Linkin Park released A Thousand Suns in the United States 16 years ago today, on September 14, 2010. Their fourth studio album arrived through Machine Shop Recordings and Warner Bros. Records, reuniting Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin after 2007’s Minutes to Midnight. During the sessions, the band loosened its approach to writing while expanding what each member could contribute beyond their usual instrument.
“Blackout” exposed a problem with their familiar working methods. Shinoda told Noisecreep that Chester Bennington had recorded wordless screaming over the music, but attempts to replace it with written lyrics felt overthought. Rubin suggested improvising words and melodies while the track looped. “Let’s just let the song decide,” Shinoda said of their approach. Getting comfortable took time; he recalled worrying about what might emerge before they could consciously censor themselves. The musicians then edited those spontaneous performances, shaping the lyrics and checking that they expressed what the band wanted to say.
“The Catalyst” developed through that process, beginning with an organ part and an improvised vocal that became the basis of the finished song. Shinoda said they chose it as the lead single because it communicated the change in direction, although no single track could represent the entire album.
Brad Delson was finding other ways into the music. “I played guitar as little as possible,” he told MusicRadar, explaining that he wanted to try unfamiliar tasks. On “Robot Boy,” he spent two days at NRG Studios editing, rearranging material and processing sounds with software. He wasn’t sure his bandmates would like the changes, but they embraced that direction. The group kept revising passages when members remained unconvinced, and Delson said their confidence came from all six musicians and Rubin loving the finished record despite their different tastes. He also played acoustic guitar on “The Messenger,” using an old instrument whose make he couldn’t identify.
The layered recordings presented another challenge once rehearsals began. Delson described arrangements with eight guitar parts that had to be covered by two or three players. Members took on additional instruments and vocal parts, with Delson himself moving between roles. He said some of the new material involved all six members singing.
Those experiments remained part of the conversation when Linkin Park moved on to Living Things. In a 2012 MusicRadar interview, Delson described how A Thousand Suns had opened up song structures and given interludes a more substantial role. Some pieces unfolded in multiple sections, with their length serving the arrangement. The band also revisited the compact running times of Hybrid Theory and Meteora while assembling the next record, recognizing that its predecessor’s longer form had served a different purpose. They felt comfortable using elements associated with their earliest albums again while continuing to explore new ideas. Delson said they no longer felt they had to move away from anything.
The recording process later became easier for fans to revisit. In 2020, Linkin Park marked the album’s tenth anniversary by uploading Meeting of a Thousand Suns to YouTube for the first time, as Kerrang! reported. Originally released on DVD, the documentary follows their work at NRG with Rubin and Shinoda producing.
