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Linkin Park is a rock band from Agoura Hills, California. They formed in 1996, and have since sold more than forty million albums and won two Grammys.

Linkin Park is recognized for adapting the nu metal genre into a radio-friendly style and creating many successful singles, such as In The End, Numb, and What I've Done. The album topped the Billboard Charts by selling nearly 625,000 copies in its debut week, making it the second best debut week of any album for the year.

Band history

Early years (1996-2000)

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. Tensions and frustration within the band began to increase 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 for other projects.

After spending a considerable time searching for Wakefield's replacement, Xero recruited Arizona vocalist Chester Bennington. Jeff Blue, the vice president of Zomba Music, referred Bennington to the band in March 1999. Bennington, formerly of a band named Grey Daze, became a standout among applicants for his unique and vivid singing style. The newborn vocal chemistry between Shinoda and Bennington helped revive the band, inciting them to work on new material. 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.

Breakthrough: 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 and polished by music producer Don Gilmore. 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. 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.

Continued success: 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 began to work on new material amidst the 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 their new work was inspired by the rocky region of Meteora in Greece, where a lot of monasteries have been built on top of the rocks.

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. In early 2004, Linkin Park started a world tour titled the Meteora World Tour, supporting bands on the tour include Hoobastank, P.O.D and Story Of The Year.

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). 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 and charity work (2004-2006)

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. 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 their debut album, The Rising Tied, to critical acclaim.

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.

Reemergence: Minutes to Midnight (2006-present)

Linkin Park returned to the recording studios in 2006 to work on new material. To produce the album, the band chose popular producer Rick Rubin. Despite initially stating the album would debut sometime in 2006, the album was pushed off to 2007. After spending fourteen months working on the album, the band opted to further refine their album by removing five of the original seventeen tracks. 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.

The album's first single, "What I've Done" was released on April 2, and later premiered on MTV and Fuse within the same week. Bleed It Out is the second single from Minutes to Midnight which was released August 20, 2007. Shadow of the Day will be the third single and is scheduled to be released in the UK on October 8.

Linkin Park performed at Live Earth Japan on July 7, 2007.

Style

Both Hybrid Theory and Meteora intertwined the nu metal and rap rock sound with influences and elements from industrial rock, synth rock, electronica, and drum and bass, utilizing programming and synthesizers. All Music Guide regarded it as "a Johnny-come-lately to an already overdone musical style,"

In Minutes to Midnight the band experiments with their established sound and sees them drawing 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. It also is their first studio album to feature guitar solos and to feature Mike Shinoda's singing, rather than rapping.

Linkin Park's use of two separate vocalists has become a large part of their music. Chester Bennington is most known for using growling and screaming vocals common in various forms of metal, while also using more melodic singing, and has placed 46th in Hit Paraders list of "Heavy Metal's All-Time Top 100 Vocalists". 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 lead vocals on three songs: In Between, Hands Held High, and the b-side No Roads Left. Shinoda has also been placed in Hit Paraders list of "Heavy Metal's All-Time Top 100 Vocalists" at 72.

Band members

Current

• Chester Bennington - lead vocals (1999-present)
• Mike Shinoda - emcee, vocals, rhythm guitar (1996-present)
• Brad Delson - lead guitar (1996-present)
• Dave "Phoenix" Farrell - bass guitar, backing vocals (1996-1999, 2001-present)
• Joe Hahn - turntables, programming, samples, beats (1996-present)
• Rob Bourdon - drums, keyboard/piano (1996-present)

Former

• Mark Wakefield – Vocals (1996–1998, while the band was named Xero)

Stand-in's

• Kyle Christener— Bass guitar (1998–1999) Temporarily replaced Phoenix
• Scott Koziol— Bass guitar (1999–2001) Stand-in bass player in the Hybrid Theory