Outstanding success

In 1996, three boys: Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon, and Brad Delson, studying in the same school and sharing the same passion for music, decided to form a band after graduating from high school in Agoura Hills, California – USA. They recruited additional members Joe Hahn, Dave “Phoenix” Farrell, Mark Wakefield and named the band Xero. They recorded the group’s music but were unsuccessful in pitching themselves to record labels.

A once famous music group

Frustrated and stuck, Xero members began to leave, looking for new opportunities. When Mark Wakefield left, Xero looked for a new vocalist to replace him and chose Chester Bannington after an introduction from Jeff Blue – a famous name in the music production world. After Chester Bannington joined the band, they looked for a new name and chose Hybrid Theory. A few member changes in other positions and they had to find a new name because there was another band called Hybrid.

After many choices, Chester Bannington suggested the name Lincoln Park. He thought this was a good name for the band because Lincoln Park was everywhere. Everyone agreed, but the domain name Lincoln Park was already taken and the band couldn’t afford to buy it back, so they changed the word “Lincoln” to “Linkin” and bought the domain name “linkinpark.com”.

It is the youth of many people

In 2000, the group released their first album “Hybrid Theory” under the name Linkin Park and created a major breakthrough. The album sold more than 4.8 million copies globally, becoming the best-selling album of the year. The singles from the album also stayed on the charts for a long time. “Hybrid Theory” brought the group their first Grammy award in their career and a number of other music awards. The name Linkin Park began to become famous globally, they were invited to many music festivals.

The group’s second album “Meteora” also achieved success when released in 2003. It held the top position on the Billboard chart and sold 11 million records globally. Both albums above have a style that blends the nu metal and rap rock genres with other strong musical elements. The band then released a new CD/DVD set called “Live in Texas” resuming the tour in Dallas, Houston, Texas. The DVD has 17 songs and the CD has 12 selected songs from them. These products help Linkin Park achieve much revenue success. At the end of 2004, Linkin Park collaborated with Jay-Z to release “Collision Course”, mixing 7 songs by Linkin Park and 6 songs by Jay-Z. The first single, “Numb/Encore” stayed in the Billboard top 20 for six months and won a Grammy Award. The album also ranked No. 1 on the charts.

It is difficult to overcome one’s own shadow

After great success, Linkin Park began a period of calmness and participated in charity activities as well as group members’ own projects. In 2006, they began returning to the studio with new material and released their third album, “Minutes to Midnight”, which continued to top the Billboard charts. The album’s content spans political, social and environmental issues.

In 2008, they released their next album titled “A Thousand Suns”, which was also a successful album, topping Billboard for many weeks and topping the charts in 15 countries. In 2012, the group released a new album called “Living Things” and then “The Hunting Party” in 2014.

Although these albums are still well received by fans and have awards, the reality shows that the group’s appeal has gradually decreased. Mike Shinoda and Chester Bannington have chosen a new direction for the group through their latest album “One more light”, which is more pop than their long-standing brand.

As soon as the album came out, a fierce controversy arose among fans. Some people like the new, some like the old, they criticize Linkin Park, even sarcastically saying the group should change its name to Linkin Pop rather than Linkin Park. They use the album “Hybrid Theory” as a main tool to compare and criticize the band they once idolized.

Indeed, Linkin Park has many successful albums, but “Hybrid Theory” is a breakthrough, a big shadow they have not been able to overcome. In response to criticism, Cheste Bannington countered that if anyone likes this music, it’s great, otherwise it’s just their own opinion. If anyone thinks that Linkin Park makes music to make money and commercially, so they should try to create success other than the long-standing formula, that is a mistake. “Let’s stop talking about ‘Hybrid Theory’, which was decades ago. We love it, it’s a great album but please, get rid of it.” – Chester Bannington said.

He added that the group had a gradual change from the album “Minutes to Midnight” because they wanted to create new music for the audience. They do not want to be boxed into one genre even though they affirm that rock is still their main style. Creativity is unlimited and Linkin Park wants to try everything, combine everything to find something new.

The shock of suicide

On July 20, there was a big shock to Linkin Park and its fans when Chester Bannington hanged himself. He is the main vocalist of the group, an important part, and after the incident, the band must be extremely difficult. Chester Bannington is a famous musician, singer, and actor but had a miserable childhood. He was sexually abused as a child and several of his friends committed suicide, one of whom died in a skateboarding accident. Chester’s close friend Chris Cornell, lead singer for another famous band, hanged himself last May and July 20 was his birthday.

Chester committed suicide at the age of 41

Not only that, Chester Bannington’s parents also divorced, everything that caused him to soon fall down a dark path. Chester smoked marijuana at age 11, joined gangs, and struggled with illegal substances from age 17 to 20. Until he worked part-time at coffee shops and met many people as a waiter.

Gradually, Chester became more active, he made efforts to study at the University of Washington, focused on music and gradually got over his past addictive habits. He flourished with the group and got married, had children, and had more responsibilities. However, Chester once shared with the media about his struggles with alcoholism, drug addiction, depression, the ghosts of his past, and once wanted to commit suicide because of this.

Leaving behind grief for many people

Before Chester committed suicide, his 11-year-old son encouraged him to love life and enjoy life. However, this singer still could not overcome himself and passed away forever in the regret of relatives, colleagues, and fans.