49 Fun Facts About Linkin Park

In which California city was Linkin Park formed?

Agoura Hills is where three of the founders met at the local high school, though the park behind the band's name lies in another city altogether.

Where was Linkin Park's first demo recorded?

Shinoda's bedroom, in his parents' house, held the mixing desk for the four-song demo, which failed to win a record deal and cost the band its original singer.

What was Linkin Park originally called, before it had a record deal?

Xero was the name on the 1997 demo tape that failed to land a record deal; a new singer arrived, and two more band names followed before the first album.

After Chester Bennington joined, Linkin Park briefly used which name, later the title of its debut album?

Hybrid Theory had to go when the label warned of confusion with an electronic act called Hybrid, so the name the band had picked for itself survived only on the record.

Linkin Park borrowed its name from Lincoln Park, a public park in which California city?

Santa Monica had in fact renamed the park after a late mayor in 1997, more than two years before the band adopted its old name.

Why did Linkin Park respell the "Lincoln" in its name?

To get the web domain: the band wanted the presidential spelling, Mike Shinoda has said, but chose L-i-n-k-i-n so that it could own the matching .com address.

Which 1990s rock band did Chester Bennington also front from 2013 to 2015, alongside Linkin Park?

Stone Temple Pilots hired him after firing Scott Weiland; he made one EP with them, High Rise, and left on good terms in 2015 to concentrate on Linkin Park.

What did Chester Bennington leave early in 1999 to record his audition for the future Linkin Park?

His own birthday party: an A&R man had offered him the audition, and Bennington, turning 23 in Arizona, slipped away from the celebration to record his vocals.

Chester Bennington came to Linkin Park from which Arizona alternative rock group?

Grey Daze, which he co-founded as a teenager in 1993, was planning a reunion when he died; an album built around his original vocals came out in 2020.

What did Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson almost always wear on stage?

Large headphones: Delson wore them to protect his hearing, and they became such a trademark that one profile said his head looks naked without them.

At which West Hollywood club did the future Linkin Park play its first show, in November 1997?

Whisky a Go Go saw the band open for SX-10 and System of a Down; Mike Shinoda recalls wearing a white beanie, goggles and gloves to feel like a performer, and says they were awful.

Which song was Linkin Park's debut single?

One Step Closer grew out of Chester Bennington's frustration with the album's producer, who kept demanding rewrites; the anger went straight into the lyrics.

Which album gave Linkin Park its first Billboard 200 No. 1?

Meteora went straight in at the top in 2003, selling more than 800,000 copies in its first week, after the debut and the remix album that followed it had both stopped at No. 2.

Which Linkin Park single climbed to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2002?

In the End won over its own singer: Chester Bennington admitted he was never a fan and had not wanted it on the record, then watched it become the band's signature song.

Which song won Linkin Park its first Grammy, for Best Hard Rock Performance, in 2002?

Crawling drew on Chester Bennington's struggles with drugs and alcohol, and he said it gave him more trouble on stage than any other song.

What is the name of Linkin Park's official fan club and street team, founded in 2001?

Linkin Park Underground doubled as a street team, like the online one the unsigned band had built while pushing its EP through chat rooms; for years its members received an annual disc of rarities.

What was the name of Linkin Park's own touring festival, launched in 2002 with Cypress Hill on the bill?

Projekt Revolution set out to put rock and hip-hop acts on one bill: it began with a single stage and added a second, for smaller bands, in 2004.

What is the title of Mike Shinoda's 2018 solo album, written after the death of Chester Bennington?

Post Traumatic began as a three-song EP in January 2018 and grew into a full album by June, each track tracing his feelings in the months after his bandmate died.

What was Linkin Park's 2002 remix album, featuring Black Thought and Jonathan Davis, called?

Reanimation respelled every title to match its reworked songs, so that "Points of Authority" became "Pts.OF.Athrty", and it entered the Billboard 200 at No. 2.

Linkin Park's album Meteora is named after a region of rock-top monasteries in which country?

Greece: Mike Shinoda said the word caught his attention because it sounded huge, and the band wanted the album to feel as epic as the rock pillars themselves.

Linkin Park's album title A Thousand Suns echoes words made famous by which atomic scientist?

Robert Oppenheimer made the line from the Bhagavad Gita famous when speaking of the atomic bomb; the album samples his voice and takes nuclear fear as its theme.

Which rapper teamed up with Linkin Park for the 2004 mash-up EP Collision Course?

Jay-Z was asked by MTV to pick a partner for a mash-up show and named Linkin Park; the EP that followed was, at the time, only the second ever to top the Billboard 200.

Which music legend made a surprise appearance with Linkin Park at the 2006 Grammy Awards?

Paul McCartney walked on mid-performance and sang "Yesterday" with Chester Bennington, the Beatles ballad taking over part of the band's own mash-up.

What is the name of Mike Shinoda's hip-hop side project?

Fort Minor let Shinoda write and play almost everything himself, and its ballad "Where'd You Go" reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Which producer did Linkin Park choose for its 2007 album Minutes to Midnight?

Rick Rubin told the band to forget whatever it thought fans wanted to hear; most of the album was recorded at his mansion studio in Laurel Canyon.

The title of Linkin Park's album Minutes to Midnight refers to what?

