A decade ago, I was only about 10 years old. I was in elementary school at the time, and I had only known about Linkin Park through my brother. He had bought Hybrid Theory, but quickly decided that he wasn’t a fan. I listened to some songs off of Hybrid Theory, but my brother had turned me away from them (I was pretty impressionable at the time). To this day, nothing has really changed. I like Linkin Park, and he doesn’t. Back in the day, the way in which I learned about music was through ARTISTdirect on Yahoo. They had a big special on Linkin Park – they had just released “Somewhere I Belong.” Having not really listened to Linkin Park in a while, I listened to it – and I fell in love with it. Yahoo also offered an “exclusive” listen to “Lying From You.” I would come back to the site daily and listen to the two songs, over and over again. It was all I had until the album came out. At the time, CD+DVD combos were expensive – you would pay upwards of $25 to $30. For an elementary school kid, that amount was astronomical. I really wanted to buy the album, but I didn’t have the money. My dad said if I cleaned his car and made it shine, he would compensate me with as much as I needed to buy the album. I spent a day on that God-forsaken car and got my thirty dollars. Soon after, I went to Sam Goody (anybody remember that place?) and bought Meteora. I bought the CD+DVD version like I wanted, and went home and put the CD into my boom box. I listened through the whole thing a couple of times, and for me at the time, it was the coolest thing I’d ever heard. I listened to the album non-stop, and soon after used Yahoo Music to acquaint myself with the rest of Linkin Park’s music. I also might have watched The Making of Meteora a good ten times that week. In other words, Meteora was my gateway to the band. I reacquainted myself and thoroughly listened to Hybrid Theory, I found out about Reanimation and looked at different Linkin Park fan sites. I made Linkin Park edition screen names on AIM (I thought I was so cool) and tried to make my own fan site (a failure). I might say in retrospect that I became a little bit obsessed (just a little bit). But at the end of the day, I fell in love with the band. I watched LPTV religiously, and kept up with everything the band was doing. I tried to go see them so many times and never had the chance (nor the money). I bought Hybrid Theory, Reanimation, all of the different singles, everything. That summer, the band did the Faint Trading Card competition. I was in Cyprus at the time and followed the competition as best as I could. I entered and unfortunately did not win. I watched the Faint video too many times for my own good. Actually, for all of the videos that came out, I may have watched them a good 20-30 times the day they came out. There wasn’t much I could do – I was hooked. I know a lot of people give Meteora a really hard time. Many people expected more from the band after Hybrid Theory and Reanimation – people to this day tease about how a lot of the songs are watered down versions of their Hybrid predecessors. Everyone has a right to their opinion, but I think people forget that everyone had their different way of getting into the band. For me, it was Meteora. It was songs like those off of Meteora that helped me get through my adolescence – the years I held so much angst for no good reason (gotta love puberty). But in a way, that album helped. It opened up the world of Linkin Park to me – a band that I have since relied on in times of frustration, sadness, and loneliness. That world isn’t limited to the band’s music, but to their fans. If it weren’t for Meteora, I might have never come across the Linkin Park Association. I can’t even imagine what that would be like. As I said, everyone has a right to their own opinion – there are some people here on the LPA who will mercilessly rip this album to shreds. And that’s okay, but as much as that album may have meant little to some of the fan base, it really meant a lot to me. I still listen to that album every once in a while. I listen to it when I’m upset, when I’m sad – sometimes when I need to get work done and need something to pump me up. I listened to the album a lot when I went to Meteora in Greece a couple of summers ago. It may not have fit the scenery (something about “I WON’T BE IGNORED” really doesn’t resonate with ancient Greek monasteries), but it reminded me why I fell in love with the band. To this day I am thankful that I looked at Yahoo that one day and saw ARTISTdirect’s special on the band, and I remember as clear as ever the purple page that gave me the chance to listen to “Somewhere I Belong,” and I won’t soon forget how much that song and the rest of the album resonated with me. So, one piece of advice: if you have a kid, and he or she wants to buy a CD, make them clean your car and give them the money to buy it. If they’re anything like me, it’ll mean the world to them. I will close with this. Do you know that feeling when you look at an image or a picture and it just triggers feelings right away? It could be any feeling – good or bad. It’s like a rush – as if the emotions that come to mind start running through your blood. I look at that special edition blue album cover with the hunched over guy in a gas mask spray-painting and I get this feeling of nostalgia and excitement every single time – reminiscent of how I felt when I first bought the album. Every time, without fail, I can feel my goosebumps. I guess, you could say, “It never goes away.” - - - Thank you for all participating in this weekend's events! Special thanks to Joe for putting all of it together! We hope you all enjoyed the concert stream, album stream, and podcast as much as we did! We hope this weekend brought back some fond memories for many of you, as for many of us this was the first album we ever really anticipated from the band. We know that it has certainly been a nostalgic weekend for us! What is your Meteora Moment? Comment and share your first experience with the album on the forums!
