Linkin Park
Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. The band's lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, and drummer Rob Bourdon, with vocalist Chester Bennington also part of the band until his death in 2017. Categorized as alternative rock, Linkin Park's earlier music spanned a fusion of heavy metal and hip hop, while their later music features more electronica and pop elements.
Not to be confused with Lincoln Park.
Linkin Park
- Xero (1996–1998)
- Hybrid Theory (1999–2000)
Agoura Hills, California, U.S.
1996–2017[a]
- Mark Wakefield
- Chester Bennington
Formed in 1996, Linkin Park rose to international fame with their debut studio album, Hybrid Theory (2000), which became certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Released during the peak of the nu metal scene, the album's singles' heavy airplay on MTV led the singles "One Step Closer", "Crawling", and "In the End" all to chart highly on the US Mainstream Rock chart. The lattermost also crossed over to the #2 spot on the nation's Billboard Hot 100.[1] Their second album, Meteora (2003), continued the band's success.[2] The band explored experimental sounds on their third album, Minutes to Midnight (2007).[3] By the end of the decade, Linkin Park was among the most successful and popular rock acts.[4]
The band continued to explore a wider variation of musical types on their fourth album, A Thousand Suns (2010), layering their music with more electronic sounds. The band's fifth album, Living Things (2012), combined musical elements from all of their previous records. Their sixth album, The Hunting Party (2014), returned to a heavier rock sound, while their seventh album, One More Light (2017), was a substantially more pop-oriented record. Linkin Park went on an indefinite hiatus following the suicide of longtime lead vocalist Bennington in July 2017 and have not recorded or toured since then. Since Bennington's death, they have only released 20th-anniversary editions of their first two studio albums, as well as a greatest hits album, Papercuts, in 2024.
Linkin Park is among both the best-selling bands of the 21st century and the world's best-selling music artists, having sold over 100 million records worldwide.[5] They have won two Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, two Billboard Music Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, 10 MTV Europe Music Awards, and three World Music Awards. In 2003, MTV2 named Linkin Park the sixth-greatest band of the music video era and the third-best of the new millennium. Billboard ranked Linkin Park No. 19 on the Best Artists of the Decade list. In 2012, the band was voted as the greatest artist of the 2000s in a Bracket Madness poll on VH1. In 2014, the band was declared as "The Biggest Rock Band in the World Right Now" by Kerrang!.
Philanthropy
On January 19, 2010, Linkin Park released a new song titled "Not Alone" as part of a compilation from Music for Relief called Download to Donate for Haiti in support of the Haiti Earthquake crisis.[240][241][242] On February 10, 2010, Linkin Park released the official music video for the song on their homepage.[241][242] The single itself was released on October 21, 2011.
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.[243] For the updated compilation, the band released Keaton Hashimoto's remix of "The Catalyst" from the "Linkin Park featuring YOU" contest.[243]
Shinoda designed two T-shirts, in which the proceeds would go to Music for Relief to help the victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami disasters.[244][245] Music for Relief released Download to Donate: Tsunami Relief Japan, another compilation of songs, in which the proceeds would go to Save the Children.[246] The band released the song titled as "Issho Ni", meaning "we're in this together", on March 22, 2011, via Download to Donate: Tsunami Relief Japan.[247]
In the wake of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, Linkin Park played at Club Nokia during the "Music for Relief: Concert for the Philippines" in Los Angeles, and raised donations for victims.[248][249] The show was broadcast on AXS TV on February 15.[248][249] Other artists during the show included the Offspring, Bad Religion, Heart, and the Filharmonic.[248][249]
Musical style and influences
Linkin Park combines elements of metal, industrial, punk, pop, electronic, hip hop.[250] More specifically, the band has been categorized as alternative rock, nu metal, rap rock, rap metal, alternative metal, electronic rock, pop rock, hard rock, and industrial rock.[note 1] Despite being considered nu metal, the band never considered themselves as such.[274]
Both Hybrid Theory and Meteora combine the alternative metal,[275] nu metal,[276] rap rock,[277] rap metal,[278] and alternative rock[279] sound with influences and elements from hip hop, and electronica,[280][281] utilizing programming and synthesizers. William Ruhlmann from AllMusic regarded it as "a Johnny-come-lately to an already overdone musical style,"[282] whereas Rolling Stone described their song "Breaking the Habit" as "risky, beautiful art".[283]
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.[284] Only two songs on the album's tracklist feature rap vocals and the majority of the album can be considered alternative rock.[285][286]