The Doomsday Clock supplied the title after a band member watched a documentary that kept repeating the phrase; midnight on that clock stands for the end of the world.

Linkin Park's "What I've Done" plays over the closing credits of which 2007 blockbuster?

Transformers used the song for its final scene and credits; for the 2009 sequel the band went further, writing a new song and weaving its melody into the orchestral score.

Linkin Park met which famous film composer in 2009 to rework "New Divide" into themes for a blockbuster's score?

Hans Zimmer and his team had already started working the new song into the music when the band arrived; the finished score is credited to his colleague Steve Jablonsky.

What was the name of Linkin Park's 2010 video game for iOS devices?

8-Bit Rebellion! turned the six members into pixel characters, and finishing it unlocked an unreleased song that later surfaced as an album bonus track.

Linkin Park gave "The Catalyst" its live debut at which Los Angeles landmark during the 2010 MTV VMAs?

Griffith Observatory, a hilltop landmark seen in many Hollywood films, was kept secret until the performance went out live during the awards show.

Which band co-headlined the 2012 Honda Civic Tour with Linkin Park?

Incubus shared top billing in 2012, a decade after headlining the same tour alone; two years later Linkin Park repeated the format with Thirty Seconds to Mars.

Linkin Park's "Powerless" plays over the closing credits of which 2012 film?

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter also gave the song its video: the film's director shot the band performing in Berlin and cut the footage with scenes from the movie as a trailer.

Which DJ collaborated with Linkin Park on the 2013 single "A Light That Never Comes"?

Steve Aoki's track was first released inside the band's Facebook puzzle game, where players had to unlock it; the two acts teamed up again in 2015.

Which rapper features on "Guilty All the Same", the first single from Linkin Park's The Hunting Party?

Rakim was one of Mike Shinoda's idols: Shinoda half-jokingly asked whether they could get him, the band's engineer knew someone in his camp, and he came in to record the verse.

Which pop singer features on Linkin Park's 2017 single "Heavy"?

Kiiara had told a radio host that Linkin Park was her favourite band, and he put them in touch; she became the first woman to sing on an original song for one of its studio albums.

Where did Linkin Park hold its October 2017 tribute concert for Chester Bennington?

Hollywood Bowl hosted a show of more than three hours in which guests from Korn, Blink-182, System of a Down and other bands took turns singing his parts.

Chester Bennington sang "Hallelujah" at which singer's funeral in May 2017?

Chris Cornell had been a close friend since a shared tour, and Bennington was godfather to his son; Bennington died two months later, on what would have been Cornell's birthday.

Emily Armstrong, who joined Linkin Park as vocalist in 2024, previously fronted which band?

Dead Sara took its name from words its founders heard in the Fleetwood Mac song "Sara"; Linkin Park first met its singer in 2019 and wrote with her for years in private.

Which song, shelved for 20 years, gave Linkin Park a rock-radio No. 1 in 2023 with Chester Bennington on vocals?

Lost was finished for the band's second album but held back because the band thought it too close to "Numb"; Mike Shinoda likened rediscovering it to finding a favourite forgotten photo.

Which founding member of Linkin Park declined to rejoin when the band returned in 2024?

Rob Bourdon had told the others some two years earlier that he wanted to step away, Mike Shinoda said; the 2017 tribute concert turned out to be his last show with them.

What is the title of Linkin Park's eighth studio album, released in November 2024?

From Zero marks a restart: it is the first album with a new singer and drummer, seven years after the last one, and a deliberate return to the band's early heavy sound.

Which song did Linkin Park unveil as the lead single of its comeback, at a livestreamed show in September 2024?

The Emptiness Machine was arranged so that Mike Shinoda sings first and the new vocalist enters at the second verse, a deliberate introduction, as he later explained.

Linkin Park's "Heavy Is the Crown" was the anthem of which 2024 esports event?

League of Legends World Championship organisers Riot Games picked it as the tournament anthem, and the band played it live at the opening of the grand final in London.

In which city did Linkin Park headline the opening show of the 2025 UEFA Champions League final?

Munich's Allianz Arena staged the final: the band played the kick-off show, then Paris Saint-Germain beat Inter Milan 5-0 to win the trophy for the first time.

What is the title of Linkin Park's 2024 greatest hits collection?

Papercuts gathers singles from 2000 to 2023 yet skips one whole album, The Hunting Party, while adding a song left unreleased from the last sessions with Chester Bennington.

What is the nickname of Linkin Park bassist Dave Farrell?

Phoenix began as a joke among his high-school friends, he has said: long story short, a girl had told him his real name was boring.

Who is Linkin Park's DJ and turntablist?

Joe Hahn also directs: he made many of the band's music videos, the anime-style clip for one 2004 single among them, and later a feature film, Mall.

What is the name of the charity Linkin Park set up after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami?

Music for Relief began with benefit concerts for the tsunami's victims and later released download compilations for Haiti and Japan; in 2017 its donations were redirected in Chester Bennington's memory.

Which magazine ranked Linkin Park first among the "60 Biggest Bands on the Planet Right Now" in 2014?

Kerrang! put the band at the top, ahead of Fall Out Boy, Metallica and Foo Fighters, after weighing album, ticket and merchandise sales along with social media reach.