I posted this topic on reddit as well but I'd like to bring it over here so I can get more input from more dedicated fans. "So recently I've been looking through peoples' favorite LP albums and I realized that you rarely see hybrid theory or meteora as the least favorites. Personally, they're my least favorite albums. And that's because, even though there is some experimentation and uniqueness, there's not much of it. Definitely not as much as there is in their new albums. I think they're less creative than any other albums. But I think some people will always see them as the best albums because they were the start of a new style of music. The new albums aren't recognized for their unique tastes. I've always hated that their most popular songs are "Numb" or "Crawling." Because those would never be my favorites. They're so bland compared to their new stuff. I would love to see songs like "Mark the Graves" or "Wretches and Kings" to get really popular. So tell me what you think about this. I'm interested to see how many other people think this way. edit: I should add this; this may only be my opinion because I only recently started listening to LP. The Hunting Party is what got me listening. But that's not to say I'm not a huge fan, because I am. I have every single song and demo they've ever made. And I respect them all. But I mainly started by listening to a lot of Living Things. So to me, that's who Linkin Park is, but not limited to. I like all their songs/albums. Some are just better than others."
I've seen "favorite album" polls before, and you're right, it's normally first. But I think people look at it with the mentality of "This was the start of something new. There's no other music like this" and that's all they remember about it. But all of their new music is the start of something new. It seems that most people don't open their mind to new music. And I did that in the form of other bands. I love LP. To me, nothing compares to them. So finding other bands that I liked was difficult but I started listening to other music and appreciating it. Think of it this way. I used to hate Twenty One Pilots, but I opened my mind to them, and now they're my second favorite band. Some people hate A Thousand Suns, but if they just opened their minds to it, it could end up being their favorite album. I hated A Thousand Suns when I first heard it but it's now my second favorite album.
Just like me when i've heard or saw Stressed Out EVERYWHERE i really hate them because they were to Mainstream. but after i've really gived them a listen, now i really love VESSEL & BLURRYFACE. And back to the main theme. YES! HT/METEORA are overrated as fuck. repetitive simple nu-metal tune that got sold more than 40 million copies. AWAIT DESTRUCTION
In my opinion, Hybrid Theory and Meteora are both good albums. Hybrid Theory being much more better than Meteora for me. I think that every LP album has their own personality and uniqueness, even Meteora being very similar to the predecessor. With that being said, I will start. Are both albums overrated? Yes. They are overrated because comparing to the newer stuff, we can clearly notice that the vocabulary is much more limited and maybe immature? than their recent stuff. Less experimental, less risky and they lack of variability. So, I think in a certain way they are overrated because some fans tend to define these first two albums as the best work of the band until recent date. Which, again personally, I don't think it's true. Honestly, I don't think that these two albums deserve to be very acclaimed by fans. Don't miss my point, I love both albums and actually Hybrid Theory is second in my list of LP albums. Why am I saying that maybe they don't deserve this acclamaition? Well, because I don't think they are that complex, or the masterpiece that they usually say. There is far more better albums out there. This is my opinion, and music is very subjective and you will never come to a conclussion or to an agreement. There are people that love Hybrid Theory and Meteora, but hate A Thousand Suns or Living Things. At the same time, there are another bunch of people that prefers their recent stuff over the older stuff. And finally, there are people like me that we just love music, and we listen to a lot of genres, so we are satisfied with everything the band has made and we are eager to listen to what they've cooked in the studio.
I agree. They're good but I don't think they're the best. They're my least favorite albums but that doesn't mean I don't like them. I just personally think all of the other albums are better.. well, unless you include Recharged. But that's beside the point. All their music is good. But not all is great.
Nah, I don't think they're overrated. I think most people actually agree that every album after that is better than Meteora and HT. The most vocal people tend to be the minority and they're the ones you see on YouTube comments and whatnot.
Pretty much any work that is considered the best is "overrated." I'd say no. I think aspects of those records are overrated but like all LP albums, they play a role in their immense discography. For example, HT has better rapping from a pure technical standpoint then ATS, but ATS is more musically complex. MTM is better lyrically than Meteora, but Meteora has more variety in sounds and style. Plus their records cover different ground and ideas. I do think Meteora is weak lyrically but I think HT has a good range of vocabulary/imagery on songs like With You, Runaway, Forgotten, In The End, even Crawling. Sure are some of the messages juvenile? Yes. But a lot of great artists have juvenile lyrics or messages when young. Hybrid Theory was the first and only nu metal album to utilize interesting rapping and hard alternative rock with catchy choruses and it still holds an original place in their discography. Even if a nu metal, rap rock album is better, HT will be considered the first. Meteora is just an extension, and anything after is an evolution. Tearing down an album doesn't make another one better. They are all part of the evolutionary process and all do aspects better and worse than others.
Absolutely. It amazes me that even the Pitchfork-types who scoff at Linkin Park will usually say something like "but Hybrid Theory was good." Like...what? What is it about *that* album that makes it so good compared to their others? I'd suggest that anything good about HT and Meteora is done better on other Linkin Park albums.
Nostalgia is a powerful force. IMO yes, Hybrid Theory and Meteora are extremely overrated. They are the worst albums in the band's discography by far. But don't tell that to the mindless Youtubers.
But the question isn't "is it good." Is it overrated is the question. Even if it was their best album, it could still be overrated. It seems to me like it's thought to be better than it is.
Hybrid Theory didnt went Diamond for no reason. It beat all the other stuff when it comes to Nu-Metal, so thats it.
Technically, Linkin Park is a massively overrated band. Guys are currently the most succesfull rock act on Earth, yet there is a ridiculously big amount of other bands who are composing much more elaborated music. That said, I believe HT and especially Meteora benefit from that easy-on-the-ear, immediate catchiness other LP albums don't have.... At least not on that level. Both records have a massive pop appeal, and some of the chorus in there have become huge crownd anthems. On its own, that's actually a quality. Not everyone can create super-easy, super accessible, super catchy songs in five minutes, and make them go Diamond. As dumb as it sounds, I guess they had that "magic". No other "nu-metal" band could achieve that. LIVING THINGS, while being their poppiest effort to date, couldn't either.