There were other bands combining these styles of music, but not in the way we wanted to, and we weren’t going to bend our vision or water it down in any way.”
“There’s a lot of pressure by outside forces to conform to whatever’s working at the time, but our vision was distinctly different from everything else. “We were a young band so we didn’t have any clout to say, ‘We’re doing it our way,’” remembers Brad. It was fucking crazy, in the studio with this guy that I’d been listening to for years.” When we went to mix the record it was the first time I’d been to New York – three-quarters of my favourite rappers are from New York and I’d never even been there! I met Busta Rhymes in the studio while we were mixing. “The first time recording a song in a proper studio, the first time working with a producer and a lead engineer who knew what they were doing.
“ a spectacular moment in time where everything was a first,” says Mike today, with a Cheshire Cat smile.
LINKIN PARK HYBRID THEORY ALBUM COVERS FULL
To mark the 20th anniversary of the biggest-selling rock album of the millennium, we sat down with Mike, Brad and Joe to get the full story behind Hybrid Theory, their memories of creating what would become a modern masterpiece, and why it still resonates two decades later. Your parents’ music this was not, and its effects are still being felt today in everyone from Bring Me The Horizon to Architects to Enter Shikari. It was a distillation of adolescent emotion, realised through lung-busting choruses, throat-wrenching screams, bombastic metallic riffage, pristine electro wizardry and exhilarating rap. Expertly flanked by guitarist Brad Delson, drummer Rob Bourdon and turntablist Joe Hahn, the iconic unit we know today was completed by bassist Dave Farrell just prior to the record’s release, with Brad on four-string duty in the studio.Ĭomprised of 12 perfectly-crafted tracks, clocking in at just under 38 minutes, Hybrid Theory dealt in real human connection, wrought with angst and heartache, but it had hooks for days. Formed just four years prior under the moniker Xero, it was the irrepressible duo of Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington (himself a replacement for original vocalist Mark Wakefiled) that made their sound such a formidable weapon. “A lot of this stuff is, we’re just kind of experimenting a lot with all the different directions the band can go.On October 24, 2000, Linkin Park released their debut album Hybrid Theory onto an unsuspecting world. “We’ve been making so much new material,” he said. In January, Shinoda told Rolling Stone that Linkin Park were deep into work on their upcoming seventh LP, originally expected to see release in 2016. It’s about putting that kind of intense attention to detail into every piece, integrating artistry and the touch of the human hand.” “This collaboration with Linkin Park was the perfect way to express that. “MadeWorn is about the process, about craft,” Halvorson said of the project. “It’s an image that’s synonymous with the band’s name at this point, and one that has become a cornerstone of our group’s visual language over the years.” The shirts are available at MadeWorn’s site. “We made it to represent the duality of the band’s sound – the intersection of contrasting elements, and the hard-versus-soft tension in our band’s music,” he said in a statement.
Meet the Beatle: A Guide to Ringo Starr's Solo Career in 20 Songs The singer explained that the soldier represents the group’s “aggressive” side, with the dragonfly wings behind him marking their “delicate” side. Shinoda discusses how graffiti artist Banksy influenced the Hybrid Theory art design, which he and Hahn created with photographer/graphic artist Frank Maddocks as a visual representation of their music. In a video announcing the project, Shinoda, Hahn and Halvorson work on the custom, handmade shirts using stencils and spray paint. The band will donate $10 from the sale of each white T-shirt and hoodie, and $100 from the sale of each limited-edition black T-shirt. The sale launches today, November 29th, as part of Giving Tuesday, and a portion of each sale will benefit Linkin Park’s nonprofit Music for Relief, which aids survivors of natural disasters and promotes environmental conservation. Linkin Park vocalist Mike Shinoda and turntablist Joe Hahn have teamed with designer Blaine Halvorson’s lifestyle brand MadeWorn to create a unique run of shirts utilizing the original street soldier design from the band’s debut LP, 2000’s Hybrid Theory.