Linkin Park is a music band well known for its natural mixing of different music styles that is far different from the music nowadays bands would like to offer. This phenomenon makes this band a "hybrid" in the type of music they play and their fan-base too. Linkin Park began its early origin in 1996 when rapper guitarist, Brad Delson and the MC/vocalist, Mike Shinoda started a band called Xero. Both of them had attended high school together, where they met the band's drummer, Rob Bourdon. Later on Shinoda hooked up with DJ Joseph Hahn while studying illustration at Art Center College in Pasadena, where as Delson, who was attending UCLA, shared an apartment with bassist Phoenix, who left the band after college and returned a year later. To be the last member of the group was Mark Wakefield, the band's vocalist. 

At the beginning of the group career, Xero released a four track demo tape, which includes Fuse, Stick N' Move, Rhinestone, and Reading My Eyes. Soon after Mark Wakefield left the band, the other members agreed to change their name to Hybrid Theory, after which Phoenix also decided to leave the band to tour with another band called the Snax. As the two persons left, the rest of the band continued to play together primarily for fun. Later they signed with Zomba Music, an occasion that fortunately came about when they played at The Whiskey Club in Los Angeles. And the time came for the vocalist Chester Benninton, who had made records since his 16 year age and whose pitch notes was "great," to complete the empty seat on the band. Replacing Mark Wakefield, the combination of Bennington's singing talent with Shinoda MC-ing talent has helped to define Linkin Park's distinct vocal quality that weaving influences as diverse as Deftones, Nine Inch Nails, Aphex Twin, and The Roots into a unified whole. That's the way Linkin Park "want everything to come together without feeling forced," explains Shinoda. 

Bennington's arrival, as expected, had helped rocketing the band to success, as in the year of 1999, "Carousel, And One, Technique, Step up, High Voltage, and Part of me" were born as a six track EP to tremendous applause. Became famous than ever, the band members came to some legal wrangling made it necessary to change the band's name, and based on their "hybrid' spirit, Linkin Park was chosen. Soon afterward, new demos were made and the chase for a record label was on. Warner Records who heard the music, liked it and signed up Linkin Park and thus the story began. In October 2000, Linkin Park released their debut album named Hybrid Theory, which includes several hits, like One Step Closer, Crawling, and In The End, by which the album respectively received 8 times platinum. What so special about this album that it could gain such achievement is that its distinct trend set up that doesn't contain any curses or swear words due to the band's willingness to write an honest lyrics. That's why they do not include any swear words that will absolutely take away attention from the music itself, rather Linkin Park try to offer their fans something they could listen to over and over again and enjoy repeatedly. 

The band entered the studio for sophomore album in mid 2002. Finally, one year later “Meteora” was released and debuted at #1 in Billboard 100. Highly anticipated, it sold 810,000 copies in the first week and then accumulated 11 million copies worldwide. Not waiting too long, the band released DVD/CD titled “Live in Texas”. After touring to promote the ...

album, the band laid relatively low in 2005 and concentrated more on their social works. The band established Music for Relief, an organization dedicated to helping those affected by tsunami in 2004. A contract conflict between the band and its label Warner Bros has left each member busy with their solo projects. Fortunately as soon as the matter was settled, the lots hit back to the studio for the third album. On May 15, 2007 “Minutes to Midnight” will be released with preceding single “What I've Done” coming out on April 2. 

Minutes to Midnight (2006–2008)

Linkin Park returned to the recording studios in 2006 to work on new material. To produce the album, the band chose producer Rick Rubin. Despite initially stating the album would debut sometime in 2006, the album was delayed until 2007. The band had recorded thirty to fifty songs in August 2006, when Shinoda stated the album was halfway completed. Bennington later added that the new album would stray away from its previous nu metal sound.[47] Warner Bros. Recordsofficially announced that the band’s third studio album, titled Minutes to Midnight, would be released on May 15, 2007 in the United States. After spending fourteen months working on the album, the band members opted to further refine their album by removing five of the original seventeen tracks. The album’s title, a reference to the Doomsday Clock, foreshadowed the band's new lyrical themes.

