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This could have been a lot worse, honestly. Not a huge fan of the song but at least they got together and performed it live. Doing it over Zoom or whatever could have happened virtually would have been much worse. This is what it is - it isn't terrible. Reminds me of ALTNC on Jimmy Kimmel with Aoki, Mike, and Chester.

The production on this song by Alanis is really good. It's simple but it works quite well. Reminds me of OML (the song) with the effects used.

CD 92.9 FM in Columbus, OH has posted a new interview with Mike on Instagram. "@m_shinoda joins us to chat about new music, fans around the world, twitch streams, and more in the Virtual Big Room!" Mike talks about making 'Happy Endings', scheduling some sessions with other artists, etc. "I'm working on a variety of different things. It ranges widely from little musical ideas I've got myself to working with other people. With things opening back up, I'm starting to schedule some sessions with other artists again. I haven't done that in over a year, like in person stuff I haven't really done." He also said he isn't working on a new album at this time.

In celebration of 'Minutes to Midnight' turning 14, Frank Maddocks posted on Instagram, "May 14, 2007 - Linkin Park Minutes to Midnight Icon design. The band asked me develop a logo that was iconic, memorable and easy to render. A simplistic almost punk approach. Broken down to basic elements. A bit of the exploration and development shown here." He included a lengthy series of logos that he went through in presumably late 2006 or early 2007 before he reached the final, signature "circle LP logo" that we all know. In related news, Linkin Park has uploaded the 40 minute "Making of MTM" DVD on YouTube for the first time. Still no word on the infamous "Webster Hall" footage that was shown in theaters of the band making the album, though!

Sounds to me like it could be on the High Rise EP.

Fine currently has more streams than Happy Endings and is a more popular song, so I hope he will play it. The USA is open for shows, we have 100% capacity concerts for 15,000+ people starting in July. Mike could announce a show anytime for July onwards that he wants, but he will likely play it even more conservative than most artists and wait until the end of the year or so to play, probably.

It sounds like, from the description, that Warner would actually not allow Slash to feature Chester on his album. It has to do with LP releasing an album the same year as Slash wanting to feature Chester on a song. In all actuality, that is really stupid for the label to say that because we all know it's not going to take away from the LP sales *at all*. So honestly, the LP label is why Chester wasn't on the album in the end. Slash then re-recorded it with Lemmy and released it. Slash and Chester never finished it properly at that time (2010~) but Chris and Slash went back in in 2019~ to finish recording it (re-record the instrumentals). It sounds like some of this stuff also just gets lost in time when parties don't push for it to be released. We should be grateful for Chris constantly hounding Slash about it and taking the initiative to finish it up/get it out there. It would have just sat on a hard drive as a demo forever if not. And we've said it a thousand times but Talinda is always super classy about this stuff, she OK's all of the music for release on her side whether it's LP, Grey Daze, Mark Morton's Cross Off, Slash's Crazy, etc. It's likely we will never have drama on Talinda's side when it comes to things being released with Chester on them, which is tremendous for the fans. Imagine what else could have come out if someone had kept pushing and pushing for it... Head Like a Hole, etc.

Reminds me of Heavy performed live which sounded way less poppy than the studio version.

When William DuVall joined Alice in Chains officially as lead singer in 2006, the band set out to play a limited number of shows across the world. One of these shows was the KROQ Inland Invasion in September 2006 just outside of LA in Devore, CA. The lineup was STACKED - Guns N' Roses, Alice in Chains, Muse, Avenged Sevenfold, Papa Roach, 30 Seconds to Mars, Rise Against, Buckcherry, Atreyu, and more. None other than Chester Bennington showed up to see the show, which featured some of his favorite bands of all time. He told MTV, "I just came out to see Muse and as soon as I got here I was asked if I would sing. I’m kind of nervous. I’m like on recall, going through it in my head." Unfortunately while the entire show was webcasted, Alice in Chains declined to let their set be broadcasted online for fans. But thankfully, someone in the crowd was able to capture the performance on a camera of their own. In 2006, this video was pretty easy to come by but over the years it has fallen out of circulation in a way... leading our resident archive expert lpliveusername to find the video & upload it to the LPLive Archive YouTube channel. If you've never seen this video or if it's been a while... check it out below!