Loved your story Louis, especially the parts that I'm quoting. My story even though it's a lot different than yours, it still trigger the same kind of feelings. I was a 13 year old when Meteora came out. I was in 8th grade and I had spent most of my 7th grade and the first half of my 8th listening to Hybrid Theory, I had fell in love with the band already. I remember writing the lyrics to Somewhere I Belong on paper, because I didn't know english back then (feels weird when I say that), and I felt awesome because I knew the words to the verses and none of my friends did. There was a Making the Video episode on TV for SIB, and I remember being glued to my TV with my VHS on because I wanted to record it, and I did. It was great to see the band behind the scenes. I didn't buy Meteora right away, because I didn't have the money, but my dad bought it for himself (he doesn't live with me) and since he noticed how much I liked it he gifted it to me and bought himself another copy. It was the 1st album I ever had. I listened to it every day, from beginning to end, with the booklet in my hand, memorizing all the lyrics. My favorite songs were Faint, From the Inside and Numb and I was super STOKED when those actually made it as singles! I use to record my favorite videos on VHS and Linkin Park was no exception. Meteora is special to me because along with Hybrid Theory it marks the time where I started to take the english language more seriously, and also got me through my adolescence. Linkin Park's music made me want to learn how to play guitar, everything in my life was (and probably is) about them, especially from 2003 onwards, I would write their names everywhere, do drawings, even my assignments at school were about Linkin Park, so definitely this album means a lot to me, and like Louis said, even if Meteora didn't mean a lot for some, it meant the WORLD to me back then, and I treasure and cherish those memories, as they always make me smile. To end my story I want to share this drawing I made back in 2003. I'm not sure if I had shared it with you on the Artists Corner but here you go. Thanks Linkin Park! HAPPY 10TH ANNIVERSARY METEORA!
Great story - Weird coincidence, but I was also in Cyprus during the same time you were. There were many times I felt that (when I was growing up) Meteora meant much more to me than Hybrid Theory did. Great album, despite what people say.
I was 12 years old at the time and I was still in high school when Meteora got released. I can still remember till this day getting picked up after school from parents and heading to the store and picking up the CD including the CD/DVD (which I got signed at a later date in 2007). I also remember playing it for the first time and thinking that this album is insane. I became a fan of LINKIN PARK a couple of months after Hybrid Theory got released and fell in love with that album on the first listen front to back, but for some reason Meteora stands out to me from all the other albums and will always be my favorite album of all time. Thanks LINKIN PARK!
I’m really glad to hear that some people here on LPA like Meteora. Meteora was the first Linkin Park album for me as well and I was 10 at that time too. But my situation was a bit different since I didn’t know that the Internet existed back then, so it took me a longer time to find all the information I wanted. Meteora is still my favorite album in the world!
