Biography - Linkin Park

Published by thpnlprspc

The Californian band Linkin Park started out in 1996 as heavy metal band Xero. Founder members were high school mates Mike Shinoda (vocals, Brad Delson (guitar), Rob Bourdon (drums) and Darren 'Phoenix' Farrel (bass). The group was later completed by vocalists, Chester Bennington and Joseph Hahn (a DJ who Shinoda met at art school). They changed their name to Hybrid Theory and then to Linkin Park, a deliberate misspelling of Lincoln Park, Santa Monica.

In 1999, after cultivating a large fan base at the Whiskey A Go-Go club on Sunset Strip, they were signed to Warner Bros. Their first album, 'Hybrid Theory', was released in 2000. It gained a huge amount of popularity and Air-time for the singles 'One Step Closer', 'Crawling' and 'In the End'. In 2001 they toured extensively, playing a staggering 324 gigs. The album consequently went platinum eight times and was the top seller that year. In 2002 they released the follow-up 'Reanimation' and their third album 'Meteora' is notable for the song 'Breaking The Habit'