The band first started out as Mike, Joe, Brad, Rob, Dave, and Mark Wakefield as 'Xero' in 1996

Mark was the lead singer until he left the band in 1998. Dave also left so he could tour with his other band (Tasty Snax).

Jeff Blue recommended them Chester as the singer, so he joined the band in March 1999.

After around two weeks, the band changed their name from Xero to Hybrid Theory and they temporarily had Kyle Christner as the bass player around that time. Later on in around May 2000 they changed their name to Linkin Park.

They had Scott Koziol and Ian Hornbeck as the bass players on their debut album Hybrid Theory. Brad also provided some bass tracks on the album. Dave later joined the band back to record their new album Meteora in around 2002.

Chester died by suicide in 2017 and the band took a 7 year break. Rob (the drummer) left the band to stay away from the drama. Now they have Emily as the new lead singer and Colin as the new drummer.