 Minutes to Midnight sold over 625,000 copies in its first week, making it one of the most successful debut week albums in recent years. The album also took the top spot on the Billboard Charts. The album's first single, "What I've Done", was released on April 2, and premiered on MTV and Fuse within the same week. The single was acclaimed by listeners, becoming the top-ranked song on the Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks andMainstream Rock Tracks charts. The song is also used in soundtrack for the 2007 action film, Transformers. Mike Shinoda was also featured on the Styles of Beyond song "Second to None", which was also included in the film. Later in the year, the band won the "Favorite Alternative Artist" in the American Music Awards. The band also saw success with the rest of the albums singles, "Bleed It Out", "Shadow of the Day", "Given Up", and "Leave Out All the Rest", which were released throughout 2007 and early 2008. The band also collaborated with Busta Rhymes on his single "We Made It", which was released on April 29.

Linkin Park embarked on a large world tour titled "Minutes to Midnight World Tour". The band promoted the album's release by forming their fourth Projekt Revolution tour in the United States which included many musical acts like My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, HIM, Placebo, and many others. They also played numerous shows in Europe, Asia, and Australia which included a performance at Live Earth Japan on July 7, 2007. and headlining Download Festival in Donington Park, England and Edgefest in Downsview Park, Toronto, Canada. The band completed touring on its fourth Projekt Revolution tour before taking up an Arena tour around the United Kingdom, visiting Nottingham, Sheffield andManchester, before finishing on a double night at the O2 arena in London. Bennington stated that Linkin Park plans to release a follow-up album to Minutes to Midnight. However, he stated the band will first embark on a United States tour to gather inspiration for the album. Linkin Park embarked on another Projekt Revolution tour in 2008. This was the first time a Projekt Revolution tour was held in Europe with three shows in Germany and one in the United Kingdom. A Projekt Revolution tour was also held in the United States which featured Chris Cornell, The Bravery, Ashes Divide, Street Drum Corps and many others. Linkin Park finished the tour with a final show in Texas. Mike Shinoda announced a live CD/DVD titled Road to Revolution: Live at Milton Keynes, which is a live video recording from the Projekt Revolution gig at the Milton Keynes Bowl on June 29, 2008, which was officially released on November 24, 2008.

A Thousand Suns (2008–2011)

In May 2009, Linkin Park announced they were working on a fourth studio album, which was planned to be released in 2010. Shinoda told IGN that the new album would be 'genre-busting,' while building off of elements in Minutes to Midnight. He also mentioned that the album would be more experimental and "hopefully more cutting-edge." Bennington also addressed the media to confirm that Rick Rubin would return to produce the new album. The band later revealed the album would be called A Thousand Suns. While working on the new album, Linkin Park worked with successful film composer Hans Zimmer to produce the score for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The band released a single for the movie, titled "New Divide". Joe Hahn created a music video for the song, which featured clips from the film. On June 22, Linkin Park played a short set in Westwood Village after the premier of the movie. After completing work for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the band returned to the studio to finalize their album.

On April 26, the band released an app for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, a game called 8-Bit Rebellion! It featured the band as playable characters, and a new song called "Blackbirds" which was unlockable by beating the game. The song was also later released as an iTunes bonus track on A Thousand Suns.

A Thousand Suns was released on September 14. The album’s first single, "The Catalyst", was released on August 2. The band promoted their new album by launching a concert tour, which started in Los Angeles on September 7. Linkin Park also relied on MySpace to promote their album, releasing two additional songs, "Waiting for the End" and "Blackout" on September 8. Furthermore, a documentary about the album's production, titled Meeting of A Thousand Suns, was available for streaming on the band's MySpace page. On August 31, 2010, it was announced that the band would perform the single live for the first time at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010. The venue of the debut live performance of the single was Griffith Observatory, an iconic location used in Hollywood movies. "Waiting for the End" was released as the second single of A Thousand Suns.

Linkin Park reached No.8 in Billboard Social 50, a chart of the most active artists on the world's leading social networking sites. In other Billboard Year-End charts, the band reached No.92 in the "Top Artists" chart, as well as A Thousand Suns reaching No.53 in the Year-End chart of the Billboard Top 200 albums and No.7 in the 2010 Year-End Rock Albums, and "The Catalyst" reaching No.40 in the Year-End Rock Songs chart.

