2000-Mike ShinodaVocals (rapper)1996-
Brad DelsonGuitar1996-
Rob BourdonDrums1996-2017
Joseph HahnDJ1996-
Chester BenningtonVocals1999-2017
PhoenixBass1996-
Mark WakefieldVocals1996-1998
Emily ArmstrongVocals2023-
Colin BrittainDrums2023-
Chester Bennington wasn't an original member. They started in 1996 as a band called Xero with Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon, Brad Delson, Joe Hahn, and Phoenix, but when Chester joined in 1999, they changed their name to Hybrid Theory. They found out there was a group called Hybrid, so to avoid legal trouble they changed it to Linkin Park in 2000, using the alternate spelling of Lincoln Park so they could have their own domain name (linkinpark.com). They used Hybrid Theory as the title to their first album.
Many states have a Lincoln Park, but the one they're named after is in Santa Monica, California, near where they formed. Early on, folks who lived near other Lincoln Parks often thought they were a local band - it's kind of like people from one of the many Springfields associating with The Simpsons.
The band tried for years to get a record deal before finally signing to Warner Brothers - which had already rejected the band three times - in 2000. The band says they did about 40 auditions for labels before finally getting signed.
They don't swear in most of their songs because they feel there are better ways to get their message across. Their third album,
Minutes To Midnight, earned Linkin Park their first Parental Advisory label because there's profanity on a few tracks (such as Bennington's F-bombs on "
Given Up").
Brad Delson wears over-the-ear headphones on stage, which isn't very rock and roll but protects his hearing.
In 2004 Shinoda launched the hip-hop side project Fort Minor and released the popular songs "
Remember The Name" and "
Where'd You Go." He explained the project's name to
Antimusic: "'Fort' represents the more aggressive side of the music. 'Minor' can mean a few things: if you're talking about music theory, the minor key is darker. I wanted to name the album rather than having my name on the cover, because I want people to focus on the music, not me."
Their debut album,
Hybrid Theory, was released on October 24, 2000, and became the top-selling album in America in 2001, eventually selling over 12 million copies there. Key songs from the album include "
In The End," "
One Step Closer" and "
Crawling."
In 2002 they started Projekt Revolution, a tour made up of diverse acts like Cypress Hill, Mudvayne, KoRn, Snoop Dogg and Chris Cornell. The tour ran in America until 2004, then again from 2007-2008. In Europe it ran from 2008-2011.
Phoenix's real name is David Farrell. He got the name while playing in his first band in high school, a Christian rock and ska group called Tasty Snax, and it stuck. The name was inspired by a scene in the Ben Stiller movie Mystery Men where he claims the name Phoenix to impress a girl.
Chester Bennington became the lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots in 2013 after Scott Weiland left the group. He left on good terms in 2015 so he could focus on Linkin Park. STP carried on with Jeff Gutt, formerly a contestant on The X Factor.
When they finally got a record deal with Warner Bros., the label got cold feet about backing a rap-rock band. They tried to oust Mick Shinoda by convincing Chester Bennington he could be the star. Luckily, the guys were certain they had something special with their lineup and held firm.
Chester Bennington had his share of mishaps on the road, starting in 2001 when he was bitten by a poisonous spider when the band were touring with Ozzfest. He broke his wrist during a 2007 show in Melbourne in a failed stage jump, and a back injury in 2008 forced the band to cancel part of an Asian tour.
Because the band became popular so fast and didn't look like their metal contemporaries, the music press suggested Linkin Park was a manufactured group and likened them to a boy band. When the Hybrid Theory single "Crawling" won the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance, the band felt vindicated.
Chester Bennington died by suicide on July 20, 2017, two months after the band released their seventh album,
One More Light. Many of Linkin Park's songs, such as "Crawling," "
Breaking The Habit," and "
Heavy," were influenced by the Bennington's struggles with depression and addiction.
Joe Hahn directs most of the band's music videos. In 2014, he directed the movie The Mall, which features the Linkin Park song "White Noise" in the opening credits.
Rob Bourdon decided to become a drummer at 10 years old after seeing Aerosmith in concert. Because his mom was friends with the band's drummer, Joey Kramer, Rob was able to go backstage and Kramer gifted him a kick pedal.
Delson was an extra in the 1991 movie Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey.
Before his Linkin Park fame, Bennington worked at Burger King.
Linkin Park took some time off after Chester Bennington's death in 2017 but returned in 2024 with two new members: singer Emily Armstrong and drummer Colin Brittain. Armstrong started working on songs with the band in 2019 and kept coming around. "You just can't feed stray cats, you know - they'll never leave," she joked.
She and Brittain made their debut on the single "
The Emptiness Machine."
