Linkin Park

Released: April 26, 2010

Songwriter: Linkin Park

Producer: Rick Rubin Mike Shinoda

[Intro: Mike Shinoda]
Drop like "get up", take to the streets
Better lock that kid up, face full of teeth
When he hock that spit up, pacing the beat like a beast
Rocking the block on repeat

Speak from the cut like a rush of blood
Paint red on the sleeves of the ones you love
Lay the sick ones down and the bells will ring
Put pennies on the eyes, let the dead men sing

[Verse 1: Chester Bennington]
I shiver and shake the warm air cold
I'm alone on my own
In every mistake, I dig this hole
Through my skin and bones

[Pre-Chorus: Chester Bennington]
It’s harder starting over
Than never to have changed

[Chorus: Chester Bennington]
With blackbirds following me
I'm digging out my grave
They close in, swallowing me
The pain, it comes in waves
I'm getting back what I gave

[Verse 2: Chester Bennington]
I sweat through the sheet as daylight fades
As I waste away
It traps me inside mistakes I've made
That's the price I pay

[Pre-Chorus: Chester Bennington]
It’s harder starting over
Than never to have changed

[Chorus: Chester Bennington]
With blackbirds following me
I'm digging out my grave
They close in, swallowing me
The pain, it comes in waves
I'm getting back what I gave

[Bridge: Mike Shinoda]
I drop to the floor like I did before
Stop watching, I'm coughing, I can't be more
What I want and what I need are at constant war
Like a well full of poison, a rotten core

The blood goes thin, the fever stings
And I shake from the hell that the habits bring
Let the sick ones down, the bells will ring
Put pennies on the eyes, let the dead men sing

[Chorus: Chester Bennington]
Blackbirds following me
I'm digging out my grave
They close in, swallowing me
The pain, it comes in waves

[Outro: Chester Bennington]
I'm getting back what I gave
I'm getting back what I gave
I'm getting back what I gave

Hybrid Theory isn’t just the title of Linkin Park’s chart-topping debut album, but a career mission statement.

From day one, the same six players (lead vocalist Chester Bennington, drummer/percussionist Rob Bourdon, guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave ‘Phoenix’ Farrell, DJ/Programmer Joe Hahn, and keyboardist, guitarist, and co-lead vocals Mike Shinoda) built the band by fusing all their favorite styles of music into one unmistakable signature sound. With each album, Linkin Park defiantly challenges themselves and their fans by blasting into new musical territory. After setting the template for rock that incorporated hip-hop influences with Hybrid Theory and Meteora, they shifted gears completely and defied expectations with the polychromatic Minutes to Midnight, and again with the esoteric A Thousand Suns, before melding a piece of them all into 2012’s LIVING THINGS. With their 2014 release and heaviest offering in years, The Hunting Party, Linkin Park manage to capture their ever-innovative spirit with a hunger seldom seen in bands on their seventh album. One More Light (2017) is an interesting personal album, filled with a lot of emotion.

Unfortunately, on July 20, 2017, Chester unexpectedly died by suicide, shocking and saddening both fans and his own band members alike.

more tracks from the album

A Thousand Suns

From the album

A Thousand Suns (2010)

Linkin Park popular songs

BlackbirdsLinkin Park

Linkin Park

A Thousand Suns