When Linkin Park released their monster debut album Hybrid Theory in 2000, it transformed them from relative unknowns into global superstars on the back of the album’s massive hit singles Crawling, In The End and One Step Closer.
The fast-rising nu-metal stars appeared on The Conan O'Brien Show just a few months after the album's release, whipping the studio audience into a frenzy with their adrenaline-charged, performance of the infectious rap-rock hit, One Step Closer, led by the vocal interplay and energised presence of a young Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington. Enjoy below!
Linkin Park | 'One Step Closer' [The Conan O’Brien Show, 2001]
One Step Closer was the monster debut single from Hybrid Theory. In 2011, Chester Bennington recalled to Kerrang! how the band’s frustrations became inspirations during the Hybrid Theory recording sessions, saying: "When we were recording it, (producer) Don Gilmore was really drilling me and Mike (Shinoda) about lyrics, and it had gotten to the point where we had rewritten some songs 30 times! I remember walking into the control room, handing Don the lyrics and he grabbed them, passed them in front of his face without even looking, handed them back to me, and told me to do it again. I lost my f---ing mind, thinking, 'This guy's a f---ing maniac!' But that kind of inspired the lyrics - 'I cannot take this anymore/I'm saying everything I've said before/ All these words make no sense,' and the chorus, 'Everything you say to me takes me one step closer to the edge.' - it all came from that frustration. So I guess in the end he inspired me the way he wanted to."
Linkin Park | 'One Step Closer'
Linkin Park’s incredible Hybrid Theory: 20th Anniversary Edition was released to mark the album's 20th anniversary in 2020. It arrived in Super Deluxe, Vinyl, Deluxe CD, and Digital editions, featuring stacks of previously unreleased music from the band, including rarities, B-sides and DVDs featuring behind the scenes footage. Check it out, here.
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