Hybrid Theory

Give me rap-rock or rap-metal crossover albums anytime. Give me a *bit* of nu-metal, even. Give me heavy guitar riffs, true rebellion, sharp politically-minded lyrics. Or, on the contrary, give me brutally sincere descriptions of personal malaise. Anything that finds an artistically relevant way to scream: "I'm alive, this world is fucked up, I suffer, but I'm alive!". Give me Rage Against The Machine, System Of A Down, Deftones, the "Judgment Night" motion picture soundtrack... Even the early Korn albums can work out... But don't give me this overbloated, overproduced turd of a record. Heck, turds have taste at least, or so I hear. :) As you can, I won't mince words about this band (and first album). But I've got my reasons. To me, *Hybrid Theory* is indeed the epitome of blandness--nothing in it *feels* honest or authentic. You might tell me Chester Bennington's lyrics drew from his difficult childhood experience, I just can't find a way to *care* about them. Because the end results here are just plain corny--there's none of the strong imagery delivered by his pal Chino Moreno, for instance, or the latter's intense, dynamic performance throughout Deftones' discography. The so-called "rebellion" or "malaise" in Linkin' Park's lyrics actually amount to pointing at nothing in particular, with vague references about "bad memories" and the likes. And those lyrics are just *one* ingredient among others in a mechanical formula. They just have nothing to say. And they even manage to say it badly. The same goes for the cheesy, dated rapping, or the vocal lines for the choruses and singing parts, which are *always* predictable--unimaginative melodies copied-and-pasted over unimaginative guitar riffs, so slick and clean they actually sound like synths. Because no, the instrumentation is not good either, as competent the performers (or production tools) are. The band does the same thing all over again, mostly, with the same sort of lazy, overdone tricks being applied from start to finish. Guitar saturation is here used to raze everything to the same orderly level, devoid of any true *life*. A paradox of sorts, which owes more to protools shenanigans than any thought-out concept behind the music. Which makes sense, given that saturation is also used here to hide the lack of any shred of meaningful idea. That's probably what's "Hybrid" in the "Theory" here--this thing being *both* lifeless AND brainless. Even the electronic/abstract hip hop asides suck, minus the very short "Cure For The Itch", maybe--but to be fair, this minor track towards the end is nothing but a secondhand attempt at a DJ Shadow-like instrumental... And just as everything in the album--that awful cover, for instance--its inclusion in the tracklisting looks like a decision made by a corporate committee, not one made by a real, genuine band showing personality. And just like everything else, it's a stylistic dead end. *Hybrid Theory* made millions, admittedly (not necessarily a sure sign of quality, but OK). It sold a hold a huge lot. Yet it's a dead-end nonetheless. Void. Sterile. We can just all be glad and grateful that teens or kids these days are not listening to such crap anymore. At least, they'll make *fresh* mistakes of their own... In the light of Bennington's still recent suicide, this personal judgment about what is merely a piece of art here might sound harsh, of course, even exaggerated. May the man rest in peace, God bless his soul, and so on... May people who go through what he had to go through, just like Chris Cornell or Kurt Cobain, or anybody else, find the help they need to survive. To be honest, I wish that this band had at least provided Bennington that catharsis he so direly needed to get better. And this aside obviously goes beyond any personal tastes about music. One could have hoped that years after their first commercial success, Linkin' Park's singer might have found some meaning in his life. But things don't always work out that way, even when you manage to "make it". Friends who knew Bennington seem to say he was a good person. I don't know, I didn't know him. But I just hope that fans who are reading this understand I have nothing against the man. I simply didn't like the artist, and the band he was part in. These things happen... As for the rest, be aware that hope comes in many forms, and that if music, good or bad, can't save you, you can *still* find other ways out--through reaching out to friends or a family genuinely caring for you, or through mental health professionals. Anything that can help you get better. But I'd rather hear about who Chester Bennington was as a person rather than having to listen to his music again. It's not for me. In a way, critics' accusations that the band had "sold out" for 2017's pop-oriented *One More Light*--that they now suddenly sounded "as if they were selected by committee", to be more precise--were totally and absolutely nonsensical to my ears. Because to me, they've *always* been this way. A few yellings and heavy guitar riffs here and there couldn't hide the fact that they've never been the sharpest knife in the drawer, musically speaking. And Bennington's offensive public replies to those misguided critics did not only show how fragile his mental state was, but also how lost he was as to the sort of audience his band had entertained for all these years. And there's probably a good reason for that. Because a) that audience had never been picky for sure. And b) it was dwindling album after album anyway. In all honesty, it's a bit of a mystery *who* this music is aimed at today, in 2022 (both for what it was in 2017 AND what it had been in 2000). And this, also, makes me kinda sad... Not for Bennington, this time, but for the standards generally followed by this list of records. So next, please... Number of albums left to review or just listen to: 887 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 59 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 29 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more important): 26 (including this one)

The worst. This album actually made me angry.

