30 Mind-Blowing Facts We Bet You Didn't Know About Linkin Park

Linkin Park, the famous rock band formed in 1996, from Agoura Hills, California, as one of the world's best-selling music artists overall, has two Grammy Awards to their name. The current line-up of the band consists of Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Dave Farrell, Joe Hahn, and Rob Bourdon. Here are some interesting things to know about the band and its members:

1. The band’s debut album “Hybrid Theory” is the best-selling debut album of the 21st century. Up until this date, it has sold over 11 million copies in the United States.
2. Linkin Park lost their best known lead singer, songwriter and actor Bennington, born as Chester Charles Bennington, on July 20, 2017. He was found dead at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California, having committed suicide by hanging.
3. The band is particularly famous for not using swear words in most of their songs because they feel there are better ways to get their message across.
4. The band was formed by three high school friends, Shinoda, Bourdon, and Delson, who roped in Hahn, Farrell, and Mark Wakefield later on. However, unsuccessful attempts and a standstill in the band’s activities resulted in Wakefield and Farrell's exit.
5. At the time of Bennington's wedding, with his ex-wife Samantha Marie Olit, he was too poor to even afford a ring, so the duo got matching tattoos on their ring fingers. It was when he was working at the Burger King.
6. Initially, Bennington was not satisfied with the most iconic single "In the End," from their album “Hybrid Theory.” He was convinced that fans would hate the single. However, he turned out to be wrong.
7. In 2002, Linkin Park started Projekt Revolution, a tour made up of diverse acts like Cypress Hill, Korn, Snoop Dogg, and Chris Cornell. The tour ran annually until 2004 and started up again in 2007.
8. Initially, the band started their journey with the name as "Xero." However, with the joining of Chester Bennington, they changed it to "Hybrid Theory." However, they have to change it again, following a legal dispute with another band. They went with Lincoln Park, but later changed the spelling so they could have their own website.
9. Bourdon started to play Drums after watching an Aerosmith concert. His mother, Patty, is friends with Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer, and Kramer gave him a kick pedal. It was what that inspired his interest in music.
10. In the year 2004, the band collaborated with Jay-Z to produce a remix album titled "Collision Course." It was reported that Linkin Park worked with Jay-Z because MTV requested the collaboration.
    
11. During the recording of the "Hybrid Theory," Warner Brothers wanted to remove the lead singer Shinoda from the band. None of the other members were able to understand the reason. However, it did not happen.
12. Just before joining Linkin Park, Chester Bennington had almost decided to quit music due to failures and frustration. It was his wife Samantha Olit, who supported him and stopped him from quitting, Even after joining the band, Bennington was homeless and used to live out of a car.
13. Before forming Xero with Wakefield, Delson's first instrument was the trumpet. He first band was also reportedly called as "The Pricks."
14. Apart from Linkin Park, Shinoda has a solo project called Fort Minor. The name indicates that the music comes from multiple guest artists in addition to Shinoda.
15. Bourdon and Delson along with Wakefield, started a band named “Relative Degree” while they were still in high school. The trio had the dream to play one show at “The Roxy Theatre,” a West Hollywood club for upcoming bands. Their dream came true on May 17, 1996, but the band later lost direction and disintegrated.
16. Shinoda started writing articles for "The Big Issue" in September 2012 and was the publication's US election correspondent.
17. In every concert, Delson can be seen wearing headphones, while playing the band. This is in an effort to protect his hearing.
18. The band settled with the name "Lincoln Park," after the public park, which Bennington regularly passed on his way in Santa Monica, California.
19. Bennington and his wife Talinda Bentley were harassed by a cyber stalker named Devon Townsend, who was charged and found guilty of tampering with the couple’s email and sending threatening messages. He was sentenced to two years in prison.
20. In their initial days, Linkin Park recorded and produced their songs in Shinoda’s makeshift bedroom studio due the limited resources they had and came up with a demo tape of four songs.
    
21. During his childhood, Bennington was a victim of sexual abuse. It was reported that he was abused by one of his older male friends from the age of seven years until the age of thirteen. He was scared to reveal this to anyone for the fear of being considered as a liar or gay.
22. The band was turned down 44 times before finally being signed by Warner Brothers. It was the fourth time when the band approached them that the label agreed to sign them up.
23. The band's first ever gig was at "The Whisky a Go Go," in Los Angeles, which was also the launching pad for a plethora of legendary bands like Motley Crüe, The Doors and Guns 'N Roses.
24. Bennington was close to Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, who also died of suicide in a similar manner on May 18, 2017. He was actually godfather to one of Cornell’s children. Tragically, Bennington committed suicide on what would have been Cornell’s birthday.
25. Apart from Linkin Park, Bennington had also served as the frontman for the other bands "Dead by Sunrise" and "Stone Temple Pilots." In fact, it was him, who formed the band "Dead by Sunrise," as a side project in 2005.
26. Bourdon is actually said to be the perfectionist in the band. According to Delson, Bourdon never plays a part wrong, and is always the first to point out if something’s not up to standard.
27. Before the release of “Hybrid Theory,” Bennington made a bet with Myra Simpson, National Promotions Manager at Warner Brothers. She challenged him that if the album went “Gold” by Christmas of 2000, she would give him the Stone Temple Pilots’ plaque. The album indeed went “Gold” by Christmas and Bennington won the bet.
28. Before beginning his career as a professional musician, Bennington used to work at Burger King, to earn a living, while he was living with his mother when he was 17 years old.
29. The band has established a non-profit organization named “Music for Relief” to undertake various causes for social welfare. Through “Music for Relief,” Linkin Park assisted “We Care Solar,” another non-profit organization, in bringing solar energy to health clinics in Uganda.
30. Linkin Park were the first rock band to achieve over one billion hits in the history of YouTube. They hit the landmark with their 2009 single "New Divide," which acted as the lead-off single to the "Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen" soundtrack scoring 131 million views on its own.
    
31. Chester Bennington Net Worth: $30 Million