Hybrid Theory

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!

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)

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.

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.

The worst. This album actually made me angry.

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.

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.

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.

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 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....

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.

RIP Chester.

Hell yeah

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.

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

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.

Bold and unpredictable. This album doesn't fall into any one category. Lyrically powerful and musically frenetic and energetic. Definitely listenable to again and again.

IN THE END NOTHING EVEN MATTERS

Another one for the memories! I was always more of a Meteora fan, but Hybrid Theory has a really big place in my heart. Song 'In The End' is extremely catchy, and I know the lyrics still after twenty-ish years. Album starts on a high note with 'Papercut' and it actually just gets better. All around, it's a very even record. With this debut album, Linkin Park position themselves on the Mount Olymp of the Nu Metal wave, and for some (like me), on the very top of it.

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.

This is a good album… The album opens with papercut a song that isn’t necessarily one of my favourites but it’s definitely the sum of all the sounds that you will get on this record. One step closer is a brilliant early album single for this band I love the lyrics to this song from the well crafted verses to the screamy yet catchy chorus! The chorus in with you is so climactic absolutely amazing tune. Points of authority is slightly more tame than the first three songs but it’s still an impressive song. The verses of crawling are very poppy i’am not too sure of they work too well for this band ( or at least at this point).Runaway also feels exactly the same. By myself has this real scream to it’s guitars that make it a really quality song. Most popular single in the end acts as the album’s climax it’s a grand song very different to the rest of the album being piano based what a song! The guitars on a place for my head are amazing just enough to make this one of the albums best. Forgotten is my favourite song on the album literally every aspect of the song impresses me pre chorus, verses, chorus, bridge all perfection! Other than the MR HANNNNNN bit cure for the itch is a cool instrumental but nothing that I would seek out. The album closes with pushing me away it’s really good it’s similar to those more “ mid” songs( crawling, runaway) with the audio dynamics but this is just so much better feels like a grand heavy finale to a near perfect album. Anyway, while this album does have lows it’s still a 5/5 as it’s very hard to deny it’s power.

just an alround great album with all time greatest "crawling" and obviously "in the end" still consider it one of the best choices i made by going to their concert a month before chester took his own life

The best!

I mean, LP is one of my favorite bands of all time. Something I will call out beyond the vocal chemistry between Chester and Mike is Joe Hahn, most notably on Cure for the Itch. His presence is the thing that ties the sounds all together in my opinion, with the Nu-Metal presence of electronic and rap sometimes coming across as jarring for other acts.

This is the zenith of teenage angst, and the best representation of nu-metal on the list IMO. They balance the metal and hip-hop/electronic elements perfectly. And I know they get a good deal of hate and are seen as posers/sellouts for not cursing, but feeling like the emotional impact is less because someone isn't using naughty words just sounds like edgy middle schooler criticism (though, this is definitely an album aimed at that demographic, so perhaps there is some point there). Shits rad yo. Tight, fun, genre-blending angst.

Had listened before. Very nostalgic, but very bitter sweet considering Chester's decision to take his life in 2017. Will listen again, 5/5

Already an album I've known and enjoyed for years

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.

This is unironically really good. Makes me feel like I'm 14 again. THIS OS WHERE YHR CRAWLING IN MY SKIN AONG IS GROM

Quite possibly my favorite album of all time.

Masterpiece!

Directo en la nostalgia adolescente. Jovencitos gritones que muy a la moda combinan la música pesada con la lírica rapeada y sin saberlo se convierten en algunos de los precursores de todo un movimiento. Poquito repetitivo pero ayuda mucho aún recordar muchas de las letras. 4.5 estrellas que voy a subir a 5 porque sí, directito en la nostalgia y me hizo agitar la cabeza con singular alegría.

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

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!

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...

There are 2 memories I associate with this album. I remember buying this album with Christmas money my grandma gave me in 4th grade. And the second is being at my friends on his trampoline. He had outdoor speakers on his house, it was this album and limp bizkit all day on the trampoline. RIP Chester :(

easiest 5 of my life

Personally a 5 because this just launched my love of music. But know this album is more of a 3.5

Just such a great album. A forever classic.

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.

Genre defining—(how do I still know 90% of these words

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.

