It Starts with One
The Legend and Legacy of Linkin Park
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- $34.99
Publisher Description
From the executive director of music at Billboard, an extensive look inside the 20+ year career of mega-selling rock band Linkin Park, featuring new interviews, exclusive quotes, and insights from the band’s associates and collaborators
Linkin Park is one of the 21st Century’s biggest, and most important, rock bands. All it takes is one quick glance at the numbers— 11 Top 40 hits on the Hot 100 and six No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, over a dozen massive tours, 27 major award wins, 100+ million records sold worldwide, over 30 million monthly Spotify listeners —to realize that when it comes to the metrics of music consumption and fandom, there’s no bigger group in recent memory. And yet, despite their enduring legacy within rock, there’s never been a full, comprehensive biography of Linkin Park—until now.
In IT STARTS WITH ONE: The Legend and Legacy of Linkin Park, Billboard's executive director of music, Jason Lipshutz, chronicles the innovation and influence of this legendary band, from their early childhoods to the moment their paths crossed to the genesis of their iconic first album, Hybrid Theory, and all that followed. Not only were they able to synthesize trends in pop and hip-hop amidst the post-grunge era and nu metal boom, then constantly reinvent their sound over multiple albums, Linkin Park’s radically vulnerable lyrics also helped usher in a new era of artists (and fans) more open to discussing mental health and prioritizing inclusivity. Led by their front men, Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda, who balanced each other out artistically, Linkin Park never shied away from songs that put their issues front and center, for the world to see and feel. Tragically, Chester succumbed to his demons and passed away in 2017, but the music endures—and in order to truly appreciate the band’s singular power to bring people together, we need to take a closer look at how exactly Linkin Park changed popular music.
Through in-depth reporting and interviews, as well as new reflections from their collaborators and contemporaries, IT STARTS WITH ONE explores how one band made such a big impact on modern music, effectively cementing Linkin Park’s long overdue place in music history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Billboard journalist Lipshutz debuts with an effusive ode to rock band Linkin Park. He begins with their shaky debut performance in late-1990s Los Angeles, writing that the band—then called Xero—opened with a "haphazard" set during which guitarist Mike Shinoda wore blue goggles and a white beanie to feel "more like a performer." From there, Lipshutz covers the group's early influences (2Pac, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Nirvana), their efforts to craft a rap-rock style that distinguished them from bands like Limp Bizkit, and their struggles to sign a record deal. They first tasted success with their debut single, 2000's "One Step Closer," but were catapulted to fame by "In the End," which stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 38 weeks in 2001. At the heart of the book is Lipshutz's call for the band to be recognized for its artistic merit and "cultural impact," which he hammers home in overblown prose. For example, in describing how singer Chester Bennington, who died by suicide in 2017, impacted fans by singing about depression and addiction, Lipshutz writes, "Chester gripped a microphone harder than anyone, and in so doing placed his fingerprints upon the world." Only Linkin Park diehards need apply.
