Linkin Park HHV Records 22 Items

Linkin Park HHV Records

Outsider anthems for an isolated generation

It was the year 2000: the nu- metal scene was reaching its peak in the mainstream, teenagers were downloading Korn and Limp Bizkit onto their MP3 players en masse, and MTV was regarded in the music world as a promise of success for newcomers. This was precisely the world into which the crossover group Linkin Park burst with their debut album Hybrid Theory, and within a very short time they had usurped the nu-metal crown: with tracks like One Step Closer and In the End, the Californian band around lead singer Chester Bennington and rap guitarist Mike Shinoda wrote outsider anthems for a generation that, between ever new technological advances, also saw itself exposed to progressive isolation – the rage in Linkin Park’s tracks hit the masses, and the US musicians rose to become world stars. With the right songs at the right time: the quintet named after the nationally famous Lincoln Park succeeded in doing just that with its aggressively melodic tracks about loneliness and mental healing processes. In the process, gritty guitar riffs could be found next to scratchy scream vocals and rap parts on their second record Meteora, and beyond numerous awards, Linkin Park were already making it into the best-of lists of the new century with their sales figures. So while they experimented around in the studio like “college students,” as Chester Bennington described it, the band was incidentally shaping an entire generation of youth.

Youthful anger and new perspectives

After the celebrated remix album Reanimation, the next collabo project followed in 2005 with the EP Collision Course, on which none other than Jay-Z flowed over clanging Linkin Park beats. After working individually on side projects, the band then devoted itself to an album again in 2007, this time together with producer legend Rick Rubin, and performed a slow genre turnaround – the nu-metal hype was finally coming to an end, and with Minutes to Midnight the group followed this development: without sacrificing their signature sound, punk and reduced rock elements suddenly sat side by side here. At the same time, they now sounded more grown-up, youthful anger was transformed into new perspectives – the change of style hardly put a stop to their worldwide relevance in any case. In the meantime, they landed another hit with their Transformers song New Divide, before calling Rick Rubin back into the studio in 2010 to record A Thousand Suns, a concept album about the impact of nuclear weapons. The band had reached a point where, thanks to their massive success, they enjoyed the freedom of experimentation – and so the new record became an art-rock work that housed ambient tracks as much as sawing guitar sounds under one roof: it was hardly about hit songs anymore, but about the big picture. Which didn‘t mean that Linkin Park were no longer permanent guests in the international charts.

The future will happen

In addition to their own app and mass mobilization of their fanbase on social media, the group continued to try their hand at a mix of alternative guitars and electronic textures on LIVING THINGS. There would now be a new record every 18 months, according to Chester Bennington: less touring, more music – creative energy and ideas abound anyway. Also, from now on, the lead singer would be driving two-track for some time, when he would be on stage as well for his grunge colleagues in “Stone Temple Pilots”:Stone Temple Pilots. The Hunting Party showed the band in 2014 again in old form: loud and hungry, but more thrash-laden than before. It even went so far that their drummer Rob Bourdon had to start going to the gym to keep up with the band’s new rhythm. It all came to a halt in 2017, shortly after the release of their album One More Light, when Bennington tragically passed away. The remaining members invited friends like Blink-182, Bring Me The Horizon, One OK Rock and Korn to a benefit concert in honor of their front voice, but what will happen next has been little in sight since. “I’m not into predicting the future. The future will happen,” Shinoda said.