The band was nominated for six Billboard Awards in 2011 for Top Duo or Group, Best Rock Album for A Thousand Suns, Top Rock Artist, Top Alternative Artist, Top Alternative Song for "Waiting for the End" and Top Alternative Album for A Thousand Suns, but did not win any award. The band charted in numerous Billboard Year-End charts in 2011. The band was No.39 in the Top Artists Chart, No.84 in the Billboard 200 Artists chart,  No.11 in the Social 50 Chart, No.6 in the Top Rock Artists Chart, No.9 in the Rock Songs Artists Chart, No.16 in the Rock Albums Chart, No.4 in the Hard Rock Albums Chart, and No.7 in the Alternative Songs Chart.

Living Things (2011–2013)

The Linkin Park logo used since the release of Minutes to Midnight.

In July 2011, Bennington told Rolling Stone that Linkin Park aims to produce a new album every eighteen months, and that he would be shocked if a new album did not come out in 2012. He later revealed in another interview in September 2011 that the band was still in the beginning phases of the next album, saying "We just kind of began. We like to keep the creative juices flowing, so we try to keep that going all the time...we like the direction that we're going in." Later, on March 28, 2012, Shinoda confirmed that the band is filming a music video for "Burn It Down". Joe Hahn directed the video. Shinoda spoke to Co.Create about the album's art, saying that it will "blow them [the fans] away...the average person is not going to be able to look at it and go, I understand that that's completely new, like not just the image but the way they made the image is totally new. So there's going to be that."

On April 15, 2012, Shinoda announced that Living Things would be the title of Linkin Park's fifth album. Shinoda stated that they chose the title Living Things because the album is more about people, personal interactions, and it is far more personal than their previous albums. The band promoted the album on the 2012 edition of the Honda Civic Tour, with co-headliners Incubus. The band performed "Burn It Down" at 2012 Billboard Music Awards. On May 24, the band released the music video for "Burn It Down" and debuted "Lies Greed Misery", another song from Living Things, on BBC Radio 1. "Powerless", the twelfth and closing track of the album, was featured in the closing credits of the film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Living Things sold over 220,000 copies during its debut week, ranking No. 1 on the US Albums Charts. Linkin Park's single, "Castle of Glass", was nominated for 'Best Song in a Game' at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards. The band also performed at the award ceremony on December 7, but lost the award to "Cities" by Beck. Linkin Park also played at the Soundwave music festival in Australia, where they shared the stage with Metallica, Paramore, Slayer and Sum 41.

On August 10, 2013, the band collaborated with American musician Steve Aoki to record the song "A Light That Never Comes" for Linkin Park's online puzzle-action game LP Recharge (short for Linkin Park Recharge), which was launched on Facebookand the official LP Recharge website on September 12, 2013. On the day of the game's release, Linkin Park made a post on their Facebook explaining that the song used to promote the game would be included on a new remix album, entitledRecharged, which was released on October 29, 2013 on CD, vinyl, and digital download. Similar to Reanimation, the album features remixes of ten of the songs from Living Things, with contributions from other artists, such as Ryu of Styles of Beyond,Pusha T, Datsik, KillSonik, Bun B, Money Mark, and Rick Rubin.

Mall soundtrack and sixth album (2013–present)

The band is currently working on the soundtrack for an upcoming film called Mall, directed by Joe Hahn. In an interview with Fuse, Mike Shinoda stated they have began working on their sixth album.

Linkin Park is scheduled to perform at Download Festival on June 14, 2014, where they will play their debut album, Hybrid Theory, in its entirety for the first time. Linkin Park confirmed that they will headline Rock am Ring and Rock im Park in 2014, along with Metallica, Kings of Leon, and Iron Maiden. They will also headline with Iron Maiden again at the Greenfield Festival in 2014.

Shinoda recently hinted in a status update on his blog that the sixth album will be released in during 2014. On March 6, 2014, the band released their new single, "Guilty All the Same", which features American rapper Rakim, from the upcoming album through Shazam.