Amazing album, amazing band

Blinded by nostalgia here. More proof as to why Linkin Park is my favorite band of all-time. These songs carry such emotional significance for me, as they introduced me to music, and are probably the foundation of my taste in punk rock today. To be totally fair, the lyrics here are very surface-level. I never felt like Chester was a brilliant lyricist, but he always wrote with raw unfiltered emotion. Which ultimately led to plain and derivative lines that Chester sold incredibly well with some of the best vocal control I've ever heard. The hooks are catchy, the screams are cathartic and it feels like every song could have been a single. Hybrid Theory is one of the most iconic albums of the 2000s. It's not LP's best record (forever a Thousand Suns superfan), but it is their most important. RIP Chester. Favorite songs: With You, Papercut, By Myself, Points of Authority, One Step Closer, Crawling, A Place For My Head, Forgotten Least favorite songs: N/A (In The End, I guess?) P.S. when I hear any song on this album, I think of Club Penguin, because I discovered LP in 2006 when I was five years old and spending every day playing the Club Penguin pizza game and watching LP/Club Penguin music videos on YouTube, like this: https://youtu.be/vCbY-9hZxwE

classic

Van sortir en el moment precís, enmig del sorgiment del nu metal, per portar el génere a unes cotes de creativitat que els seus col.legues de génere no havien assolit ni assolirien posteriorment. Un disc fora de sèrie, marcant un hite en els àlbums que tractaven la barreja de géneres, i compilant gran part de les millors cançons del rock d'aquells anys en un sol disc

Linkin Park is such a weird band. Accused of making the same record over and over, they release something completely different but it sucks. Accused of being to squeaky clean, they try to dirty up their image with a remix album that was explicit lyrics. It looked desperate and they still seemed like a bunch of nice boys, which I am sure they hated. Meanwhile, this record is a legit banger. The perfect album for the end of FM radio rock.

Первый альбом Linkin Park. Это классика! Это легенда. Он выпущен в 2000 году, но его все еще очень приятно слушать.

This is the album that got me into music. Still one of my favorites of all time.

Good for trainning

Super duper

I remember when the follow-up album Meteora came out and I was a 12-year old kid trying to figure out his tastes in music and I heard Numb on MTV and it was the best thing ever. Some years later, I derided Linkin Park as way too mainstream and "Not real metal". A few years after that, my musical horizons expanded again. "Real metal" was not the defining criteria for good music anymore and I rediscovered Linkin Park for what they were: a very good band that produced an accomplished mix of styles and put them together into an angry and angsty, yet shining and mass-appealing package. Now, it's been quite a while since I last listened to them. And I don't think this will ever be a record that I spin on repeat - too shallowly angry for that. But I enjoyed this one spin a lot and still think they were a great band. Now let me revisit Meteora as well.

One of the big listens of nu-metal and a replacement for the punk of our parents.

Modern classic

CRAWLING IN MY SKINNNNNNN THESE WOUNDS THEY WILL NOT HEAAAAAALLLLLLLLL So many classics 5 stars

Mega, immer noch....weckt Emotionen u Erinnerungen

All time favorite.

I've listened to this album so many times and I love it! Probably in my top 10 of my favorite albums of all time.

On nostalgia alone I would give this 5 stars. However I can’t do that so I give it 5 stars for Chester’s haunting vocals and defining a generation of alternative rockers.

There arent many albums I can point to that really set off my love for music but this is one of them. There probably isn't an album I've listened to more in my life than this. RIP Chester and thanks for everything you did for me and music as a whole.

Not a bad song on this album. When I was a freshman in college, "One Step Closer" was a big MTV hit. I bought the cd because back in 2000, I bought the CD of any album that had a song I loved. Upon the first listen, I realized that was a band that was much more than they appeared on the surface. Nu metal is often criticized as mimicking other genres but comes off like it's trying to hard. This album has elements of metal/screaming, hip hop, and melodic rock and it does all of it exceptionally well. This might be one of my favorite albums we've had yet.

Mind

5 stars for my favorite so far. Biased maybe but it's still a solid 5 star

I remember when I first saw them on MTV. It was crazy to see Rap and Metal together. Even if they didn't invent it, they helped popularize a new genre. Also, the album is great from A to Z.

I was 17 when these guys exploded onto the scene, and I couldn't have been MORE the target audience. Those were some formative years and these guys were part of my identity almost. I played this CD so much it's permanently engraved on my brain, to the extent I could probably not listen to it for another 50 years but still somehow remember all the lyrics. I'm aware that the nostalgia factor has woven its way firmly into my rating, but I think if I heard it for the first time today... I think I'd still be on-board. I'd definitely have some heavy eyerolls at some of the overly-dramatic lyrics. I can't go on! The face inside! Paranoia! Pain! However, I think I'd still massively appreciate how many brilliant hooks and singalong choruses are in here. You can't deny how great some of these songs are. To me these guys hitting when they did, it was lightning in a bottle. Everything came together, riding the nu-metal wave, Chester's raw vocals, Mike Shinoda's rapping, the heavy riffs, the soaring choruses. I love it. What a debut.