Oh FFS... how in the world did this crap make the list? This style/genre/shameful detour of rock music should be forgotten and lost to the sands of time. And this isn't even their "best" album - it's easily the most cheesy representation of this nonsense.

I bought this album shortly after its release and listened to it for several years, but then it sort of disappeared from my radar. I don’t really have the rage in me that I still managed then. So what’s it like to come back to this almost 20 years later? It’s great! I remembered right away what I love about Linkin Park… they know how to rock but also have great hooks and modulation to hold my interest. I like their lyrics and the personal themes. Great vocals. Really great to hear this again today. “The End” is an awesome song and is kind of the perfection of the Linkin Park formula, but there are lots of other songs I very much like on this album including “Papercut,” “Points of Authority,” “Crawling,” “Runaway,” “Forgotten” and “Pushing Me Away.” Even though the last twenty years have softened my edges, I guess I still have room for some angry, angsty, cathartic hard rock. Linkin Park’s ability to modulate with softer passages is just the right kind of heavy for me.

easiest 5 of my life

Awful. Unfair but this album/band comprises almost every single thing that I hated about turn-of-the-millenium nu-rock: massive wall of tuned-down guitars so overly compressed and processed within an inch of their lives that sound more like a steel factory than like guitars... and what.is.up with the Cookie Monster vocals - honestly wtf I never understood how that became a thing for a few years. Hard hard nope. I actually kinda get why some people would like this - but I can't get through this overly aggressive unrelenting assault. Did/could not finish. 2/10 1 star.

Hard-hitting but melodic, this is another album that I think younger me would have really loved. I like it now but it has a ... not juvenile, that seems pejorative, and that's definitely not what I'm going for ... but maybe youthful(?) feel to it that doesn't hold the same appeal as it would have a couple or so decades ago. Still, high marks!

I was 16 when this album came out and I wasn’t the biggest fan of nu-metal to start with. I was into stuff like Pantera, Sepultura, Faith no More, Alice in Chains, NOFX etc – 90s heavy/alternative but not nu-metal – but I also had an appreciation for bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot. I’d been into metal since about 91 so I had the feel of the genre: Korn basically invented the shit, Limp Bizkit popularised it, and Slipknot made it so fucking unpalatable to your parents that you just had to applaud them. Lots of previously "pure"-metal bands were trying to get in on it. But Korn etc all had one thing in common: their songs were organic, there was a legit “what we’re doing isn’t grunge, it’s not standard metal, but we still want a place” attitude. It never felt (at the time) like they were music school kids, writing from a how-to guide, or anything like that. It was popular in the mainstream, but it seemed it'd stuck its head in by force of sheer popularity, and had kinda beaten the odds in that sense. This was still like 98-99 so it was only a year or two into nu-metal’s mainstream run. Those bands (Korn, Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, Deftones etc) really worked for their recognition. Linkin Park’s first album was different. Even as a teenager I picked up on it. When that first “I’m about to break!” song came out I knew it was some kinda changing of the guard moment. It wasn’t nu-metal; it was radio rock pretending to be nu-metal. I remember in 2000 asking my mum to buy me In Flames’ Colony album, and she said “you sure you don’t want maybe Linkin Park instead?”. And that was because Linkin Park had worked out the market: create family-friendly rock with an angsty facade that parents didn’t find threatening. It ticked their boxes and (hopefully) also yours. It was loud, but also commercial as shit, with songs that could've been ANY genre if you'd tweaked them a bit. Most of Hybrid Theory would've made a great Shania Twain record. Not that there’s anything wrong with that (my Slippery When Wet review hopefully explains that) but it was also dishonestly subversive. It pretended to be something it wasn’t. And it’s telling that Linkin Park became the biggest band out of the whole movement, and that radio rock has never really (as of 2022) moved much past their blueprint. Nu-metal is long gone but Linkin Park's style isn't. Sure we’ve dialled back the rap-rock these days, but the core of their song structures, choruses and vague angst remain. That whole “nothin’ but rock” radio movement has been boring and stale ever since. And I blame Linkin Park. Is that a legacy? Probably. But I’m giving it 2/5.

