Linkin Park‘s Meteora becomes ever more meteoric with its 20th anniversary reissue.
The newly released package, out now, includes a whole host of bonus material from the era of the original 2003 album, such as demos, B-sides and live tracks, some of which have never before been released.
“This whole thing has been … almost like watching an old slideshow,” LP’s Mike Shinoda tells ABC Audio.
Among the unearthed material is the song “Lost,” featuring lead vocals by the late Chester Bennington, which is the #1 single on both Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay and Alternative Airplay charts. While “Lost” was essentially already fully formed when LP dug it out for the Meteora reissue, other such unreleased songs, like “Fighting Myself,” required some extra effort.
“‘Lost,’ for example, I remember it being the way it is,” Shinoda explains. “When I thought of it, it was everything I remembered.”
“‘Fighting Myself,’ I remembered that being completely half-baked,” he continues. “I remembered the track being awesome, the verses, maybe they were there, but there was nothing else on the song.”
That was until management uncovered a version of the song that also included a chorus.
“I was, like, ‘What is this? That I do not remember,'” Shinoda shares. “So we dug in and got the stems to that one, and sure enough, it was complete.”
Linkin Park will be holding an online Q&A session about the Meteora reissue Monday, April 10, at 11 a.m. PT.
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