Hybrid Theory or Meteora?

[Mekanos]

My Backstreet Boys/NSYNC thread was fun so let's do another turn-of-the-century music nostalgia head-to-head battle.

Except this time it's civil war.

Linkin Park's two most iconic and defining albums. The basis of millions of angsty anime AMVs. Which will come out on top?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_Theory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteora_(album)

 

[Matador]

The one that has the most songs featured in Kingdom-Hearts & Advent Children crossover FMV's.

 

[Takyon]

Gonna have to choose meteora

 

[randomhugs]

Why not both?

 

[Alvaro]

Hybrid Theory

 

[PCfromNYC]

Hybrid Theory has "In The End" so it wins by default.

 

[HustleBun]

Meteora shined when the band tried new things (Breaking the Habit, Faint, Lying From You) and disappointed me when it tried to ape songs from Hybrid Theory (Somewhere I Belong, Figure.09, Numb).

I also think Numb is one of their weakest songs.

Hybrid Theory hit me at the right time in all the right ways. I couldn't skip a single song. No fat on the album, the production and instrumental on Crawling haunted me, I was obsessed with By Myself and With You. I loved that album.

PS- some of the tracks on Thousand Suns have aged pretty well, despite it's poor reception upon release.

 

[Greyline108]

Reanimation.
Honestly, I have a hard time going back to those two albums because they take me mentally to a very awkward phase in my life, but if I really had to pick, I think I'd have to go with Meteora. Faint and Breaking the Habit rank higher for me than anything on HT.

 

[Deleted member 23212]

Hybrid Theory is my favourite album, so it'd definitely be that. Though Meteora is great too.

 

[Mekanos]

Meteora shined when it broke formula (Breaking the Habit, Faint) and disappointed me when it tried to ape songs from Hybrid Theory.

Hybrid Theory hit me at the right time in all the right ways. I couldn't skip a single song.

PS- some of the tracks on Thousand Suns have aged pretty well, despite it's poor reception upon release.

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I think this is my feeling as well. Hybrid Theory is incredibly consistent. Meteora has highs and lows.

Though the two Meteora songs you singled out are great, Somewhere I Belong is definitive LP track for me as well. It was the first song I listened to after the news about Chester broke.

 

[Mozendo]

Hybrid theory for me, love Forgotten.

 

[ZeoVGM]

A Thousand Suns.

 

[DragonSJG]

Hybrid Theory

 

[Deleted member 6730]

Meteora is technically better but it's also the early Linkin Park album I listened to the least. I have more nostalgia for Hybrid Theory personally.

 

[NotLiquid]

Man I don't even know. Between the two I want to say Meteora is the album I have the most childhood memories of, and none of the tracks on Hybrid Theory hit the same highs as Breaking the Habit.

But at the same time Hybrid Theory has a lot more consistency in its track selection, and it did give birth to Reanimation...

 

[Melkezadek]

Hybrid Theory. Meteora was a good evolution of the sound, but every song on HT was a banger.

 

[Mekanos]

Man I don't even know. Between the two I want to say Meteora is the album I have the most childhood memories of, and none of the tracks on Hybrid Theory hit the same highs as Breaking the Habit.

But at the same time Hybrid Theory has a lot more consistency in its track selection, and it did give birth to Reanimation...

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Reanimation is the GOAT album but I didn't list it because it would be a blowout.

 

[TwntyOneTwlv]

Hybrid Theory for sure. Meteora is just Hybrid Theory Part 2. A lot of that album is derivative. Not to say there aren't great songs on Meteora because there definitely are. But I'm gonna have to go with Hybrid Theory.

 

[Okabe]

Reanimation

 

[King Alamat]

Meteora has more variety in its samples, the songwriting is a bit more tighter and it's the one with "Breaking the Habit", which is not only indisputably one of the band's top three songs, its success enabled them to be more adventurous with their future projects. It also doesn't help that aside from "In the End" and "High Voltage", I see Reanimation as a complete improvement over Hybrid Theory and even then, those two remixes aren't even bad, I just prefer the original instrumentation. The only real downsides are the lyrics, which were essentially focus-tested by Don Gilmore wanting to appeal to the ten-year old in Ohio or whatever the quote was and Mike's rapping, which was both sluggish and basic compared to what he'd done just the year before and what he'd go on to do on the Rising Tied and Minutes to Midnight.

Spoiler

And yeah, I know the version of "High Voltage" on the bonus disc for Hybrid Theory was itself a remix, but that's the one that got played live a couple of times, so I'm saying it's the definitive version.