I get that this was a genre defining album for the time, but the genre is really bad, so I can't condone these actions.

Just when you thought metal could go no lower, along comes to Linkin Park to add the most annoying elements of several other genres (especially emo) to drill deeper still. The combination of sheer awfulness with utter pomposity is potently toxic to the ears of anyone with any taste at all. How it sold 32 copies, let alone 32 million, boggles the mind, but that's popular taste, innit. See The Onion's Winner's History of Rock and Roll for the imbalance.

They are the reason I got invested into metal (I'm biased)

4.5 stars. What a debut album! Every track is solid from start to end. Bennington's singing with Shinodah's rapping blends so well. Album is harder/heavier than I remember. "A Place For My Head" is a microcosm for the album and the band.

IN THE END NOTHING EVEN MATTERS

I'd only ever heard "In the End", and the rest of this is about what I expected. The whole thing comes across as like a 10-year-old's idea of badass music. Chugging alt-metal riffs, angsty lyrics, bad white guy rapping, and production elements that probably seemed dated in the year 2000. It's bad, but it's not even really groundbreaking in any sort of way. They mainly come off as a less fun version of Limp Bizkit. I did not need to hear this before I died, which might be sooner than before I listened to it. 0.5 stars.

I didn't love this. Other than "In the End", I hadn't really heard much by Linkin Park before. Why? Because I get screamed at enough in real life. I mean, I'm the guy who appreciates the Bangles' subtle harmonies, the smooth sounds of Yacht Rock, and the entire catalog of James D. Buffett. What's the opposite of Linkin Park? Jimmy, man. Or Bob Marley - hey angry Linkin Park guys, "Don't worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright". That said, I do understand why people like this (maybe there are supernaturally calm people out there that just want to get their anger on), but I could feel my blood pressure rising the whole time. Neighbors walking by my open garage sped up and gave me the side eye - that must be one angry dude! No man, no. Echo, play Bob Marley Legend....check that. Play Loggins & Messina....

RIP Chester.

Dense, formulaic, stylistically hollow. Overly produced sound with annoying rap-to-raging vocals. Unmemorable. Fave Songs: None, really. Favorite quote from a fellow reviewer: "I get screamed at enough in real life."

Trite shit. I thought this was 1001 albums to listen to before you die, not 1001 albums that make you want to die. This belongs at the top of the latter and shouldn't even sniff the former. Fuck this garbage. -Chris

I got Hybrid Theory for Christmas in 2001. In January I listened to it maybe 60 times all the way through on my bedroom CD player. In February I took it to the hairdressers because I wanted Mike Shinoda’s hairstyle on the back cover. In March I listened to it laying on my mate’s bed at a sleepover while we looked at glow in the dark stars on his ceiling and took it in turns to do the singing bits and the rapping bits. In April it was the first thing me and the hardest lad in the year talked about that didn’t involve a threat of immediate violence being visited on me. In May I decided “Points of Authority” was my favourite when it came on Radio One as we drove past a petrol station in Barnsley. In June I learned how to play “In the End” on a keyboard (in Barnsley, too). In July and August it was summer holidays, playing “Crawling” loudly on guitar in someone’s music room in the morning before booming around on bikes until it got dark. Through September and the rest of the year it was time to talk about something else, while also still watching that world tour VHS every couple of nights for all the live footage. A year of a life, at that time of a life, is a long, long time. You pack a lot in, and don’t much think about what that’ll mean for you. And as sure as I’ve a nicotine addiction to this day — I still struggle to look past Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory. At 14 I saw them play Leeds, at 28 I sat on the couch in Finsbury Park as we got our heads around Chester’s passing; at 32 we had a table at our wedding named for “Points of Authority”. This is an album I’ll carry around for life, now. What joy it is that I’m still finding things to love about it.

i was hoping this would be another one like the SOAD album where i ignored it in my yoof and now i've listened to it i get it. it wasn't, if anything it was the opposite and now i've actually listened to it i like it less than i was expecting. it's super cheddar. give me limp bizkit over this any day - yeah that's right i really didn't like this.