What can I say other than this album is everything I want from emo-type rock. It’s not perfect, but it’s one of the best

A revelation of an album that still endures today. "In the end, it doesn't even matter." I beg to differ. RIP, Chester. RIP.

Zalige plaat! De diepte van de nummers is zeker een meerwaarde

This album is like a teleportation device that instantly brought me back to middle school. I don't think I can separate my nostalgia from an honest music review on this one. Linkin Park were one of the bands that I would consider the soundtrack to my youth. I can clearly remember the first time I heard Linkin Park. I was sitting in the basement listening to Much Music, as a kid in Canada would do in those days. This song came on that was heavy, with screamed vocals, and hip hop mixing going on in the background. I was just starting to dip my toe into the "hard rock/metal" scene at the time, and was also hard into listening to hip hop, so this was a blend of the two music genres I was fond of, so it immediately grabbed my interest. The music video had a super industrial feel to it. Then came Chester's hook in the middle of One Step Closer, where he yells "Shut Up" several times with increasing intensity, and I was hooked. These lyrics immediately spoke to me as I was in my "rebellious youth" phase of life. From the song One Step Closer: "Everything you say to me, Takes me one step closer to the edge, And I'm about to break! I need a little room to breathe, Cause in one step closer to the edge, And I'm about to break!" Chester was saying what I wished I could, so I immediately went to the store "Records on Wheels", bought this album, and proceeded to fan boy everything they put out until into my high school years. I must have listened to this album hundreds of times in those years. Nu metal has always held this stigma that it is an "introduction to metal" which I would agree with. For Someone just trying to get into the metal scene, I was finding that bands like Slayer or Sepultura scared the shit out of me. Bands like Linkin Park or Korn were firmly rooted in the same metal style, but wasn't so abrasive, so it was almost like a stepping stone to the heavier and darker bands of true metal. Chester Bennington's voice was absolutely stellar! I simply love the live video that accompanied the song Given Up, where he held a scream for 17 seconds. Amazing. That powerful voice, coupled with Mike Shinoda's turntable work created this softer, more welcoming metal/hop hop hybrid that just immediately hit with me. Overall, an amazing trip down memory lane to some great times in my life, when things were simpler, and time ran slower. I have a soft spot for this music, this band, and specifically this album that will always be there. RIP Chester, you were a hell of a frontman, and were gone too soon! Favourite songs: In The End, One Step Closer, Papercut, Crawling, Points of Authority, Runaway, A Place For My Head, Forgotten Least favourite song: if forced to pick: Cure for the Itch 5/5

Since this is one of the first CDs I bought with "my" own money, and it also contained some of the first songs I downloaded as illegal .mp3 files. My emotional memory already ensures a 5-star rating. However, besides my good memories, this album also represents the synthesis of the 2000 rock songs. It represents the feeling of these lost years, with all the remaining angry and revolutionary mindset from the 90s, while also being a preview of all the following musical tendencies of that time: the rap-rock ascension, the emocore feeling that would dominate all the charts of the decade and even a kind of prediction of what would become trap/hip-hop for the next decade, incorporating all the angry (and sadness) of the 90s and 2000s accumulated. Meteora is a better Linkin Park album, but this one absolutely is a hors concours for me.

The first thing I brought with my first pay-cheque in 2001. An incredible album that I loved then, and love now - with the lyrics hitting even harder. Superb

This album changed my life

RIP to the goat. In the end, it does matter!!!

Yet another ex-1001 album!™ http://1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie.wikidot.com/album-artists-a-z-ex That said, it's still a favourite of mine. I'd listen to this all the time back then... and still often do now!

Holds up. Still goes H A R D.

Love it

Love love love

Awesome album from a awesome band.

Love Linkin Park!

Love this album, have it on vinly

Major sentimental throwback to my youth here and very happy that even 20 years later I still rate the album as high as back then

What a proper album. The production is absolutely perfect. Not too polished, but tight and the songs carry the same sound giving the songs a cohesive belonging. Chester’s voice carries the album while the unique blend of hip hop and hardcore create something so tough but vulnerable. In the end, pun intended, you have a masterpiece in a genre that very few achieve such recognition and success in.

