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| Members of rock band Linkin Park (L-R) Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon, Joe Hahn, Brad Delson, Dave Farrell and Chester Bennington put their handprints in cement as they are inducted into Guitar Center's RockWalk in Los Angeles, California June 18, 2014. [Photo/Agencies] |
The Grammy Award-winning group sold more than 10 million copies of their 2000 debut, Hybrid Theory, which featured the megahit and anthem, In the End. They sold another 6 million with 2003's multiplatinum Meteora. Both albums explored feelings of frustration and fury.
The success helped Linkin Park become Billboard's No. 1 act of the decade for rock songs and alternative songs.
Bennington's voice could soar with piercing strength or descend to a whisper. Rolling Stone once called it a "shrapnel-laced howl that sounds like it comes from someone twice his size." The band also sold millions with its remix album, Reanimation, and its mash-up record with Jay-Z, Collision Course. They won Grammys for best hard rock performance in 2001 for Crawling and best rap/sung collaboration for Numb/Encore in 2005. Linkin Park was scheduled to begin its tour next week.
Bennington struggled with drug and alcohol addictions at various times during his life. He said he had been sexually abused as a child and was homeless for months before the band found fame.
Linkin Park released their most recent album, One More Light, in May. It was a CD that divided critics and fans alike for its embrace of moody pop. One song on the album, Heavy, opens with the words: "I don't like my mind right now." Although the band had always experimented with different sounds, some claimed Linkin Park had sold out, which Bennington denied. One More Light became the band's fifth No. 1 album debut on the Billboard 200.
"If you like the music, fantastic. If you don't like it, that's your opinion too. Fantastic. If you're saying we're doing what we're doing for a commercial or monetary reason, trying to make success out of some formula, then stab yourself in the face!" Bennington told NME magazine.