Linkin Park's debut album is a classic by any standard, but it took me a long time to get to that point. Chester's trauma is thinly veiled in most songs, but the raw power and fury that drove him is on full display.

Already an album I've known and enjoyed for years

The cultural impact of this album really can't be overstated. Growing up when it came out, I can tell you this was everywhere. There were at least 4 huge songs off this album. Despite this, Linkin Park has mostly faded into history, and in the end it doesn't even matter.

Shut up and clean your room, dude.

As you're going through the list of 1001 albums to hear before you die, remember to save this for last, preferably for while you're in hospice. Half way through you'll be ready to pull the plug.

Thought I was too cool for school when this was originally released and gave it a wide berth. By some weird coincidence, I've been listening to this very album for the last two weeks and have living my best angsty-teen life!

This was very popular when I was in middle school, and I was very much into it. That being said, I thought I would hate hearing it again. However, I'm surprised to say I was impressed. The powerful emotions of these songs give them a timelessness, despite some of the sounds (turntable scratching) that date it. The same things that make it easy to knock also make it impactful. I know I just dissed turntable scratching, but "Cure for the Itch" is still a fucking great listen.

I don’t know if you’ve ever watched the TV Show ALF, but in the credits, there is a list of “Personal Assistants to ALF” and there’s like 4 people listed. Isn’t that wild? ALF must’ve been quite a handful to require four assistants. How many meetings and appointments did ALF have that required 4 people to plan his day to day activities? I can see him having a stylist and someone to keep track of his schedule…but 4? I had no idea ALF was such a diva.

I've really enjoyed this album for a long time. In listening to it again, i certainly heard more Limp Bizkit in it than i remembered, and they certainly took different trajectories. Fred is a bit of an embarrassment while Chester improved with time. There are still enough energetic creative aggressive items on here to make it a home run.

Iconic sound. LP hit a vein of gold and then milked it for all it was worth. This album was for all those angsty teens existing without normalized therapy and proper mental health awareness. Hits like a greatest hits album.

God I love bubblegum metal.

relisten. if you didn't grow up with an older sibling in the 00s you probably don't get it. i feel like every time i listen to this album it's better than i remembered

I get that this is a big group in 2000s “rock” but it’s not for me. Too many songs sound the same and it lacks soul.

If I listened to this rap metal style when I was much younger I may have fallen for the soft/quiet -> hard/loud -> soft/quiet changes within most of the songs, but now I find it to be cliched and just plain gimmicky. So... nope.

To be fair its not a bad song, but did they have to record it so many times?

Not a record to hear before one dies or ever, but rather a record to make one yearn for the silence of the tomb. And so utterly dated – likely the reason the editors dropped it from latest editions.

"I cannot take this anymore." You and me both, buddy. Something about the guitar and vocal tones of this is physically exhausting.

This is horrible. I thought that things could not get worse than the Limp Bizkit album--but this project proved me wrong. Musically it's just as bad, but it's so whiny and angsty. One of the most grating sounding albums I have ever heard. 1 star because I can't give anything less.

Shit

Why is this on the list

My first gig. Little 12 year old me, with stars in his eyes. Lostprophets were opening for them. Those guys would've loved me back then. But this is not about that. Never, in my twelve long years of life, had an artist struck me like Linkin Park. In The End will give anyone a nostalgic kick up the arse, and to me it was the coolest shit in the world. It still is, frankly. 12 year old me was so right.

Youth in an album

Neck workout

Hybrid Theory is the debut album by American rock band Linkin Park. This critically acclaimed rap rock / alternative rock album and its four singles launched the band into mainstream popularity - where they have stayed to this day. The four singles remain the band's most successful songs to date, and they are: "One step Closer", "In the End", "Crawling", & "Papercut". The album peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200, is certified 12x platinum (diamond), and is the best-selling rock album of the 21st century. This is the first time that I have listened to Linkin Park's debut album in one sitting (I've heard its singles many times) and I have to say it was pretty awesome! The nostalgia this gave me for the early 2000's is unmatched and listening to this album today made it a great day. Well produced, amazing hooks, and aggressive lyrics shape this album to be a cornerstone of modern rock. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone that hasn't heard at least one of these songs before, but everyone needs to listen to this album.

