Linkin Park Biography

tarafından **Chaz** Paz Tem. 20, 2008 2:15 pm

Source: http://www.linkinpark.com

They're at it again! Chester, Mike and the rest of Linkin Park released
another phenomenal album titled Meteora. Sophomore albums are famously
tricky affairs. Musicians have their entire lives to pen their debut
album, the theory goes, and a relatively short time to follow it up.
But what if the debut in question is the biggest selling album in
recent memory? And what if the music industry has Hollywood-like
expectations for another instant blockbuster? That was the scenario
Linkin Park faced when they entered the studio to record Meteora, the
follow-up to their multi-platinum debut Hybrid Theory.

To those outside the band, the pressure to follow up that success might
have seemed insurmountable. But within Linkin Park, vocalists Chester
Bennington and Mike Shinoda, guitarist Brad Delson, turntablist Joseph
Hahn, drummer Rob Bourdon, and bassist Phoenix weren't sweating it in
ways you might expect. Instead of dwelling on outside expectations,
they set to work, meticulously crafting each moment of each song to
their own exacting standards. The bigger picture developed accordingly.

"We don't ever want to have the mindset where we need to sell 10
million albums each time out. That's ridiculous," says Bennington.
"It's a blessing to sell that many albums; it doesn't happen very often
in this business--even once in your career is an achievement. Our
obligation is to our fans. We're not going to get too comfortable and
say it's a given that people will run out and buy our albums." "And if
you know us, you know the biggest pressure came from within the band,"
says Shinoda.

"We just wanted to make another great album that we're proud of," says
Bourdon. "We focused on that, and worked hard to create songs we love.
We're our own harshest critics." If you doubt that, consider this:
Shinoda and Bennington wrote 40 unique choruses for Meteora's poignant
first single, "Somewhere I Belong," before arriving at the best
possible version.

The entire band, in fact, sounds more fully realized on Meteora. It's a
rare achievement: A full integration of six members that still retains
the unique qualities of each individual. The end result is the
thumbprint style known as Linkin Park. "We don't really analyze the
chemistry," says Bourdon. "We're just lucky and grateful that we found
each other and that we work so well together."

"The collaborations are more seamless now," agrees Bennington. "Mike,
for instance, knows more about me as a person, and I know more about
him, so it's easier to write lyrics together. It's not possible to have
secrecy in our relationship. You have to open up, because you want the
other person to be on the same page. We're all that way with each
other."