Two decades have now passed since Linkin Park were considered one of the biggest bands on the planet. Mike Shinoda has been preparing for a 20th-anniversary edition of the Meteora album to be released and has claimed that he is now old enough that his children’s friends express their surprise when they discover his musical history.
Shinoda said: “The reactions are hysterical. I think we gradually got comfortable with being elder statesmen. But I’m really grateful for the respect that the band is enjoying from younger people, whether it’s fans or people who are making music.”
The album features a handful of previously unreleased demos that have sat in the Linkin Park vault for nearly two decades. The first of those is ‘Lost’, which features some of Chester Bennington’s most intimate and passionate vocals ever laid down on track. Discussing the impact of finding the track again, Shinoda said, “Everything came back. That was that day. That was that thing. I remembered us having this conversation about which songs should make the cut.”
The song was completed in 2003 but was left off the final version of the album as it was felt that it was too similar to the iconic ‘Numb’. Linkin Park’s guitarist, Brad Delson, said of ‘Lost’, “The performance is so beautiful, delicate and clear. I’ve heard a lot of great Chester vocals, and this is among the best.”
The re-release of Meteora also has two other almost-completed songs ‘Fighting Myself’ and ‘More the Victim’. Discussing the three previously unreleased tracks, Shinoda added, “I really wanted to keep it true to the initial intention, because I didn’t want to taint this time warp. What I love about the three new songs is that all of them represent a different facet of the band, as it was in 2003.”