A classic of my preteens. Full of angst and alienation that I can still relate to. Love the aesthetic of the cover. I don't think I've paid super close attention to what the guitar does before. I know this album pretty well tho. Or at least the hits. Some of this stuff gets kinda heavy tbh. Riffs are more Nu Metal-y than I recall — which should be obvs because this was one of THE nu metal albums of that era. This album feels like the soundtrack to dissociating over angst and abuse and inner pain. The band does way more interesting stuff instrumentally on the non-singles. The Mr. Hahn track (Cure for the Itch) was pretty sick, ngl. This band's instrumentals are kinda fun. Pushing Me Away feels like a blueprint for Numb, similar vibe, similar simple guitars over melodic synth/electronic with simple guitar chords coming in for the chorus. It's youthful and earnest as an album, and I see why it's one of the best selling rock albums of all time. LP wrote some good pop, riffs, melodies, compositions, raps, lyrics, etc. here. Feels pretty focused ngl.

Loved it, not my usual listening material, familiar with alot of this but was never my genre... Great to listen to something that I wouldn't normally choose... Felt like a step back to the noughties...

so good, brings me back to my teenage years! top songs: obvs In The End, and Pushing Me Away

When this album hits, HOLY FUCK it hits. It's no wonder this resonated with so many people, Chester is an insane vocalist. This album is great but personally the deep cuts I don't care for as much, and sometime sound a corny

No. 297/1001 Papercut 4/5 One Step Closer 3/5 With You 4/5 Points of Authority 3/5 Crawling 3/5 Runaway 4/5 By Myself 3/5 In the End 5/5 A Place for My Head 3/5 Forgotten 3/5 Cure for the Itch 3/5 Pushing Me Away 4/5 Average: 3,5 At times really good, at times a bit repetitive.

Nu metal with emo vocals. I can see how this would appeal to angsty 13 year old boys, but I was 30 when it came out, and it just sounded like adolescent white boy whining over repetitive nu metal backing tracks; so many crunchy guitars, so much screaming, so much bad rapping and extraneous scratching. It's not as bad as the obnoxious misogyny and violent white boy entitlement of your Korns and Bizkits Limp, but I can still live without it. But I get why the young people dug it; Chester Bennington understood your pain, dude. Some reviews talk about the "innovative musical hybrid" sound of the album. Seriously, hip hop and industrial beats with metal guitars and samples and/or turntables had been done plenty of times before, going back to Tackhead in the 1980s. Hell, here's a really good Australian example from 1992; Peril's s/t album (https://youtu.be/_NjJ7nxJRdA?si=PdS4QzIV0J8c0-Wa) A lot of the credit/blame for this album's success goes to Andy Wallace, the go-to mixer for 'alternative' hard rock albums in the 90s. He had his process down pat by this stage, and the album has that super compressed gated guitar, loops, and voluminous drum sound (largely created with triggered samples) that pops on radio, but is exhausting to listen to all the way through. This album is not really my cup of tea, but it has two things in its favour: 1- it's not Limp Bizkit 2- it is appropriately brief. 37 minutes only. I'm so grateful they resisted the urge to fill the whole CD. Great call, gentlemen. For that, I give 3 stars.

The songs you remember are good, the songs you forget are bad.

Glad it's only 37 minutes long. But even then still couldn't get through it. Sure, some ok songs. But his voice doesn't do anything for me. No thanks.

Bland American rock. One of those albums that will only work for folks who grew up with it (for better or worse).

I tried, I really did, but yeah, nah.

yes, we get it, school sucks and your parents don't understand you.