Love this album.So many good songs.Best nu-metal band.Chester’s voice is so good and yeah the rapping might seem a bit dated now but it’s still amazing.

What the hell is this? Turntable scratching, power guitar, electronica, rapping, piano, and lots and lots of screaming. Do I like it? I think I do... Wild.

Очень цельный альбом, что сильно понравилось. И музыка не звучит излишне попсовой, как мне раньше представлялось в детстве.

Reminds me of junior high!

Started out as a three but it grew on me. How could it not? Just some angry boys having fun. Kind of like a low rent Rage Against the Machine.

Great Album. I used to listen to this all the time when it came out. Now, 22 years later, Some of the songs, I don't remember, but there are some real classics here: In the End, Papercut, One Step Closer, Crawling, My December. 4/5

Didn’t age as well as I thought but still really fun. Guitars were way more present and heavier than I remembered.

4.5/5 good album <3

nice

I tried so hard and got so farrrrr

-"One Step Closer" is nice and heavy, very easy to sing along to on your first listen. I also really like the chorus. Maybe it's the alternating lines with long, extended notes and then faster lines? It's cool -"Crawling" has the classic "Crawling in my skin / These sounds, they will not heal" -The vocal distortions on the screams throughout "By Myself" are pretty crazy -"In the End" doesn't really stand out as a track other than the fact I am already very familiar with it. Maybe it's just the most digestible, which made it the most popular track? I'd say I like "One Step Closer" or "Crawling" more. Not a bad song, just not sure why it's the mega-popular one over the others -Big heavy intro in "A Place for My Head" -Basically all solid tracks. Keeps great energy throughout without getting boring. Lots of fun riffs and vocal melodies. Solid album

an absolute classic ™

recommended on 20th of july - nice

Linkin Park's first album remains their absolute best, and it set a great journey for the subsequent albums as well as the groundwork for their evolution into being a softer band. In a way, listeners got to see a band grow mature from the young and hype-capable to the older and more intentional. Hybrid Theory came at a time when metal/rapcore fatigue started to set in with bands like POD and Limp Bizkit. While with POD, clean lyrics and meaningful messaging were broad in their appeal, their over-exposure up and to their sophomore album with Atlantic wore out the original audience reasonably quickly. Limp Bizkit, even at the height of their popularity, remained 18+ with narrower demographic appeal with a push towards douchebags being loud, giving ballcaps a bad name, to some just weird imagery in their songs. Between all that, Hybrid Theory is released and scratches a certain itch that had been growing. There was a bit of a pendulum swing or crises of identity with listeners in the early aughts between emo and hardcore, two extremes that sort of defined the bipolar nature of 17-19 year olds at the time. Hybrid Theory managed to catch both the aggression and angst giving the people stuck in the middle a stable ground of sorts, which if honesty is the best policy, a very needed element for this crowd. Chester's vocals are a clean scream with lyrics easily understood, and Mike Shinoda's rap contributions are equally clear with a clean delivery. This combination, while not necessarily original was a better marriage between the rock and rap genres than their contemporaries. Musically, the band hit hard where it needed to, and it carefully matched lyrics with its energy. Well-rounded, well-sung, well-rapped, well-played, Hybrid Theory changed the game quite a bit.

Linkin Park's first and greatest effort, only coming close with their next album Meteora. Tons of hits, melodic yet hard, and somehow are able to maintain the momentum from track to track. You can hear influences of KoRn in songs like "Runaway." The duo vocalists are an incredible combo, characterizing their unique sound and appealing to different audiences that it's no wonder they were so mainstream. I was going to say it's greatest weakness was that it loses its momentum in the last few tracks, but then I realized the last track is actually "Pushing Me Away" which is actually a decent finish right when "Cure for the Itch" chills the mood. I describe the melody as electronic in form, industrial in the types of samples and effects, hip hop in their style of usage, and doom metal in the medium they use to create these effects ("A Place for My Head" being the most metal). What I'm trying to say is that I can understand why most nu metal and post-grunge bands would suck in the coming years if they tried mimicking this style without properly understanding how it's used. The melodies are mostly boring, but there are some iconic themes stuck in my head after 2 decades. Maybe other people interpret it differently, but this style of rock is like nothing else, with the closest analogue being the intensity and heaviness of industrial and thrash or doom metal. Favorites: One Step Closer, Points of Authority, Crawling, In the End

Not for me. That being said you cant deny their catchiness. damn them.

Never gonna be a personal fav but I think this album earned 4 stars.