Download Festival has announced that Linkin Park will be a part of their #DownloadReloaded broadcast on June 5-6, 2021 exclusively via Sky Arts. In 2014, Sky Arts aired 'One Step Closer', 'In the End', 'Wastelands', and 'Until It's Gone' from the LP set along with an interview with Chester & Phoenix, but unfortunately a high quality recording does not exist from that broadcast. It is unlikely that the full Hybrid Theory set will be aired since that would be a huge promotional tool in the announcement of this, but we've seen wilder things happen. The footage in the trailer is from the Linkin Park 2014 performance. A few other LP songs have aired in previous years - part of 'Breaking the Habit' and 'One Step Closer from Download 2004, 'Numb', 'What I've Done', and 'Bleed It Out' from Download 2007, and 'Waiting For The End', 'Iridescent', 'New Divide' and 'One Step Closer' from Download 2011. Some of these could be included as well. "Get ready for the most rockin’ TV event of the summer. Download Festival Reloaded is coming to Sky Arts this 5th + 6th of June! We’ve got over 3.5 hours of tracks from some of the BIGGEST and BEST Download headliner performances from 2011-2019, including Metallica, KISS, Guns N’ Roses, Iron Maiden, Slipknot, Biffy Clyro, Muse and loads more! EXCLUSIVELY ON SKY ARTS… We’re taking you back to the hallowed grounds of Donington on the weekend that should have marked Download 2021. Tune into Sky Arts Freeview Channel 11 at 9pm on Saturday and Sunday for two awesome shows packed with performances. It’s guaranteed to get you reliving those epic Download memories! Joining Download 2022 headliners KISS, Iron Maiden and Biffy Clyro, the programmes will also feature tracks from historic headline performances from Guns N’ Roses, Rammstein, Metallica, Slipknot, Linkin Park, Def Leppard, Halestorm, System of a Down, Muse, Parkway Drive, Slayer, Black Stone Cherry, Limp Bizkit, Enter Shikari, Avenged Sevenfold, The Prodigy and Aerosmith." Check out the trailer for Download Festival: RELOADED: And here's a great performance of 'Wastelands' by Linkin Park from the 2014 festival: Source: Download Festival

Yeah hopefully he debuts that one live in 2021 at a full show!

Mike has just announced that he will be debuting 'Happy Endings' on Friday, May 14th. He's going to be recording it for an event coming up but he doesn't know when it will air. Mike confirmed that it will be just a one song performance. He added, "I'm not on tour so I have to set everything up from scratch." This will be his first real performance of any kind since September 8, 2019 in Japan... a total of 613 days. Wild! Here's to more performances in 2021! We haven't seen any confirmation yet on if iann dior and UPSAHL will be joining the event as well or not, but we would logically assume they'll be performing in some capacity too. Source: Mike on Twitch (May 13) EDIT (May 18): Mike is confirmed with iann dior and UPSAHL for the performance of 'Happy Endings'. It will air on Friday, May 21st at 8pm EST / 5pm PST. The event is for "See Us Unite For Change" which is hosted by Ken Jeong. The performance will be aired here. --------------------------------------- Additionally, Mike has been announced for the Identity 21 event airing this weekend. The event will benefit PBA’s scholarship programs and the AAPI Community Fund. It is co-hosted by Dumfoundead alongside Sherry Cola and will include live performances and panel discussions from Mike Shinoda, James Reid, Guapdad 4000, ATEEZ, Kalani Peʻa, Taylor Rapp, Steve Aoki, among others. Fans can livestream Identity 21 starting at 8 p.m. ET on May 15 via Twitch.tv/AmazonMusic. Source: Complex

What if it's all just from the Thoughts That Take Away My Pride demo? Which probably isn't even called that, it probably has a real name lol

Well he said he's been making a lot of stuff with grandson and the Fever dude, right?