Hybrid Theory For the first 2 seconds of Papercut I thought this might not be as poor as I expected, but then that annoying little guitar figure appears, then the ‘heavy’ riffing starts and then the terrible sing/rapping kicks in and it is truly awful. Obviously I’m not at all predisposed to metal or nu-metal, and despite having a soft spot for a couple of not very good Limp Bizkit songs, I was always going to struggle with this. But it is truly awful. It’s very, very dated, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it sounds so bad, the guitars, despite their ‘metalness’ are insipid and limp, his vocals, whether singing or rapping, have a really irritating tinniness and thinness, the lyrics are the worst kind of moody adolescent crap, total I’m 14 And This Is Deep vibes. Forgotten’s ‘in the middle of my thoughts’ is pure Lonely Island There aren’t even any sort of enjoyably silly moments, it’s all run through with hollow, pompous self seriousness, completely lacking in any sense of light or shade, self awareness or any glimpse of humour. And all combined with such a safe amount of metal edge - despite not being keen on the metal we’ve had at least with most of it there was a kind of sense of them meaning it, whereas this sounds so self importantly calculated and cynical. One listen is enough. Woeful. 🛝 Playlist submission: Honestly who gives a shit?

Not a bad song on this album. I know the purists won’t agree but this is a 5 star record.

I listened to this album the way it was meant to be heard, via Inuyasha AMVs

This is I would give this a 3.5 stars of I could. The singles from this album still hold up and I really still feel like even though I'm clouded by nostalgia they are good songs. But some of the the other songs are kinda forgettable either because they sound too similar or just nothing really happens. Side note, some of the other reviews on here for this album are very...close minded. You didn't like it and give it a 1 star review but my God, this album didn't hurt you. It's just music, different people like different things. Its like half the people doing this album adventure are mad they are having to listen to stuff they haven't listened to before. The point of this whole thing is listen to new things, it's ok to not like something but let's be a little civil.

I was unsure if this album was on the list because itbis not in the official selection, and I am happy itbis here in this selection. Hybrid Theory was huge in the early 00s, and as a teenager, I lived the impact- from bubblegum pop to screaming like Chester Bennington. This album is amazing, all the songs are energenitic and a banger after banger, the experiment more in the B sides. The hip hop fusion with rock they managed to do is so so iconic, impacted a whole generation, this album is so necessary for the list. My criticism in the Robert Dimery selection is that the 2000s onwards are so neglected... 4/5 RIP Chester Bennington And it goes to the day he died and I was taking the bus home and a guy was crying compulsively while singing Linkin Park.

This is pure energy. Where their strengths lie is also where their weakness is. The dual vocals bouncing off of each other and sort of pushing one another to that next level. That, gets tiresome. That’s the only flaw. Being a person who wants just a little bit more, this couldn’t offer it. So close. Choice cut: in the End

Hermoso. Además es mi infancia.

Loads of bangers, couple of fillers.

Egentlig ganske solid

Crawling in my skin!!!! Love it

Sweet album with some bangers on it. This is not typically what I listen to. But, I really enjoyed this album

Linkin park takes the stage here with some very literal heart felt lyrics, crazy futuristic sound shapes and lyrical singing combos, some really creative shit here that I dont think everyone will appreciate to its fullest, but I definitely do !!

Reminds me of being an angry teenager. I enjoyed this album, the mix of beats, rock, hip hop and angry yelling is a fun mix.

I've been waiting for this album. There's no doubt that "Papercut" is one of my favourite 2000s songs. Mr Hahn's DJ scratches give "Hybrid Theory" its charm. It's a shame Linkin Park dropped their cool sound after "Meteora". However, a few tracks on this album seem like filler. 4 stars for "Hybrid Theory".

A perfect example of an album where the hits are insane, and the rest of the album is - not good? What an essential part of my childhood Best Song: Crawling Rating: 7/10 Stars: 4/5

Awesome 2000’s rock!

Fantastic, -loved it-. Brought me back into the headspace of being a loner teenager who thought this music was 'too cool for the mainstream.' Ah, what a dumbass I was. But Hybrid Theory is still a lot of fun to listen to with its heavy riffs and strong vocals. The message it conveys, though... does not really have much substance. It's just general angst to the world.

во первых, почему сайт опять прикольнулся и подкинул ЛП после новости о камбэке, как былло с оазис?) во вторых, я конечно этот альбом пиздюком гонял как сумасшедший, но как подрос то перестал это слушать. и не слушал ЛП уже много лет. сейчас вот переслушал и чисто ностальгически кайфанул. а некоторые трэки прям сладкие. но в целом засчёт того, что ЛП от меня отлепились естественным образом поставлю не пятерку. а ещё идите нахуй хуесосы кто говорит что это музло для школьников, не тру роцк. это идеальная точка входа в рок, а уже потом из этих детей вылупятся снобы говноеды типа вас мудачков )))

