Dave “Phoenix” Farrell

Band: Linkin Park
Website: www.linkinpark.com

In 2000 Linkin Park took their street-approach fusion of grunge, metal, electronica and hip-hop to unprecedented heights and hype with the release of the aptly titled Hybrid Theory. This amalgamation of musical genres — journalistically referred to as nu-metal — struck platinum 20 times over and became one of the biggest selling albums of that year.

Characterized by the soft-hard-soft Nirvana formula, the combination of straight-faced pseudo rap prefacing shouted, minor-chord choruses and thrash guitar mash-ups made Linkin Park’s watershed hit “In The End” one of the most played songs of 2001. The band’s second single “Crawling” won them a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2002.

If ever there was a test for the bass in this musical context, Dave Farrell has taken the challenge. His bass style and tones run the collision course with the head-on approach of Linkin Park’s stylistic shifts.