Mike Shinoda talks us through his musical first times, from the first artist he fell in love to the first time he was starstruck.
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00:00 It wasn't like a full-on like, "Oh, I can't talk. I'm like completely overwhelmed."
00:04 It was that we played our first show with a local band that had just gotten signed
00:10 called System of a Down.
00:12 Hey, what's up? This is Mike Shinoda and these are my firsts for Enemy.
00:19 The first gig that I ever went to was Anthrax, Public Enemy and Primus.
00:29 And there was a group that opened called Young Black Teenagers.
00:32 And people kind of make fun of me because it's like, "Oh, well, obviously that was the first
00:37 gig you went to. That's like basically what you ended up doing for a living."
00:40 I was chaperoned, by the way. It was my friend Mark and I and his dad had to drive us there.
00:46 I think I was 14 when I went to the Public Enemy Anthrax show.
00:52 And I remember the rapper Ice-T was in the crowd and we got his autograph on our ticket.
00:59 Which I believe I still have somewhere.
01:01 I think the first time I heard one of our songs on the radio, I believe we were
01:10 driving into Phoenix, Arizona on our first tour.
01:15 And the local rock radio station there played it and they announced us.
01:23 They actually kind of announced us as a local band because Chester was from Arizona,
01:28 was from the Phoenix area.
01:30 So we were just pulling into town and we were freaking out, running all over the streets.
01:36 We were touring in an RV.
01:38 So we were jumping out of the car and running around the streets.
01:47 The first artist or artists that I fell in love with would probably be the Beastie Boys.
01:53 Loved the Beastie Boys from the moment I heard it.
01:57 First thing I do when I get off stage, I mean, other than drink water and catch my breath,
02:11 usually eat.
02:12 Because I don't like to eat before the show.
02:15 I don't like to go on stage with a full stomach.
02:18 So I'm starving by the time the show's done.
02:21 I think I probably first got kind of starstruck.
02:31 And it was a very minimal, it wasn't like a full on, "Oh, I can't talk.
02:36 I'm completely overwhelmed."
02:40 It was that we played our first show with a local band that had just gotten signed called
02:46 System of a Down.
02:47 And I was like, "These guys are so cool and they just got signed to a major record deal."
02:54 And yeah, we opened for them.
02:56 And I met a couple of the guys and I just thought they were the coolest.
03:00 And I think they're just barely older than us.
03:03 But yeah, I was so impressed.
03:07 I mean, besides, they're incredible.
03:09 So of course I was impressed.
03:11 What was the first thing I thought about when I woke up today?
03:18 My first thought was, "Why can't I sleep longer than five hours?"
03:25 Because I've been in Europe for three days and I can't sleep more than four or five hours
03:33 at a time because of jet lag.
03:36 [Music]