Well that's reassuring that at least he's working on some projects. "A few years" is a very long time period for a project. Does he have a new band he's making an album with or something? Hopefully he's just subliminally hinting at LP.

Congratulations to Linkin Park! 'One More Light' has passed 1 billion streams on Spotify, becoming LP's fourth album to reach the feat after 'Hybrid Theory', 'Meteora', and 'Minutes to Midnight'. Spotify, which was launched in 2008, really gained in popularity with the shift to streaming that occurred in the last 5-7 years. Four albums reaching 1 billion is quite impressive.

Is the rumor that 'Hole' is not being released on this one?

Now that's pretty funny.

Actually he did an interview with us, some final edits are being made and it'll be ready soon. It was planned to be released after the Jeff Blue stuff... Jeff's stuff got delayed a good bit as you know and now this is going through some revisions before it's ready to go. Would imagine it'd be out in May. Not sure on the actual music as that is completely out of our hands, but just speaking about the interview.

Japanese music television channel Space Shower TV has uploaded a YouTube series with an interview done with Linkin Park last year for the #Hybrid Theory20 celebration. It also includes interviews by Japanese singers who talk about Linkin Park: Takuma Mitamura from 10-FEET, Masato Hayakawa from Coldrain, Takanori Nishikawa (known as T.M.Revolution), Shuhei Igari from Hey-Smith, Kenta Koie from Crossfaith, Takumi Kitamura from DISH//, and Takumi Kitamura from The Oral Cigarettes. Below you can watch the videos and read some of the highlights by Brad and Mike. Episode 1 - "The band's original name was actually Hybrid Theory. So our all creative vision was to create some unique sound of our own that blended all these different styles of music that we grow up listening to, rap, alternative music, electronic music, heavy music, rock. The idea that we had in our head we weren't hear it anywhere, so it felt like we had to make it and that's what drove us to make these songs and start sharing with people." - Brad - "We just wanted to make a great album that we were proud of. That was all we can control, right? So we fought to make the record that we wanted to make and we were very fortunate that so many people around the world connected with this album." - Brad Episode 2 - "I think it was an exciting time. I think there were some bands that had become successful, that we knew growing up, like from high school, so we knew it was possible. At the same time we never felt like we were part of any scene. Not like outsiders per se, but just that we had our own thing, our own vision, we don't really fit into anyone box. And that's why it was weird, like... it's always useful for... could be a record store, could be a journalist to have some kind of category or classification of what the music is and just wasn't accurate, because our all raison d'être, our all reason for existence was to mash all of this things together, was not to be one thing. Whereas Hybrid Theory certainly established that kinda mission, I think fortunately we got to play around throughout in our career with so many different... Like, Linkin Park clearly has one sound and also can be so many different things." - Brad - "Everything was so stressful because there was always ups and down. We would be so excited to be doing our album but then also be fighting with different people at the label about the creative direction and we wanted to get it right and they kept wanting changing things. And then we were getting on the road and be so excited to tour but the first band that we toured with hated us and it was very difficult, touring in general was very hard. [...] We just wanted to make sure we took good care of our baby, our album and our band." - Mike Episode 3 - "We were sitting like in an underground parking garage, doing some early photoshoot, but not a real photoshoot, just someone we knew took pictures, we thought it would be cool to do like a 'photoshoot'. I was just bored, I was sitting there, messing around with the guitar, and the guitar is in Drop D, so... Normally the low guitar string is a E, the third string is a D, it was fashionable back then lower the bottom string to a D so it was an octave. So just messing around in that tuning, with the harmonic, and the open string and the harmonic, and the bounce to it, it's probably my favorite riff I've ever come up with. What's cool is the riff in the intro plays straight the whole song, really. I was amazed how modern that song still sounds. The mix of it, the sonic presentation of it, just sounded amazing to it. And I'm used to hearing it live, so I kinda forgot what it sounded like. I mean, it sounds good live too, but I haven't heard the record, the recorded version of it in a while, and I just thought 'Wow! This is really heavy but it's also really melodic'. A lot of electronic information, sounds in that mix. It's a very cool song." - Brad about One Step Closer - "The intro is so recognizable. Right into the chorus. Chester's guttural... I don't know if it's singing or screaming, I think it's both, certanly no one can't do that with their voice, right? His voice was so unique. So you've got all the softness and the vulnerability and you've got the electronica, and you've got the drama, and you've got the intimacy. That's a song you can play on any instrument, any way, the words and the melody ring true today I think as much as they... maybe more so, even, then they did when we made it." - Brad about Crawling and Chester's voice. Episode 4 - "Papercut was always my favorite song off of Hybrid Theory because it had all of the elements of the band packed into one song. It started with a hip hop beat, it had heavy guitars, a very rhythmic feel and also underneath that you can hear a jungle drum and bass style loop. And then you can hear in the verses and choruses it's rapping but then it gets very melodic." - Mike - "An incredible talent and an incredible human being. Certainly miss him." - Brad about Chester - "I think everything is wide open. I think it's an exciting time to look back and I think the future is wide open." - Brad (with a big grin) about the future of Linkin Park - "I think the band evolved a lot over twenty years. We've always retained our identity, our through-line. Making these first two records with Don Gilmore and then getting to work with Rick Rubin who is such an incredible human being and creative mentor... He really encouraged us to continue to challenge ourselves and grow in different ways and never to put ourselves in a box. We took that and ran with it and we've made so many different kinds of songs. Really heavy songs, straight rap songs, very vulnerable, delicate songs and that's one thing that was always amazing with Mike and Chester, between the two of them, they could perform any kind of vocal, any style. So, we were really spoiled. As a songwriter I was personally really spoiled in the band because there was never a song where it was like, "Oh you know that's cool but we just can't do it." Anything that was great in any genre, any style, we could do it. Such a blessing." - Brad Episode 5 - "We can see each other over Zoom. We've actually been doing some really cool press for this Hybrid Theory release, so... While I haven't been with those guys in person recently, in this kinda way we can be together." - Brad about having meetings with the band - "I don't think Linkin Park just means one thing to me. I think it means the music, I think it means the friendship with my bandmates, I think it means our adventures all around the world. Just how we feel at home in all these places, I think a lot of people around the world feel like we're their band and it's just magical. It's a magical story and what a privilege to celebrate it with you today. Hybrid Theory was the record that really started the rocket ship ride. Incredibile that it's been twenty years, incredible." - Brad answering to the question "What does Linkin Park mean to you?"

