The band?s music can be loosely classified as Nu Metal, a subgenre of heavy metal music, typically characterized by the combination of aggressive, hip hop influenced, angst-ridden vocals, samples, rap-style beats and drum set patterns, and/or DJ techniques. The band, however, do not pigeonhole themselves in any type of musical category, which is a big reason for their worldwide appeal. They can seamlessly go from synthesizer-heavy soft ballads, to groovy hip-hop beats, to heavy-pounding guitar-driven rock.
The first album,
Hybrid Theory
, was extremely successful and catapulted the band into the spotlight of popular music mainstream, fresh on the heals of other nu-metal bands, Korn, Deftones, and Limp Bizkit. The album went on to reach multi-platinum status, selling over 14-million copies to date, and was the top selling album in the United States and New Zealand in 2001. The album featured the hit singles
One Step Closer
,
Crawling
,
Papercut
,
In The End
, and
Points of Authority
.
In 2002, the band released its second album,
Reamimation
, which was remix of the Hybrid Theory album. This album also achieved platinum status, with over a million copies sold in the United States. In 2003, the band released its much-anticipated second studio album,
Meteora
. When the album was released, it debuted at Number 1 in the United States and United Kingdom charts.
Meteora
is currently enjoying similar success that
Hybrid Theory
had, reaching multi-platinum status with over 6 million copies sold worldwide to date.
Meteora
contained hit singles in
Somewhere I Belong
,
Faint
,
Numb
,
From The Inside
, and
Breaking The Habit
. Always with a focus on innovation, the band collaborated with hip-hop artist, Jay-Z, in releasing a forth album,
Collision Course
that featuring rap-style remixes ("mash-ups") of songs from Meteora and Hybrid Theory using lyrics from Jay-Z's repertoire.
Another aspect of the band that has contributed to their current immense popularity is their dynamic, explosive, and inspiring live shows. Like any good band, their live performances usually sound better than any of their recordings, since they don?t capture the energy emitted from their concerts. They live performance prowess have assisted in developing a dedicated fan base. Linkin Park has participated in wildly popular summer concert festivals ? OzzFest, Summer Sanitarium Tour, and Projekt Revolution. Right now, the band is working on their new album, after completing a massively successful worldwide Meteora tour.
With the occurrence of the devastating tsunami that affected South Asia and Africa, which has killed hundreds of thousands people and displaced millions more, the world remains gripped by this continuing tragedy. Despite the tragedy, the world has been fast in mobilizing aid and assistance to the afflicted regions. Linkin Park is doing their part in helping by setting up a charity fund for the countries affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami.
The band have set up an organisation called Music for Relief with an initial $100,000 donation. The band hopes that fans can donate money when attending their concerts. All money raised by Music for Relief will go to the American Red Cross.
Linkin Park Awards
- Song of the Year - Rock Radio for Numb (Radio Music Awards 2004)
- Artist of the Year - Rock Radio (Radio Music Awards 2004)
- Viewer's Choice Award for Breaking The Habit (MTV Video Music Awards 2004)
- Best Rock Video for Somewhere I Belong (MTV Video Music Awards 2003)
- Favorite Artist - Alternative Music (American Music Awards 2003)
- Best Group - Hard Rock (MTV Europe Music Awards 2002)
- Best Foreign Rock Group (Swedish Hit Music Awards 2002)
- Best Rock Video for In the End (MTV Video Music Awards 2002)
- Best International Nu-Metal/Alternative Artist (ECHO awards 2002)
- Best Foreigner Artist of The Year (Finland's Emma Awards 2001)
- Best International Newcomer (Kerrang Awards 2001)