Star Analysis - Linkin Park

Star Analysis- Linkin Park

Linkin Park began in 1996 under the name Xero with three high school friends: Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon and Brad Delson. Once the three graduated high school they then recruited Joe Hahn, Dave Farrell and Mark Wakefield. The band then released a demo tape called Xero. This demo tape failed to land a record deal and tension in the band grew. The vocalist Mark Wakefield decided to leave the band and Farrell left to tour with another band. After trying to find a replacement vocalist they recruited the current vocalist Chester Bennington.  Chester was in a grunge band before joining Linkin Park. The band released an EP called Hybrid Theory after changing their name from Xero to Hybrid Theory. Once again the band wanted to change their name. They initially wanted to have Lincoln Park but changed it Linkin Park to secure a website domain. In 1999 the vice president of Warner Bros. Records managed to get Linkin Park a record deal. In 2000 the band released their first album called Hybrid Theory. The genres for this album are nu metal, rap metal and alternative metal. Hybrid Theory was a massive success for Linkin Park and is known as their breakthrough album. The album was so popular it have four singles. Crawling, Papercut, In the End and One Step Closer. Hybrid Theory was one of the best-selling albums in 2001 selling 4.8 million copies. The album also managed to earn the band a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance.  During this time Linkin Park released a remix album with songs remixed from the Hybrid Theory album. The album features 20 songs with most of the songs Linkin Park songs. This album only has one single, Pts. Of. Athrty. A remix of Points of Authority. In 2002 the band released their next album, Meteora. This album uses the same type of genres as the last album with the addition of alternative rock. This album has sold over 20 million copies and stands as the successful album in the history of Alternative Songs chart.  It has also been certified platinum six times by the RIAA. This album was very popular releasing five singles in just over a year. The singles are: Somewhere I Belong, Faint, Numb, From the Inside and Breaking the Habit. In its first week Meteora sold over 800,000 copies. The album went to No.1 in both the UK and the US and reached No.2 in Australia. At the time the album was the best-selling album in the billboard charts. In 2006 the band released their third album titled Minutes to Midnight. This project moved away from the rap metal and took an alternative rock approach. This album became No.1 in Canada, US and UK. In the US the album was the biggest selling album selling 623,000 copies in the first week. Overall the album has sold over 15 million copies. The album had 5 singles. What I’ve Done, Bleed It Out, Shadow of the Day, Given Up and Leave Out All the Rest. This song What I’ve Done was a big single being used as the main theme song for the 2007 film Transformers. At the release of the Minutes to Midnight Linkin Park decided to change their logo. In 2010 Linkin Park released their fourth studio album, A Thousand Suns. Linkin Park stayed away from the metal side of their previous albums and went to a more electronic and alternative style of rock. The album was a success having got number one on over ten charts around the world. This album seemed less popular than previous as the album only sold 241,000 copies in the US. The album had mixed receptions as different countries reacting differently having got gold in America and getting platinum in Canada. Overall the album has sold around 3.5 million copies worldwide. The album had four singles released with one being released before the album released. The singles are: The Catalyst, Waiting for the End, Burning in the Skies and Iridescent. The Catalyst was used in a wide variety of video games such as Medal of Honor. Five of the songs from A Thousand Suns were used in the game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. In 2012 the band released their fifth album called Living Things. At this point Linkin Park began to sway back into the rap rock genre of music. This album has sold 2.5 million copies around the world. This album received a large variety of mixed reviews as some reviews gave the album a high score while other scored it lower. This album is based on traumatic experiences the members of the band have had. The album has four singles. Burn It Down, Lost in the Echo, Powerless and Castle of Glass. This album was called livings things because of the amount of topics that have been covered on the album. This album is called Living Things because is more about personal interactions and people and that this film is more personal than any of the other albums. During this time Linkin Park released their second remix album called Recharged.  This is their second remix album for 11 years after the release of Reanimation. Mike Shinoda never thought that he would make another remix album however he heard a variety of remix of songs from Living Things and then decided that he would make a second remix album featuring 14 songs. This CD debuted at No. 10 in America’s Billboard 200 chart with sales reaching 33,000 in the first week. Overall the CD has sold around 111,000 copies in the U.S.  This album received a lot of mixed reviews from critics such as Voodoo gave the album 4 out of 5 stars whilst NME gave it 5/10. Linkin then released their most recent album called The Hunting Party. This album leaves the electronic rock style the band previously performed in the 3 previous CD’s and goes back to the heavy metal side from their older CD’s such as Hybrid Theory. Critics praised Linkin Park for returning to their older type of music. The name for this CD represents Linkin Park as the hunting party and they are hunting to put the soul and energy back into rock music. This album features a few other artists that they have collaborated with on this album. The album received a fair amount of positive reviews, some higher than others. The album sold 110,000 copies in its first week in the U.S placing it third on the Billboard 200. In its second week the album only sold 29,000 copies and it its third week it only 16,000 copies. Overall the album has sold 1,174,000 worldwide.

 

 

Lewis Gollop