Hell yeah

Easy listening rap-rock for angry teens. Old-school metalheads tend to shit on nu metal and rap-rock in general, but I think it's unfair ; it was probably a gateway drug into metal for a new generation of kids, and I think it's a good thing. Yes, it's edgy and whiny. It's overproduced and noisy. Musically, it's not very good, relying on too many rehashed gimmicks (although I did really enjoy a few of the breaks and scratches). But it gets the job done - it's the musical equivalent of vodka-redbull : cheap, goes down easy, and fuck the headache you'll certainly get tomorrow. The teenager in me had a lot of fun listening to this album. 6/10

Dam these white boys can rock and dare I even say... rap. A couple of things I found out about myself after listening to this album 1. I don't trust my government (local, state, federal etc.) 2. These no way that an attack on September 11, 2001 will ever happen 3. I hate my parents 4. Shut up when I'm talking to you The best part about this album is that it is also stuck in my CD player in 1998 Jeep wrangler and now I have no choice but to listen to this album whenever I drive my car.

Really quite enjoyable, better than most of the rap/metal I have endured so far. It helps that the musicians seem to know their strengths and hang together pretty well. Surprisingly, my 9yo Eminem fan thinks this is lame; I enjoy yelling the chorus of "In The End" sarcastically at the teenagers when they start whining anyway..

I get why they were popular but they sound very dated already.

Reasonably well mixed album. That said the lyrical content leans more on the side of edgy cringe than genuine angst. The sound is hard and heavy, but the punch pulling softens the overall appeal.

A classic nümetal album. However, even if it's very well known today, perhaps the most well known, it was not really genre defining at the time and does have its weak points.

An amazing album to hear as a pre-teen. All that pent up child/teenage angst released with a nice bit of rap/rock/nu-metal. Then a few years later I turned 16 and never played it again. Listening back as an adult I'm torn between hearing the songs as I heard them then and loving it and hearing it afresh now and realising it's pretty naff. 4* and 2* respectively for those two versions of me.

I don;'t hate it, but this strikes me as something made by committee. The only reason they had people do it is because AI wasn't there yet in the year 2000

Never listened to the band, didn't hate it but also, meh?

Histrionic guitars and shouty vocals do not equal emotional communication. A bit dull and cliched. Not a band or album I will likely play much in the future.

62/1001. Based on my idea and empirical in-the-field test I let chatgpt write this review: We listened to Hybrid Theory while frantically searching for a toilet for our son, who was in the throes of a full-blown poop crisis. As the album raged on, so did the urgency. The tension built track by track – One Step Closer indeed – but when we finally reached the bathroom, the anticipated catharsis refused to come. Much like our son’s bowels, the album struggled to deliver. Loud, angsty, and emotionally overwrought, Hybrid Theory blends rap, metal, and teen turmoil into a sonic hybrid that often feels more engineered than sincere. As a musical experiment, it fuses emotional intensity with the slick, compressed production of early-2000s nu-metal – not always successfully. In the end, this odd combination of parental panic, gastrointestinal suspense, and sonic angst is the only hybrid theory I truly found in the album.

It's ok LP is not my cup of tea!

Well... This really is not for me! I didn't enjoy it.. But I find the lyrics very basic... And the texture of the music itself gives me a headache! Album rating: ⭐⭐

There are many worse ways to deal with anger than to yell to Linkin Park, and I’ve partaken in too many to bear counting. I now admire the earnestness rather than scoff at it. This is godawful, but likeable from this distance.

Not my favourite new album experience in this project.

