A Thousand Suns is the fourth studio album by American rock band Linkin Park. It was first released on September 14, 2010. The album was written by the band and co-produced by Linkin Park vocalist Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin, who previously worked together to produce Minutes to Midnight (2007). The lead single for the album, "The Catalyst", was sent to radio and released to digital music retailers on August 2, 2010.[dated info] The band is currently promoting the album through the A Thousand Suns World Tour.
A Thousand Suns is a concept album dealing with human fears such as nuclear warfare."On this record, the concepts blend human ideas with technology. Human fears, your fear of what's going to happen in the world, the music kind of references that", said Mike Shinoda on an interview with MTV. The album's title comes from the Hindu Sanskrit scripture, the Bhagavad Gita: "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one," a quote made famous by J. Robert Oppenheimer in reference to the atomic bomb.Upon release, the album was met with generally favorable reviews and has been a commercial success debuting at number 1 on over ten charts.
Although commercially successful, the album received mixed reviews upon release. The album as a whole has been likened to a progressive rock album, and compared to Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon and Radiohead's Kid A.