Linkin Park showed up to the rap-rock mixer late, but they were the first band with a DJ to sound so utterly alienated, hitching Chester Bennington's existential wail to the suburban swagger of Mike Shinoda's rhymes. Five LPs in, they've traded turntable scratches for dub-step flourishes, but still lean on Bennington's harrowing hooks, including the one on "Burn It Down," one of their best singles yet. But while they've spiffed up their sound for the dance floor, the band found some of its greatest inspiration in pop-wise hip-hop – "Lies Greed Misery," a sweet-and-sour gem, is guaranteed to make you jump. Who needs rock, anyway?

Listen to 'Living Things':

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“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.