Linkin Park Profile
Linkin Park are a popular nu metal band from the USA. Their first studio album, entitled Hybrid Theory, was released in 2000 and has sold more than 20 million copies across the globe.
In 1996, Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson formed a band called SuperXero with Rob Bourdon after they graduated from high school. They were later joined by Dave Farrell and Joe Hahn. The band name was changed to Xero. Mark Wakefield entered the band on lead vocals and Xero recorded a demo tape, which was sent to record labels. Nothing came of it and the band were not signed. Wakefield promptly left the band.
Auditions were held for a new vocalist whilst Delson became an intern to an A&R representative at Warner Bros. records. He pointed the band in the direction of Chester Bennington.
They sent Bennington a tape without backing vocals, to which he recorded his vocals and played it to Shinoda over the phone. After Bennington was incorporated into the band, they again tried to get themselves a record deal, only to find that their chosen name (Xero) was only the name of an Australian band. They adopted the name Hybrid Theory instead. Farell left the band as a result of commitments to his previous band, and a bassist called Kyle Christner stepped into his shoes. Hybrid Theory, their debut EP was released in mid-1999. A mere 1000 copies were pressed.
They were signed to Warner Bros. record label in 1999 thanks to the efforts of the A & R man for whom Delson interned.
Another change of name followed after a dispute with a British electronic company called Hybrid. Bennington put forward the name Lincoln Park , named after a former part of Santa Monica, California, which he drove past regularly to and from the recording studio. He believed that it would make the band associated as a local band worldwide, as it was one of the few Lincoln Parks in the country. The name stuck for a few months until they found that the domain name for Lincoln Park was already in use. They simply changed the name to Linkin Park, so they could buy their own domain name.
Their debut single, One Step Closer, was released in 2000. Farrell joined the band again in 2001, and their second single , Crawling, was released. It won a Grammy Award in 2002 for Best Hard Rock Performance. Also in 2001, their third single, In The End, became their biggest hit.
Their second album, Meteora, was recorded in 2002. The first single to be taken from it was Somewhere I Belong, which topped the US Billboard Chart and sold 810 000 copies in its first week of release. It has now sold over 11 million copies worldwide.
In 2004, Linkin Park collaborated with rapper Jay-Z. The single Numb / Encore entered the Billboard Chart at number 20 and stuck around for six months.
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