Rock to Stardom

What would you say the odds were of a rock band going from opening act at a local club to having the biggest-selling album of 2001 to making the cover of Rolling Stone to being up for three Grammys--all in just over a year? Fifty thousand to one? Fifty million to one?

Either way, you could quadruple the odds by adding one more hurdle: having the band upset favorites U2 in the rock album category and Alicia Keys as best new artist in Wednesday’s Grammy ceremony.

The only way that’s going to happen is if most of the recording academy’s 13,000 voters handed their ballots over to their teenagers.

Linkin Park, the Los Angeles-spawned band that has defied all the other odds above to become the hottest new attraction in rock, doesn’t make music that appeals to parents, and that’s a weakness.

Great bands, even those as dark and defiant as Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails, address themes of youthful discontent and desire in ways that can strike an emotional chord in rock fans of all ages.

At this point, Linkin Park, which headlined a Long Beach Arena concert on Friday, lacks the artfulness and distinctiveness to catch the ear of those who see the hard-rock intensity and anger of the last decade as one-dimensional and self-absorbed.

Yet, the band speaks so effectively to young people that its “Hybrid Theory” album has sold more than 6 million copies and is still in the top five a year after its release. And there is something different and noteworthy about the band, which is named after Lincoln Park in Santa Monica.

Along with Staind, its touring partner on last year’s Family Values tour, Linkin Park steps past the whining and blind rage that have made so much hard rock predictable and uninvolving. Though filled with the tensions and fears of adolescence, songs such as “One Step Closer” and “In the End” aren’t just endless diatribes against anyone who blocks a teenager’s path. They deal with frustration and confusion, layered with such optimism and hope that Rolling Stone refers to the band’s sense of “brotherly compassion.”

If it’s easy to miss that message in the grinding textures of the album, the band’s liberating approach is showcased powerfully in a live show that has been honed by more than 300 performances over the past year.

Linkin Park--whose music mixes elements of hip-hop with the basic guitar-bass instrumentation of rock--played with enough force Friday to turn the arena floor into a frenzy of emotion, complete with four competing mosh pits.

Singer Chester Bennington, whose howling vocals add a desperate edge to some of the tunes, and rapper Mike Shinoda help build a connection with the audience by spending almost as much time on the arena floor as on stage. They slap hands with fans as they race through the crowd and sing several numbers amid the audience.

After the 80-minute set, the six members signed autographs for hundreds of fan club members for more than an hour--a regular feature of the band’s arena tour. All this bonding could come across as gimmicky, but the band members don’t exhibit any trace of pandering. Bennington, 25, still identifies strongly with the frustrations of his audience.

He remembers the time he didn’t have enough money for an engagement ring for his fiancee (a friend who owned a tattoo parlor gave them tattoo “rings”). Today, Bennington and his wife, who are expecting their first child, wear wedding rings over those tattoos.

Bennington, who co-writes the lyrics with Shinoda, also speaks in interviews about traumatic moments in his past, including sexual abuse and cocaine addiction. He dropped out of high school and worked for years at low-pay service jobs in Phoenix before his rock ‘n’ roll dreams came true.

“Our outlook is, ‘There’s always tomorrow and everything can be better,’” he said backstage Friday before the concert. “We try to urge people to believe in themselves and realize that if you really want something, you can achieve it if you believe in yourself and you work at it.”

Linkin Park certainly worked at it. The band, with different lineups and names, was turned down by record companies for years. Even after Bennington joined them in 1999, they did dozens of label showcases before Warner Bros. signed them.

On a night when they were on the cover of Rolling Stone and preparing to attend the Grammys, the band members--Bennington, Shinoda, guitarist Brad Delson, DJ Joseph Hahn, drummer Rob Bourdon and bassist Phoenix--could have easily stirred the hometown crowd with rants against all the record executives who turned them down. But it’s not Linkin Park’s style to raise a middle finger at the world. The group’s album is even expletive-free.

“When Mike and I wrote the lyrics, there were a lot of expletives, but they felt like a cop-out,” Bennington explained. “Just an easy way to express your anger. We wanted to go deeper than that.”

Delson, who went to Agoura High School with Shinoda, said the band won’t perform at the Grammys, but they will attend the ceremony at Staples Center, where they have a good chance at winning in the hard-rock category.

He’s more excited, however, about starting work soon on the band’s second album, which may be out by November. The odds on another hit the size of “Hybrid Theory”? We’re probably talking Lotto jumbo jackpot odds this time, which puts pressure on the band.

“Of course, there is a lot of pressure, but there was even more pressure on the first album,” the slender guitarist said. “When you get signed to a label, if you don’t do as well as people expect on the first shot, you might not get a second shot, and it could have all been over.”