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The year 1996 saw the origin of a band named Xero. Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, who recruited DJ Mr. Hahn, Rob Bourdon on the drums, Dave “Phoenix” Farrell playing the bass and Mark Wakefield with the vocals. In spite of low bank balance, they recorded a number of songs in a makeshift studio. However, the tracks failed to make an impact. Wakefield gave up hope of achieving mainstream recognition and resigned from the band. Xero in search of a new vocalist, stumbled upon Chester Bennington. Chester was an instant hit with the band because of his unique and dynamic style.
After this, things fell in place for the band. They renamed themselves as ‘Hybrid Theory’ and released a self-titled EP (Extended Play). However, they had a run in with some copyright issue and had to change their name Hybrid Theory. Chester Bennington suggested the name ‘Linkin Park’. He was referring to a park in Santa Monica known today as Christine Emerson Reed Park, which was originally named as ‘Lincoln Park’.
The name Linkin Park is thus a misspelling of a park in Santa Monica. Thus, the band changed its name from Xero to Hybrid Theory and finally found success with Linkin Park.
Hybrid Theory had elements of rock, metal, hip-hop. They stuck to their genre of new metal. Their debut album Hybrid Theory was released by Warner Bros. Record’s company on 24th of October year 2000. Hybrid theory was an instant hit and even the critics had very little to complain about. Their record boasted of landing #2 on Billboard 200 chart in 2001 and also in 2002. It also found the #5 position in 2002 on the Top Canadian Albums. Hybrid theory reserved the #25 slot on Top Internet Albums Chart and gained 8 places in the subsequent year to land on the #17 slot of the Top Internet Album Chart of 2002.
Hybrid Theory also boasted of four unforgettable hit singles, ‘One Step Closer’ ‘Crawling’, ‘Papercut’ and ‘In The End’. Judging by the popularity and the level of music, it came as no surprise that ‘Crawling’ even bagged the prestigious Grammy.
The album gained ‘diamond’ status and has sold 24m copies worldwide in just 6 years, til 2006. It also featured in the most popular sections of almost all download sites on the internet. To add another feather to their cap, Hybrid Theory made a record of being the ‘Highest Selling Debut Album’ this century. They rode on their success wave and released Reanimation in 2002. It was a remix album on their first album Hybrid Theory songs.
After this came the album ‘Meteora’. Though it could not match Hybrid Theory’s expectancy it still went on to sell 10 million copies. Meteora was followed by a joint venture with rapper Jay-Z which culminated into the album ‘Collision Course’.
Their newest album is influenced by hip-hop and rock oriented too. Titled ‘Minutes To Midnight’ the band says that it is the product of some fun experimentation with their music.
Hybrid Theory gave Linkin Park an instant shot to fame. It established them firmly in the nu age metal genre along with other stars like Limp Bizkit , Korn, System Of a Down.
Linkin Park has established their uniqueness. They are not just about Rock, or Rap or electronic music. They comprise of a veritable mixture of different styles and blends in music. This justifies them as ‘hybrid’ in the type of music they play.
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