Ummmmm... What? The lyrics in Meteora are total garbage. Back when Linkin Park only knew the words "you" "me" "I" and "lies". Oh, and they knew how to rhyme heal, feel, and real. Thought out lyrics indeed.
Meteora was a better exercise in making a plethora of musical genres palatable for a a "hard rock" audience, but had very few songs that were genuinely good on their own merits, whereas Living Things a better example of them really blending the genres into some seemless blur, but while the end result was a little more appealing in terms of an "original sound" point, the album for the most part sounds very samey, though oddly enough like Meteora, has a few really standout songs. In the end, they both do completely different things and still end up in the same place, albeit Meteora failed with too much variety where Living Things dropped the ball with not enough. I give Living Things the edge, though.
Meteora was pop metal record. LT is almost straight pop. The only similarity is the return to radio friendly songs. And while the lyrics are much more thought out they've kind of returned back to the angsty lyrics. But with that said the lyrics are A LOT more thought out and just better in general. Which goes back to the point that you can't compare because of bands gained experience.
Wat. Okay. Comparison time. _________________________ "I CANT FAINT, THE WAY I DID BEFORE, DON'T TURN YOUR BACK ON ME, I WON'T BE IGNORED!" vs "Fly me up on a silver wing, past the black where the sirens sing, wash me up in the nova's glow, and drop me down to the dream below" __________________________ "IT'S EASIER TO RUN, REPLACING THIS PAIN WITH SOMETHING NUMB, IT'S SO MUCH EASIER TO GO, THAN FACE ALL THIS PAIN HERE ALL ALONE" vs "Weep not for roads untravelled, weep not for sights unseen, may your love never end, and if you need a friend, there's a seat here alongside me" ___________________________ "DON'T STAY, FORGET OUR MEMORIES, FORGET OUR POSSIBILITIES, WHAT YOU WERE CHANGING ME INTO" vs "You hid your skeletons when I had shown you mine, You woke the devil that I thought you'd left behind, I saw the evidence, the crimson soaking through, ten thousand promises, ten thousand ways to lose" ____________________________ "Can't you see that you're smothering me, holding too tightly, afraid to lose control, 'cause everything that you thought I would be, has fallen apart right in front of you" vs "Like shining oil this night is dripping down, stars a slipping down, glistening, And I'm trying not to think of what I'm leaving now, no decieving now, it's time you let me know, let me know" ____________________________ I COULD go on, but the obvious thing: The lyrics in Living Things are INCOMPARABLE to the lyrics in Meteora. The lyrics in Living Things are deeper, and a lot less angsty than those in Meteora. I don't feel that they've returned to "Angst". This time around, even in the emotional songs; the lyrics are more personal, relationship-driven, and not like teenage angst. These could be read as if they were from the perspective of a serious relationship. I fail to see that in Meteora at all; since Meteora was most definitely full of the whole teenage Angst thing.
You guys are missing the whole point of Meteora! I was just watching an interview the other day from LP, from 2007, and Chester basically said they made the album because the label thought they were going to fail with a sophmore album. So the band was like ''Oh yeah? Watch this''. That comment basically means they made the album to purposely sound like Hybrid Theory, except bigger and badder, which they essentially did. They made the lyrics super angsty, they made the music angry, they turned up the guitars, and people still loved that album, it sold very well for a sophmore album. LP accomplished what they were trying to do. And that is also why Meteora is the least creative LP album.
Actually it's "I can't feel." Everyone will keep hating me for this, but listen to Hit the Floor with an open mind. The lyrics are well thought-out.
I like Meteora, however, I don't see a point in comparing one song or album to another when it comes to Linkin Park's music. This thread... I'm trying to think of something intelligent to say here, but all I can come up with it this:
They are totally fucking comparable! They are two albums by Linkin Park that are nearly the same length with 12 songs and made for the same purpose, which one of those albums sucks less? Saying you can't compare old to new means you might as well not compare HT to Meteora.