It's Like A Whirlwind Inside Of My Head 1001 Albums Generator 13 (04/21/2025) Recently, I have seen discourse among music discussion boards that the introduction and overuse of the word "mid" has effectively destroyed music criticism. It is a word that can be employed endlessly and requires no justification. However, I would argue that the "mid epidemic" is the latest of a string of meaningless criticism - an evolution from a criticism that Linkin Park was all too familiar with: "edgy". In the 2000's-2010's, there was nothing worse that you could be than cringe (which edgy was a subset of), and Linkin Park was a total edgy cringefest. However, Gen Z is embracing the formerly cringey. As a wise man once said: "Kill not the part of you that is cringe; kill the part of you that cringes". As such, this band, especially this album and Meteora, have seen quite a critical reevaluation by the youth as of late. Is this an instance of Gen Z rebellion against their uncool Millennial counterparts, or is it a well-deserved reframing of an unfairly disrespected band? The hits off of Linkin Park's debut, Hybrid Theory, are really quite good. The opening track, Papercut, is probably my favorite song by the group. It features a really interesting electronic sounding guitar part and a great, catchy chorus. One thing that Linkin Park does not get nearly enough credit for is their pop sensibilities. It really is no surprise to me that they got as popular as they did. This song also has this really cool drum thing where halfway through the verses, the drums switch from a closed hi hat to open, which to my ears gives the impression of going into a halftime grove, even though the timing hasn't actually changed; it's just pure genius on display. In addition to this song, the two biggest hits on this album are the oft memed In The End and Crawling. The two biggest sins of Linkin Park in the eyes of the cringe police are on this album, and both of them are honestly pretty good in retrospect. The verses of Crawling are very forgettable, but that chorus is electric. In The End is the finest example of LP's songwriting trope of Mike Shinoda rapping on the verse and Chester Bennington belting the chorus. This song is iconic, and no amount of calling it cringe will change that. Outside the hits, there are a couple of other bright moments. A Place For My Head has a great Phrygian groove and is probably the most memorable guitar part on this album. It also has one of the heaviest moments on the album in its bridge. Pushing Me Away is good but ultimately comes off as a slightly worse version of In The End. By Myself has a really heavy riff, but a terrible verse part that feels so whiny. The vocals on this album in general just do not sit well with me. I feel so bad saying that about a hometown hero like Chester Bennington (the house he lived in when he tragically took his own life was really close to where I grew up), but I've just never really bought his whole thing. There are moments on this album, such as the chorus of Forgotten, where his voice sounds more nasal than oral. In general, the mixing on this album is very much a product of its time. Anyone familiar with the contemporary history of music production will know what I mean: Hybrid Theory is a victim of the Loudness War. This thing is compressed to fucking shit. In spite of this, there are production moments that I like. The electronic elements can be really cool, especially seen on Papercut and the interlude Cure For The Itch. The guitar tone on this is also one of the best that I have heard in nu-metal. So, is the critical re-evaluation Gen Z rebellion and counterculturalism or well-deserved and long overdue? Well, Hybrid Theory has high highs and features iconic pop-oriented choruses with great guitar tones. However, it has lots of filler, rough mixing/mastering, and a dated sound. I would say the good and bad elements just about outweigh one another, so unfortunately, the jury is still out. 2.5/5, rounded down to 2/5. Favs: Papercut In The End A Place For My Head Least Fav: Runaway

"The best-selling rock album of the 21st century". What if that said more about the state of rock than it being an endorsement of this?

I was prepared to give this a go, but I just do not like it. Nu-Metal crossed with bad rap. I can appreciate some of the creativity, but I won't be spinning this one again.

linkin park has not aged well. still fun despite its corniness but the hits on this thing still hit. you're better off just listening to the top songs of this n skipping the rest

Like bits of this, but similar to a lot of nu-metal it can feel a bit plastic to me. Not sure what itis, maybe over production, too much compression...not sure, but everything feels like it has a sheen, like it's somehow restrained and lacking depth. Lyrically, the overuse of first person moaning about relationships can get tiring, there is a lot of 'tell' and not much 'show' going one, with lyrics telling us how the singer feels, but not giving much story / context.

As if the deliberately misspelled name wasn’t enough warning. This has all the tropes of the era and milieu: screamy-anthemic choruses, James Hetfield tough-guy vocals, unfocused white male rage, hip-hop/funk breakbeats and a ridiculous sense of drama that veers into parody. It sounds like emo for incel internet chat-room trolls. Awful.

What was this genre called? Rap-metal? Nu Metal? Whatever it was it was a blip of something that seemed interesting at first that quickly proved to not be not at all interesting. It some how made both rap and metal worse. I lump these guys in with Limp Bizkit and early Kid Rock. Is that fair? Maybe not. They maybe found a sound, but never found substance. Maybe a fun listen while drunk at a party down by the river in 2000 but beyond that...nope. No need to hear this again.

I FUCKING HATE LINKIN PARK

"I'm 14 and angry but my mum won't let me listen to proper metal"

Metal but it feels so commercial and inauthentic

Embarrassingly awful.