History

Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, The band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 andmulti-platinum in several other countries.  Its following studio album, Meteora, continued the band's success, topping the Billboard album chart in 2003, and was followed by extensive touring and charity work around the world.  In 2003,MTV2 named Linkin Park the sixth-greatest band of the music video era and the third-best of the new millennium behind Oasis and Coldplay.  Billboardranked Linkin Park No. 19 on the Best Artists of the Decade chart. Having adapted the nu metal and rap metal genres to a radio-friendly yet densely layered style in Hybrid Theory and Meteora, the band explored other genres in their next studio album, Minutes to Midnight, which was released in 2007. The album topped theBillboard charts and had the third-best debut week of any album that year. The band has collaborated with several other artists, most notably with rapper Jay-Z in their mashup EP Collision Course, and many others included on Reanimation. The band's most recent work, Living Things, was released on June 26, 2012. Linkin Park has sold over 50 million albums worldwide and has won two Grammy Awards. Dave was taught how to play guitar by his mother, and also cites his older brother as an inspiration to pick up the instrument. He grew up in Plymouth but later moved to Mission Viejo, California at the age of 5. While attending high school, Dave joined a punk group named 'Tasty Snax', who would later rename themselves to 'The Snax'. What the band sorely needed was a bass guitarist, so Phoenix opted to make the transition from the electric guitar, and has played bass ever since.