Linkin Park on unheard music: “There’s a lot of stuff that never saw the light of day”

nme.com:

Linkin Park’s Brad Delson and Mike Shinoda have spoken to NME about the 20th anniversary of ‘Meteora’, lost song ‘Lost’ and the chances of more unheard music being released from the archives.Last week, Linkin Park released an expanded version of their 2003 album ‘Meteora’ – featuring a host of previously unheard demos alongside behind-the-scenes footage and live performances.“We wanted to make something timeless with ‘Meteora’, which is really audacious for a bunch of 20-year-olds to even say or think,” guitarist Brad Delson told NME. “The hope was that the music would have longevity and continue to inspire people.”He continued: “It’s a really interesting moment for us right now, because we’re celebrating 20 years of a really special album but ‘Lost’ is a song we made, loved and forgot about and it’s having such a moment.”The aptly-titled ‘Lost’ was recorded at the same time as ‘Meteora’ but didn’t make the final cut because the band “couldn’t find a place for it” on the record.“Telling a story with the album was so important, and we felt like ‘Lost’ had too much of a similar energy to ‘Numb’,” said Delson.

The original plan was to release the song a little later down the line, either as a bonus track or on album three.“We made a big left turn with [2007 album] ‘Minutes To Midnight’ and then we made a bunch more left turns from there, so we were never in the habit of asking, ‘Oh, what did we do five years ago?’ so we literally forgot about ‘Lost’.”The song was rediscovered as the band pulled things together for ‘Meteora 20’ and was released earlier this year.

It went on to become Linkin Park’s highest charting single in the UK since 2009 and topped the Alternative Radio and Rock Radio charts in the US.“I didn’t know how.