
Members:
* Chester
Bennington (vocals)
* Mike
Shinoda (vocals/sampling/guitar/keyboard)
* Joe Hahn (turntables, samples)
* Brad
Delson (guitar)
* Rob
Bourdon (drums)
# Story behind the formation of the band:
Mike
Shinoda had a small bedroom studio, where he and Brad first recorded the band first material in 1996. Brad and Mike attended their high school together where they met the band’s drummer, Rob
Bourdon.
Shinoda met Joseph Hahn while studying at Art Center College. Meanwhile, attending UCLA,
Delson shared an apartment with bassist Phoenix, who left the band after college and returned a year later. At this point they named their band
Xero and recorded several songs but never got signed. Then
Shinoda decided to hire a vocalist, and put out an ad, then they found their vocalist, Chester
Bennington. The band called itself Hybrid Theory after the addition of
Bennington(the idea being that they were a hybrid of rock and rap), however, due to a trademark issue with a band called Hybrid, they were forced to change their name. Eventually, they settled on Lincoln Park, suggested by
Bennington because after band practice he would have to drive past there to get home. However the domain '
lincolnpark.com' cost more than the band could afford, so they changed the spelling to
Linkin Park.