 

[Aine]

Meteora's the stronger album.

 

[HustleBun]

I think this is my feeling as well. Hybrid Theory is incredibly consistent. Meteora has highs and lows.

Though the two Meteora songs you singled out are great, Somewhere I Belong is definitive LP track for me as well. It was the first song I listened to after the news about Chester broke.

Click to shrink...

Well said.

Hybrid Theory is more consistent as an album but Meteora has arguably higher highs

That's fair about SIB, I don't that it's a bad song, it's just really safe and does exactly what people made fun of Linkin Park for doing, copy-pasting a formula and hoping to repeat the same success.

But yeah, when Chester died I listened to every single LP album again with my gf who studied music theory and song writing at Berkley. I was relieved that she was not only cool with listening to the albums (had only heard a handful of singles) but was pretty into a lot of what she heard. I was prepared for criticism.

I stopped feeling like a fan after realizing that I only really liked a few songs on each of their latter four albums. I also went through a phase of exploring different kinds of hip-hop, indie bands, jazz and became self-conscious about my nu-metal past.

Now I don't fucking care.

Linkin Park had some awesome songs.

 

[Arc]

The results are right down the middle which makes sense because they're kind of the same album (not that that's a bad thing!)

 

[Soapbox Killer]

"Meteora" was nice but I bought "Hybrid Theory" twice
-Lupe

 

[ZeroX]

Collision Course

 

[Hecht]

Meteora has less (IIRC) songs that follow the pattern of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-screaming for no reason for a minute-chorus, so it wins for me

 

[shnurgleton]

Meteora was the only album of theirs I could stomach.

 

[Bruceleeroy]

I can't choose I love them both too much

 

[DarthSontin]

Meteora is slightly better

 

[Mage_of_Cinder]

Both

 

[jviggy43]

Why not both?

 

[zeitgeist]

Hybrid Theory (and Reanimation)

I liked Meteora too though.

 

[HomokHarcos]

Hybrid Theory, although I do really like Meteora.

 

[Damn Silly]

Hybrid Theory's the first album I listened to in its entirety so it has to be that for me.

That doesn't stop Meteora (or most other LP albums, imo) from being great though.

 

[Ottaro]

Wow, this is the first poll here where I honestly don't have an answer. This is a tough one.

 

[Deleted member 23212]

Reanimation is the GOAT album but I didn't list it because it would be a blowout.

Click to shrink...

 

[cyberninja]

Hybrid Theory by a very thin margin.

 

[kiaaa]

I was more into Linkin Park when Hybrid Theory came out and never really got into Meteora aside from the singles.

 

[Durden]

Reanimation is the true king. But between these two, HT.

 

[Poppy]

they're both in close competition in terms of quality but i picked hybrid theory

 

[Z-Beat]

Hybrid Theory but I wouldn't go against you for saying Meteora

 

[Deleted member 1476]

That was actually hard for me. I love 'em both but Hybrid Theory edges just a little bit because it doesn't get me down when I listen to it. Meteora always makes me sad, though I still like it, I just have to be in the right mood.

Even after all these years Numb and Breaking the Habit still hit me like a ton of bricks.

 

[Fulminator]

Hybrid Theory is the cornerstone of my amv years

 

[teruterubozu]

Wow tough choice. Hybrid Theory by a hair, only because it was exciting and new at the time. But both together is an incredible one-two-punch that most bands would kill to have.

 

[NotLiquid]

Click to shrink...

When the remix is so damn good that it's the only version of the song you play live for two years




Or when you start incorporating the additional bridge from the remix during those same years of live performing

 

[base_two]

This is a tough choice, but I'd give the nod to Meteora. Faint sounds like it could've came out today. That album's sound was so ahead of its time. Reanimation is better than both though.

 

[Deleted member 23212]

When the remix is so damn good that it's the only version of the song you play live for two years




Or when you start incorporating the additional bridge from the remix during those same years of live performing

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Well, that Pushing Me Away has Stephen Richards of Taproot which kind of hinders their ability to play it properly live.

 

[EloKa]

Hybrid Theory for its raw unrefined power. Also the Soldier with the butterfly wings cover became kinda iconic for LP.

 

[Soda]

I would have said HT but six months ago I relistened to both and Meteora is more enjoyable for me now.

Reanimation beats both though.

 

[NotLiquid]

Well, that Pushing Me Away has Stephen Richards of Taproot which kind of hinders their ability to play it properly live.

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I know, but when they were touring for Meteora, that's the only version of the song they played. Chester and Mike performed the lyrics without Stephen's backing.