Released: July 30, 2002

Featuring: Chali 2NA

Songwriter: The Alchemist Chali 2NA Rob Bourdon Mr. Hahn Brad Delson Mike Shinoda Chester Bennington Dave Farrell Mark Wakefield

Producer: Mike Shinoda

[Intro: Chester Bennington & Mike Shinoda]
From the top to the bottom (Bottom to top I stop)
At the core, I've forgotten (In the middle of my thoughts)
Taken far from my safety (The picture's there)
The memory won't escape me

[Verse 1: Mike Shinoda]
We're stuck in a place so dark, you can hardly see
A manner of matter that splits with the words I breathe
And as the rain drips acidic questions around me
I block out the sight of the powers that be
And duck away into the darkness, time's up
I wind up in a rusted world with eyes shut
So tight that it blurs into the world of pretend
And the eyes ease open and it's dark again

[Pre-Chorus: Chester Bennington & Mike Shinoda]
From the top to the bottom (Bottom to top I stop)
At the core, I've forgotten (In the middle of my thoughts)
Taken far from my safety (The picture's there)
The memory won't escape me (But why should I care)

[Chorus: Chester Bennington]
In the memory, you'll find me
Eyes burning up
The darkness holding me tightly
Until the sun rises up

[Verse 2: Mike Shinoda]
Listen to the sound, dizzy from the ups and downs
And nauseated by the polluted rot that's all around
Watching the wheels of cars that pass
I look past to the last of the light and the long shadows it casts
A window grows, captures the eye
And cries out yellow light as it passes me by
And a young, shadowy figure sits in front of a box
Inside a building of rock with antennas on top
Now, nothing can stop in this land of the pain
The sane lose, not knowing they were part of the game
And while the insides change, the box stays the same
And the figure inside could bear anybody's name
The memories I keep are from a time like then
I put on my paper so I could come back to them
Someday, I'm hoping to close my eyes and pretend
That this crumpled up paper can be perfect again

[Pre-Chorus: Chali 2Na & Mike Shinoda]
Yo, from the top to the bottom (Bottom to top I stop)
At the core, I've forgotten (In the middle of my thoughts)
Taken far from my safety (The picture's there)
The memory won't escape me

[Verse 3: Chali 2Na]
I'm here at this podium talking, the ceremonial offerings
Dedicated to urban dysfunctional offspring (What's happening?)
City governments are eternally napping
Trapped in greedy covenants, causing urban collapse
And bullets that scar souls with dark holes
Get more than your car stole
Some hearts be blacker than charcoal (For real)
This society's deprivation depends
Not on our differences, but the separation within
No reparation is made, limited aid on minimum wage
Living in a tenement cage where rent isn't paid
Tragedy within a parade
The darkness overspreads like a permanent plague
I'm the forgotten

[Chorus: Chester Bennington]
In the memory you'll find me
Eyes burning up
The darkness holding me tightly
Until the sun rises up

Linkin Park

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.