Well that's fucking awesome! One of the best videos to surface in recent years... the band is really rocking here. Really good stuff. Would have loved more amateur stuff like this on HT20 via social media by the band, like Step Up that they posted.

It's not an April Fools joke as it was released on April 2nd.

Big news! Mike Shinoda has announced that he is releasing a merch spin-off of his 'Dropped Frames' album series titled 'Cropped Frames'! A collection of prints based on art he's drawn on stream, Mike has also announced that 'Cropped Frames' will be sold as NFTs as well. Since Mike has been quite vocal about wanting to "change things up" lately, the 'Cropped Frames' art will be broken into pieces and sold randomly, blind-bag style! In order to complete the entire piece of art, you have to buy multiple pieces and just simply hope that you don't get doubles! How about that for innovative? The product description for MECHA MAN says, "Introducing "Cropped Frames", a limited run, spinoff collection featuring randomized art prints of drawings done by Mike live on his Twitch channel over the last year. Each item purchase will include one of several pieces of the full drawing, and is randomly selected and numbered. Collect all the prints to finish the entire art piece!" "Art print featuring a randomly selected piece of "Mecha Man" - a drawing by Mike Shinoda done live on stream. 8.5" x 8.5". The number of prints available for each drawing varies, please see the item's name to determine odds. Pieces that may feature a signature are not actually signed, but are part of the print itself." Items include MECHA MAN, DROPPED FRAMES, STEAM PUNK SOLDIER, and HOLD THE PHONE. When reached by Twitter DM, Mike told LPLive, "Screw the prints, I am just SO excited to sell every piece of every print as an NFT... 54 in total! It's NFT time, y'all!" Check out the collection here.

Well the previews are quite.... meh.