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 singles ("The Catalyst", "Burning in the Skies", "Iridescent"), both Shinoda and Bennington sing. The album has been regarded as a turning point in the band's musical career, having a stronger emphasis on electronica.[287][288] James Montgomery, of MTV, compared the record to Radiohead's Kid A,[289] 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.[290] Shinoda stated that he and the other band members were deeply influenced by Chuck D and Public Enemy. He elaborated: "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".[291] One of the record's political elements is its samples of speeches by American political figures.[292] A Thousand Suns was described as trip hop,[293] electronic rock,[268][294] ambient,[293] alternative rock,[295] industrial rock,[273] experimental rock,[296] rap rock,[297] and progressive rock.[298]
Their fifth album, Living Things, is also an electronic-heavy album, but includes other influences, resulting in a harder sound by comparison.[299][300] The band returned to a heavier sound compared to their last three albums on The Hunting Party, which was described as an alternative metal,[301][302][303] nu metal,[304] hard rock,[301][305] rap rock,[306] and rap metal album.[307] Their seventh album, One More Light, was described as pop,[308][309] pop rock[271][310] and electropop.[311]
Linkin Park's influences include Limp Bizkit, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Jane's Addiction, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Machines of Loving Grace, Metallica, Refused, Minor Threat, Fugazi, Descendents, Misfits, Beastie Boys, Run-DMC, A Tribe Called Quest, Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock, N.W.A, Public Enemy, KRS-One, Boogie Down Productions, Led Zeppelin, Rage Against the Machine, and the Beatles.[312][313][314][315]
Many of the group's song lyrics deal with alienation, introversion and personal struggle and suffering.[316]
Legacy
Linkin Park has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.[317][318] The group's first studio album Hybrid Theory is one of the best-selling albums in the US (12 million copies shipped) and worldwide (30 million copies sold).[319] Billboard estimates that Linkin Park earned US$5 million between May 2011 and May 2012, making them the 40th-highest-paid musical artist.[320] 11 of the band's singles have reached the number one position on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart, the second-most for any artist.[321]
In 2003, MTV2 named Linkin Park the sixth-greatest band of the music video era and the third-best of the new millennium.[322] Billboard ranked Linkin Park No. 19 on the Best Artists of the Decade chart.[323] The band was recently voted as the greatest artist of the 2000s in a Bracket Madness poll on VH1.[324] In 2014, the band was declared as the Biggest Rock Band in the World Right Now by Kerrang!.[325][326] In 2015, Kerrang! gave "In the End" and "Final Masquerade" the top two positions on Kerrang!'s Rock 100 list.[327]
Linkin Park became the first rock band to achieve more than one billion YouTube views.[328] Linkin Park's "Numb" is the third and "In the End" is the sixth "timeless song" on Spotify. The two songs make Linkin Park the only artist to have two timeless songs in the top ten.[329]
Hybrid Theory by the group was listed in the 2005 edition of the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, It was also ranked at #11 on Billboard's Hot 200 Albums of the Decade.[330] In addition the album was included in Best of 2001 by Record Collector, The top 150 Albums of the Generation by Rock Sound and 50 Best Rock Albums of the 2000s by Kerrang!. The album Meteora was included in Top 200 Albums of the Decade by Billboard at No. 36. The album sold 20 million copies worldwide. The collaborative EP Collision Course with Jay-Z became the second ever EP to top the Billboard 200, going on to sell over 300,000 copies in its first week after Alice in Chains' Jar of Flies in 1994. The album Minutes to Midnight, in the United States, had the biggest first week sales of 2007 at the time, with 625,000 albums sold.[331] In Canada, the album sold over 50,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart. Worldwide, the album shipped over 3.3 million copies in its first four weeks of release.[332]
The New York Times' Jon Caramanica commented Linkin Park "brought the collision of hard rock and hip-hop to its commercial and aesthetic peak" at the beginning of the 2000s.[333] Several rock and non-rock artists have cited Linkin Park as an influence, including Of Mice & Men,[334] One OK Rock,[335] Kutless,[336] My Heart to Fear,[337] Ill Niño,[338] Bishop Nehru,[339] From Ashes to New,[340] Bring Me the Horizon,[341] Spyair,[342] Hardy,[343] I Prevail,[344] Crossfaith,[345] AJ Tracey,[346] the Chainsmokers,[347] The Devil Wears Prada,[348] Steve Aoki,[349] Blackbear,[350] Halsey,[351] Amber Liu,[352] Machine Gun Kelly,[353] Billie Eilish,[354] Starset,[355] and the Weeknd.[356]
On August 20, 2020, their 20th anniversary, Linkin Park collaborated with virtual reality rhythm game Beat Saber to release 11 maps based on their songs.[357]
Studio albums
Headlining
Co-headlining
