Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington has stated that the band’s first album was responsible for the enduring popularity of metal as a genre, laughing off claims by metal purists that the group was little more than a boy band with guitars.
In an interview with Metal Hammer, Bennington cited the commercial success of Hybrid Theory, released in 2000, as a partial contributor to the advent of metal into the 21st century.
To back up his claims, Chester stated: “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.”
Many believed that Hybrid Theory violated the integrity of metal which, at the time, was almost half a century old. But Bennington retrospectively countered this sentiment, saying: “I think that’s really funny – just those words, ‘the integrity of metal.’ In my opinion we actually kept metal alive.”
The band are currently working on their seventh studio album, the follow-up to 2014’s The Hunting Party.
Listen to one of their latest tracks below:
