Mike Shinoda Was Worried 'Hybrid Theory' Box Set Might Be Too 'Sad'

Linkin Park's iconic debut album Hybrid Theory officially turned 20 on October 23, and to celebrate the band released an extensive anniversary edition box set. The response was positive, but Mike Shinoda was hesitant about its timing for fear that it might be too soon after Chester Bennington's death in 2017.

“I didn’t want it to be sad, was part of the problem,” the Linkin Park cofounder explained during a recent interview. “I was like, ‘It’s too early to do this. Is it going to be sad for people?’"

“I think we managed to gauge it right,” he continued. “People have been celebrating the hell out of this album this month. And if you look at the chart position of this, it’s a re-release box set and went Number One in Australia… It’s been well received in a lot of places, which we’re so grateful for."

Later on, Shinoda touched on Bennington's tragic death. “Linkin Park being part of all of our DNA, when that got fractured and taken apart, in a sense, I don’t think anybody could really understand," he said. "Because you can’t relate that to anything else. It’s not family, it’s not friends, it’s not brotherhood, it’s not business. It’s all of those things wrapped together."

“I don’t think any of us are at liberty or would even be capable of explaining it to anybody,” he admitted. “You couldn’t even get a therapist and be like, ‘Okay, here’s what I feel or here’s what’s going on,’ and whatever. You could spend years on it, and still not crack the surface of what the meaning of all that emotional information is, I feel like.”

Photo: Getty Images


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