As numbers show, there’s no disputing that Linkin Park‘s 2000 debut album, “Hybrid Theory“, was a landmark release in terms of commercial success, selling over 10 million copies in the U.S. alone. Although derided for their image and accessible sound, band frontman Chester Bennington still feels that the group and that album in particular helped benefit the metal genre. When asked by Metal Hammer about the opinions of dissenters they faced with the album and concerns they lacked the integrity of the metal genre, vocalist Chester Bennington commented:
“I think that’s really funny – just those words, ‘the integrity of metal.’ In my opinion we actually kept metal alive. I met a kid a few days ago who said, ‘You were the first rock band I ever listened to’ and I hear that all the time. We played a surprise ‘Vans Warped Tour‘ show in California in 2014 and had a whole bunch of singers from other bands come up and sing with us. Every one of them was either, ‘Your band was my first record.’ Or, ‘Your band is the reason I’m playing music.’ It was maybe the first time where I felt like we were the band that people looked at in the way that I look at Deftones, Metallica and Stone Temple Pilots.”
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