It may be hard to believe, but Linkin Park’s seminal album Hybrid Theory is celebrating its 20th anniversary.
Linkin Park has already dropped the details on how they’re marking the anniversary and now the group is reminiscing about the first time they heard the late Chester Bennington sing demos from the record.
“I think 'Pictureboard' was the first thing I heard Chester’s voice on,” guitarist Brad Delson explained in a group interview with Matt Pinfield, according to Metal Hammer.
“I remember getting that, and being like, ‘Hey, what do you think of this guy? He just sent us this recording…’ and being like, not crying with joy, but like, almost crying, just like, Wow! I don’t even know what that is. He‘s tiny and vulnerable on the verse and you could hear all these timbres and harmonics, like overtones, in his voice on the heavy part. It just blew my hat off my head, and we’re like, ‘We gotta meet this guy!’”
Mike Shinoda echoed his bandmate’s amazement over Bennington’s voice. “We were so protective of like, the identity of the band, and what we were trying to do. We had this vision of what it was supposed to be coming into focus, and it wasn’t there yet, but we really wanted to get it right,” he said.
“And so when Chester came in, I remember we all couldn’t stop talking about how talented he was, and what a voice he had.”
Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory: 20th Anniversary Edition will be released on October 9 and feature the iconic album in full. Also included in the anniversary edition are previously unheard demos, rarities, B-sides, DVDs, over 95 minutes of never-before-seen footage, and other extras.
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