Linkin Park headlines the Monster Mash Music Festival at Tempe Beach Park in Tempe, AZ on November 1, 2015. Monster Mash tickets are on sale now at www.monstermashaz.com, www.luckymanonline.com, the Marquee Box Office, by phone (480-829-1300), Bookman’s locations, and Asylum Records in Mesa.
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Linkin Park became one of the most successful acts of the 2000’s by fusing elements of metal, hip-hop, modern rock, and atmospheric electronica into their music. “Crawling” and “In the End” were massive radio hits; the latter song even topped the U.S. Modern Rock chart while peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, an example of the band’s crossover appeal.
Linkin Park joined the Family Values Tour and also played shows with Cypress Hill, leading the group to log over 320 shows in 2001 alone. Come January 2002, Hybrid Theory had received three Grammy nominations and sold over seven million copies. (Sales later topped ten million, earning the album “diamond status” and making Hybrid Theory one of the most successful debuts ever.)
Their second album, Meteora, arrived in March 2003, featuring a heavier sound and stronger elements of rap-rock. Although the record spawned several modern rock hits, songs such as “Numb,” “Somewhere I Belong,” and “Breaking the Habit” furthered the band’s crossover appeal by simultaneously charting on the Hot 100. Linkin Park once again supported the album with ample touring, including performances with the second annual Projekt Revolution Tour (the band’s own traveling festival, which originally launched in 2002) and additional shows with the likes of Metallica and Limp Bizkit. Live in Texas was released to document the band’s strength as a touring act, and the bandmates tackled various personal projects before beginning work on a second remix project.
Released in 2004,
Linkin Park then reconvened in 2006 to begin work on a third studio album, which saw Shinoda sharing production credits with Rick Rubin. The resulting Minutes to Midnight, a more traditional rock affair that largely left behind their trademark electronics, arrived in 2007, debuting at number one in several countries and spawning the Top Ten single “What I’ve Done.”
In 2010 the band teamed up with Rubin again to produce its fourth studio album, A Thousand Suns, changing tack again for a left-field, experimental project based largely in ambient electronica, which divided their fans. The following year, Chester Bennington stated the band’s desire to focus more on putting out new material rather than maintaining an exhaustive touring schedule, with the band having a goal of releasing a new album every 18 months.
Linkin Park made good on that promise in 2012 with their Rick Rubin-produced fifth album, Living Things, which saw something of a return to the hybrid sound of yore. Upon its June release, the album debuted at the top of the Billboard charts, selling over 223,000 copies in its first week; it would soon be certified gold.
As Linkin Park began work on their sixth studio album in the spring of 2013, Bennington announced that he was replacing Scott Weiland as the lead vocalist of Stone Temple Pilots; he was not leaving Linkin Park, but instead planned to be in both groups simultaneously. Bennington underscored his commitment to both bands in October of 2013 by releasing his debut EP with STP, High Rise, and with Linkin Park, which released the remix album Recharged that same month.
The Hunting Party , released in June 2014, hit number one in half a dozen countries around the world, and became one of the year’s biggest hard rock sellers
Artist website: LinkinPark.com
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