Linkin Park seemingly came out of nowhere and quickly established themselves as one of the biggest acts of the year 2000. The word began to rapidly spread early on in the year, when a group known as Hybrid Theory was featured as the Streetwise "Hot Band Of The Month". Soon after, an mp3.com site featuring mp3's from them became a heavily visited destination among the internet fans who ravenously downloaded the material it had to offer.

But as this was taking place and the buzz continued to grow, the band was actually busy in the studio recording their Warner Bros. debut effort with producer Don Gilmore (Stereomud, Lit) and by the time summer rolled around, they announced that they had changed their name to Linkin Park as a result of some legal issues and that they would be releasing their major label debut entitled "Hybrid Theory" in October.

With the announcement and a grassroots fan base quickly beginning to grow, without even so much as an album in stores, they headed out on the road alongside The Union Underground and Systematic and won over fans across the east coast with their charged live performances.

As late summer rolled around, they decided to ship their first single "One Step Closer" to radio and much to their surprise it instantly took off, receiving play on all of the major stations on a regular basis. With the radio support behind them, the buzz only continued to grow as they took to the road once again, this time alongside the Kottonmouth Kings and Corporate Avenger.

The fall found then them on road once again as part of the "Kings Of The Game" Tour alongside P.O.D., (hed)p.e. and Project 86 for a successful stint that led them to the release of their album which hit stores in October and debuted at an unprecedented #23 on the Billboard charts, selling over 46,000 copies during its first week of sales. With a video for the single taking off at video outlets around the same time and tracks of theirs showing up on the MTV "Return Of The Rock Vol. 2" compilation, the "Little Nicky" Soundtrack and the "Dracula 2000" Soundtrack, the groups sales showed no signs of slowing down and as they embarked on a jaunt with Papa Roach and (hed)p.e. as part of the Master Bay Tour, they received word that their album had been certified gold by the R.I.A.A.

As the year came to a close and success now firmly under their belt, they capped the year off by releasing a new track entitled "My December" as part of an annual KROQ disc and took some time off to spend the holidays with their families. But as 2001 begins, they are already set to launch their first ever headlining tour in January with Taproot in tow and with plans for a second single already in the works, there is nothing theoretical about this bands ascent to become one of the big forces of heavy music in the new millennium.

- by wookubus, Theprp