Mike Shinoda Reflects On The Impact Of Deftones' White Pony

As Deftones gear up to celebrate the 20th anniversary of White Pony on June 20, fans and musicians alike have started sharing memories and praise for the alt-metallers' iconic third album.

Among those names is Linkin Park's very own Mike Shinoda, who tells Spin that, were it not for Chino Moreno and co., the band wouldn't have written a song like A Place For My Head – taken from LP's equally influential record Hybrid Theory.

Read this: 13 things we learned from Deftones' White Pony press conference

"There was a bounce to their music that reminded me of my favourite hip-hop songs," Mike explains. "And even though the guitars were super heavy, oftentimes they felt smooth like a keyboard, as if the distortion had flattened it so much it was just a wash of chords."

The musician reveals that it was Deftones' debut album Adrenaline that first put the band on his radar, having heard the record when he was in high school. Charting their journey through second album Around The Fur and then into White Pony, Mike continues that the band "just has such a unique sound and aesthetic, and White Pony was the album that took such a big step up in terms of communicating who the band was."

Elsewhere in Spin's White Pony round-up, Architects frontman Sam Carter enthuses that Deftones have been a "constant" in his life since he heard White Pony single Back To School, praising the longevity of their career and the fact that they're still "credible".

"The fact that Chino self-records a lot of his stuff is fucking incredible, and the depth to his vocals has always been something that was really inspiring to me," he says.

Read this: Every Linkin Park album ranked from worst to best