8, 2007
24. ^ a b Ringsurf.com, Linkin Park Awards Retrieved on April 4, 2007
25. ^ Chartattack, Mike Shinoda's Fort Minor Rise To The Occasion Retrieved
on April 23, 2007
26. ^ Machine Shop, Fort Minor Biography Retrieved on April 23, 2007
27. ^ Rolling Stone, Linkin, Warner Feud Rages Retrieved on May 12, 2007
28. ^ Aversion, Linkin Park, Warner Bros. Kiss, Make Up Retrieved on May 12,
2007
29. ^ VoaNews,Linkin Park Launches Relief Fund for Tsunami Victims;
Backstreet Boys to Release New Album Retrieved on May 12, 2007
30. ^ a b The Linkin Park Times, Live 8 Philadelphia 2005 Retrieved on May
12, 2007
31. ^ About.com, Jay-Z and Linkin Park to Mash-Up Onstage at the Grammys,
Retrieved on June 9, 2007
32. ^ Linkinpark.com, Linkin Park, Fort Minor at Summer Sonic in Japan,
Retrieved on June 9, 2007
33. ^ a b MTV.com, Mike Shinoda Says 'No New Linkin Park Album In 2006 After
All', Retrieved on June 9, 2007
34. ^ MTV.com, Mike Shinoda Says Linkin Park Halfway Done With New Album,
Retrieved on June 9, 2007
35. ^ MTV.com, Linkin Park Say Nu-Metal Sound Is 'Completely Gone' On Next
LP, Retrieved on June 9, 2007
36. ^ Warner Bros. Records, Fans Counting the 'Minutes' as Linkin Park
Reveal Album Name and Release Date, Retrieved on June 9, [2007]]
37. ^ Videostatic, MTV Adds for the Week of 4/2/07
38. ^ Billboard.com, Artist Chart History - Singles Retrieved on June 9,
2007
39. ^ Billboard.com, Minutes to Midnight - More Singles, Retrieved on June
9, 2007
40. ^ Allmusic.com allmusic ((( Hybrid Theory > Overview ))):, Retrieved on
May 30, 2007
41. ^ Rollingstones.com, Rolling Stone : Linkin Park: Meteora : Music
Reviews:, Retrieved on May 30, 2007
42. ^ Calendarlive.com, Linkin Park releases new album: 'Minutes to
Midnight' Retrieved on May 30, 2007
read the copyright
Current News: a dictionary of current search terms and popular interest topics.