Meteora would actually be a really good album. Great even. I forgot how catchy some of those tunes were. Pity for those lyrics getting all the attention. Those terrible, terrible lyrics.
To be quite honest with you, a lot of the lyrics on Hybrid Theory sucked too. The demos were so much better lyrically, but they had to get watered down for both albums. I honestly really do like Meteora, and I can't say that I like Hybrid Theory that much more, but the reason A Thousand Suns dominates for me is the lyrics. They have improved so much in that area.
Oh hybrid theory was far from a bastion of intelligent and retrospective thought, but Meteora took that wangst to a whole new level.
For me, not only are the lyrics are a huge problem, obviously, but in general Meteora was more heavy - and I was never really a fan of the overly-heavy stuff.
I love Meteora to this day. I was 14 when the album came out, so at the time I could relate to the lyrics and I thought were great. Years passed before I realized they were bad and by then it was too late to start caring about that.
Agree with the bad lyrics. But it doesn't ruin the album for me. Like in SIB, Chester's lyrics are terrible, but at least Mike's are average. What still makes this album good is that it may have the catchiest guitars ever (such as Faint, SIB, Hit the Floor....) and synths as well (Lying From You, Breaking the Habit, Numb and others). And songs like Breaking the Habit and Easier to Run actually have great lyrics IMO. Meteora is still great IMO.
Did you honestly ask this? If you insist: Sometimes I/ Feel like I've trusted you too well/ Sometimes I/ Just feel like screaming at myself/ I wanna heal/ I wanna feel/ What I thought was never real/ I wanna let go of the pain I've held so long And I will never feel/ Anything else until my wounds are healed I can't feel/ The way I did before/ Don't turn your back on me/ I won't be ignored/ Get away from me/ Gimme my space back you gotta just go/ The fear and trash talkin' and the people it was to / And the people that started it just like you/ I'm becoming this/ All I want to do/ Is be more like me/ and be less like you/