Linkin Park

Released: April 30, 2001

[Verse 1: Mike Shinoda]
Why does it feel like night today?
Something in here's not right today
Why am I so uptight today?
Paranoia's all I got left

I don't know what stressed me first
Or how the pressure was fed
But I know just what it feels like
To have a voice in the back of my head

Like a face that I hold inside
A face that awakes when I close my eyes
A face that watches every time I lie
A face that laughs every time I fall

(And watches everything)
So I know that when it's time to sink or swim
That the face inside is here in me
Right underneath my skin

[Chorus: Chester Bennington & Mike Shinoda]
It's like I'm paranoid, looking over my back
It's like a whirlwind inside of my head
It's like I can't stop what I'm hearing within
It's like the face inside is right beneath my skin

[Verse 2: Mike Shinoda]
I know I've got a face in me
Points out all my mistakes to me
You've got a face on the inside, too
And your paranoia's probably worse

I don't know what set me off first
But I know what I can't stand
Everybody acts like the fact of the matter
Is I can't add up to what you can

But everybody has a face that they hold inside
A face that awakes when I close my eyes
A face that watches every time they lie
A face that laughs every time they fall

(And watches everything)
So you know that when it's time to sink or swim
That the face inside is watching you, too
Right inside your skin

[Chorus: Chester Bennington & Mike Shinoda]
It's like I'm paranoid, looking over my back
It's like a whirlwind inside of my head
It's like I can't stop what I'm hearing within
It's like the face inside is right beneath the skin

It's like I'm paranoid, looking over my back
It's like a whirlwind inside of my head
It's like I can't stop what I'm hearing within
It's like the face inside is right beneath my skin

[Interlude: Mike Shinoda]
The face inside is right beneath your skin
The face inside is right beneath your skin
The face inside is right beneath your skin

[Bridge: Chester Bennington]
The sun goes down
I feel the light betray me
The sun goes down
I feel the light betray me

[Outro: Chester Bennington & Mike Shinoda]
(The sun) It's like I'm paranoid, looking over my back
It's like a whirlwind inside of my head
It's like I can't stop what I'm hearing within
It's like the face inside is right beneath the skin
(I feel the light betray me)

(The sun) It's like I'm paranoid, looking over my back
It's like a whirlwind inside of my head
It's like I can't stop what I'm hearing within
It's like I can't stop what I'm hearing within
(I feel the light betray me)

It's like I can't stop what I'm hearing within
It's like the face inside is right beneath my skin

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

Hybrid Theory (20th Anniversary Edition)

From the albums

Crawling - Single (2001)
Hybrid Theory (20th Anniversary Edition) (2020)

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Hybrid Theory (20th Anniversary Edition)