Linkin Park is an American rock band that was founded in 1996 in Agoura Hills, California. Linkin Park was named the third best band of the millennium by MTV2. They have combined with various artists to give the music a more diverse sound, mixing rock and rap and others. The band sold over fifty million albums worldwide, and they have won two Grammy Awards for their music.

Linkin Park

"I am not afraid to keep on living, I am not afraid to walk this world alone"

Linkin Park is an American rock band that was founded in 1996 in Agoura Hills, California. Linkin Park was named the third best band of the millennium by MTV2. They have combined with various artists to give the music a more diverse sound, mixing rock and rap and others. The band sold over fifty million albums worldwide, and they have won two Grammy Awards for their music.

The Beginning of the Career

The band consisted of three friends who met in high school and enjoyed music. These friends included Brad Delson, Rob Bourdon and Mike Shinoda. After graduating, they decided to take their band further by recruiting Mark Wakefield, Joe Hahn, and Dave "Phoenix" Farrell to perform with them in their band named Xero at the time. Since they were limited on resources, in 1996, they recorded their music in Shinoda's bedroom studio. Their failure to make it to mainstream pushed Wakefield, the band's vocalist to left to find better projects. They also lost Farrell after he left to go on tour with other bands.

They were referred too Chester Bennington for a replacement due to his distinctive singing style in 1999. They then changed their name to Hybrid Theory. The new found relationship between Bennington and Shinoda inspired them to try new music techniques, and change the name of the band to Linkin Park. They still fought to land a record deal. Jeff Blue assisted the band in signing a record deal with Warner Bros Records in 1999. They came out with their debut album entitled Hybrid Theory in 2000, it was certified Diamond in 2005. The album held half a decade of the band's work. The album sold nearly five million records in the first year. This helped it to be the bestselling album in 2001.

Moving on Through the Career

The large amount of success that the album produced from singles like One Step Cloer and Crawling gave the band more fame than ever before. They received various invitations from high profile concerts and tours such as the Ozzfest and KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas. They also formed their own tour, Projekt Revolution. Within a year, they have performed at almost 350 concerts worldwide. They documented their tour success on a DVD that was entitled Frat Party at the Pankake Festival that was released in November 2001. The bassist Phoenix returned, and they began working on their remix album, Reanimation.

Reanimation debuted at #2 in July of 2002 on the Billboard 200. It also sold close to 270,000 copies in the first week. Their third album that was released, Meteora, also made the Billboard's 200's album charts in 2003. They got the inspiration for this new album while on the tour bus for their free time in Meteora, Greece. This album had a mix of nu metal and rapcore and the addition of new music instruments. This album immediately gained worldwide attention and made it to number one in the US. It sold over 800,000 copies in the first week and ranked bestselling album. By October 2003, the album sold close to three million copies. They again went on tour for the new album. They went on their world tour in early 2004 named Meteora World Tour and were supported by bands such as Hoobastank and P.O.D.

More Recently in the Career

The band took a break from recording another album, they worked on side projects and touring. The band began working with Jay Z to produce a remix album titled Collision Course. Their relationship with Warner Bros Records was going downhill due to various financial issues. They finally came to a decision in December 2005. The band's new album, Minutes to Midnight was released in May, 2007. They sold over 600,000 copies in the first week of release, making it one of the most successful debut albums in previous years. They are hoping to release a follow up album to Minutes to Midnight. They went on tour to gather inspiration for the album.

Their fourth album will be released in 2010. They have most of the songs completed for the new album, but they want to give it a new sound then the previous albums had before. In January 2010, they released a new song entitled Not Alone for the Music for Relief charity support of the Haiti Earthquake crisis.

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