The band began their journey as Xero and renamed themselves Hybrid Theory when Chester Bennington joined the group. After signing with Warner Bros. Records, the label advised them to change their name again to avoid confusion with a band named Hybrid, and they finally settled on Linkin Park.

Linkin Park auditioned and were rejected for record deals 44 times (yes, forty-four) before finally signing with Warner Brothers and becoming one of the biggest musical acts of the 2000s. In fact, Warner Brothers rejected Linkin Park three times before finally signing them.

I want to heal, I want to feel,
What I thought was never real
I want to let go of the pain I felt so long (erase all the pain 'til it's gone)
I want to heal, I want to feel
Like I'm close to something real
I want to find something I've wanted all along
Somewhere I belong

One of Linkin Park's most well-known and critically acclaimed songs, "Numb" topped the Billboard Alternative Songs chart for 12 weeks and reached one billion YouTube views in November 2018.

Delson has suggested that the headphones help him channel into his own personal "matrix" while performing, but other band members have confirmed he wears the shooting range headphones in order to protect his hearing at concerts.

When Chester married Samantha Marie Olit on Halloween night in 1996, they were too poor to afford rings (he was working at Burger King at the time), so instead they got matching tattoos on their ring fingers.

Every step that I take is another mistake to you
Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow
I've become so numb, I can't feel you there
Become so tired, so much more aware
By becoming this all I want to do
Is be more like me and be less like you

For their first album, the band looked through books for inspiration on how to present themselves for the first time. The result was a winged-soldier which Shinoda illustrated himself. According to Chester Bennington, the idea of the soldier with dragonfly wings was to describe the blending of hard and soft musical elements by the use of the jaded looks of the soldier and frail touches of the wings.

In 2001, while touring for Ozzfest, Chester was bitten by a recluse spider at a hotel in Boston. This caused noticeable swelling, and caused a fever. While this type of bite sometimes requires hospitalization, Chester continued with the tour.

Rob's mother was friends with Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer who gave Rob a kick pedal and encouraged him to become a drummer.