Photo credit: James Minchin
Linkin Park will forever go down in history as one of the most iconic, influential, well-respected, nostalgic bands to ever exist. Songs like “Numb” and “In The End” hail music videos with over one billion views on Youtube, with each subsequence release following suit. If you were at all in tune with the music industry in the late 90’s, early 2000’s, you were listening to Linkin Park.
The Los Angeles band found their niche creating rock anthems with extremely relately lyrics for the masses all around the world. As we near the latter half of 2020, the group members celebrate an incredible 20 years of their debut album title Hybrid Theory, releasing the project’s 20th Anniversary Edition via Warner Records. The new collection contains never-before-heard demos, rare B-sides, DVDs, over 95 minutes of exclusive footage, and many more goodies. Fans are able to choose from the super deluxe box, vinyl box set, deluxe CD, or a digital copy of the album.
The process of putting together the new collection reeled in day one fans globally to submit any photos or memories from the band’s earliest days. Additionally, Linkin Park released their extremely sought-after demo from 1999, “She Couldn’t.”
Flaunt had the pleasure of attending the press junket, with the opportunity to ask the band one question. With 20 years of Hybrid Theory in the backburner, I asked, “How does it feel to have Hybrid Theory be the anthem for several generations of middle schoolers? Did you expect it to have this lasting effect across several generations?”
Mike Shinoda answers, “When making it, we’re just concerned with getting it out there. We didn’t know if we’d actually be able to put a record out ever. We had a couple moments where our future as a band was in peril. Different guys in the band were guessing what our first week numbers would be: 5K copies sold, somebody guessed 12K or 15K. It ended up being 42K. For an unknown band with a debut album, that’s insane. We stayed on the Billboard Top 200 for two years? It was so long. We were home, finished with touring that record and writing the next one, still on the Billboard charts somehow. [laughs].”
He continues, “It’s crazy. The reality of it was always ahead of us. We’re always late to understanding what’s happening, because we didn’t have any experience in the music industry or even having a career like this.”
Brad Delson adds, “To think kids who are 12, 13, 16 are discovering the album almost like it’s a new album. Learning to play “One Step Closer” on the guitar, it’s pretty rad. For me growing up learning an instrument, there were timeless iconic bands. I had the Led Zeppelin songbook and learned every song. To think about teenage kids discovering the band now and falling in love with these songs is a really important reason we wanted to celebrate this milestone and this album.
The new release is conjoined with the reveal of Linkin Park Radio launching on SiriusXM’s Turbo (ch. 41), which will feature epic band stories and their two decade-long career. Purchase items or stay up-to-date with the band here!