Really good read, Louis! When Meteora came out, I was 19 working at Best Buy. I was also going to college going after a certificate in Culinary Arts. I just so happened to request the 25th of March, 2003 off with no pay. When the store opened at 10 AM, I was the first one there and I purchased the CD/DVD version. My co-workers were all "What are you doing h--, Oh yeah, Linkin Park, right?" It is so funny to me how much I was into Linkin Park's music, even back then. Everyone knew me as the Linkin Park kid. Even at work. Well, a few months before that was when I started working at a legit company. I started working at Best Buy in August of 2002. My paychecks used to go to my mom and then she would cash them out for me (and skim some off the top for herself.) I finally was able to get my own checking account and my own Debit card. Needless to say, that happened in March of 2003. Meteora was one of the first purchases I ever made on my own with my own debit card. It feels so strange to say that. Hybrid Theory I got with my lunch money on the day it came out by ditching class and Reanimation I got with some extra cash that I had saved up before I took a trip down to Pensacola Beach, Florida. It's so weird to think about where I was in my life when the albums came out... Meteora helped me really think about my studies and I realized that Culinary Arts was not for me. I went and took quite a few art courses and helped make up my mind to strive for something better than a certificate. A fun fact about Meteora, I had to buy a replacement CD because I played it so much that the disc doesn't read anymore. It was really cool leading up to the release of Meteora, even though I wasn't very "online" yet, I still read up on articles about the upcoming album. About how "Nobody's Listening" sounded the most urban on the record, despite it featuring a Japanese flute. So many memories. I guess you can say that Meteora was the one album that vaulted me into being more active with what the band was doing. It also had me become an active member of the LPU and eventually getting me into the LPST. If I get time later, I will add onto this post because I feel like I'm just going on in several different directions. I'm in a bit of a rush now to be honest.
Well written. Congrats! I have never had any negative thoughts about Meteora and still appreciate it a lot.
For me, Meteora was the album that reinforced that Linkin Park were awesome. It felt like more of a good thing at a time when I needed it most. Like HT, I don't there there was an emotion or situation where Meteora failed me. I've used it for boredom, study, drinking, loss of family, break ups, anger, and so on. People can bag it out, but it has a place in LP history that millions of people appreciate.
I remember coming up with an elaborate lie about my school having a field trip to the local theatre (located in a shopping mall) to see a film. I got dropped straight to the mall by my father because I told him I didn't want to go in for homeroom and have to take the school bus to the mall. I was in Grade 10 at the time and this sort of rebellion and sneakiness was totally out of character for me, but this was Linkin Park's new album we were talking about, and nothing was going to get in the way of me being the first person to walk into HMV when it opened. I remember feeling so nervous about mall security or an adult asking me why I wasn't in school, but luckily I didn't get stopped. I was fully prepared, with my RioVolt MP3/CD player in my pocket and 2 brand new AA batteries popped inside. The LPAssociation had opened up the previous October and I was at the very peak of my Linkin Park fandom, updating the site's news page obsessively in the months leading up to Meteora's release. Complicating matters was the fact I had made a pledge not to listen to a single clip/song aside from the lead single until the day of the CD's release, but I still had to inform the information-hungry masses of all the new developments in the Linkin Park world, from song descriptions to new clips to song/album leaks. It was tough not to crack, but the day had finally arrived when I would hear Meteora for the first time, and I couldn't wait to finally claim my prize. I waited outside the HMV for their staff to unlock the doors and open up. Through the windows I could see the Meteora display case, full of brown and blue album covers. My excitement was out of control. Finally they allowed me in. I had the album in my possession and up to the counter within 10 seconds. When I left the store I sat on a bench and carefully unwrapped the packing, being sure not to scratch the delicate digipak material. I threw in the CD, cranked the volume, pressed play and just lay there on the bench for 36 minutes and 43 seconds, fully focused on every note and word that came. The album was a masterpiece to me on that day. Not only was Meteora everything I wanted it to be, it was also everything I needed it to be, as a 15-year-old going through tough times in high school. I'm not sure if I've ever had such an emotional connection upon my first listen to any other album. Obviously I couldn't go home until school was over, because my parents would know I skipped off. So once that first listen was over, I got on the metro bus and just rode around town for hours listening to the album over and over again. I didn't even pay attention to where we were going, I was fully immersed in the sonic landscape of the album. I couldn't wait to come home and give my opinion of the album to everyone on these boards. Here was that 15-year-old's opinion: "HOLY CRAP. i just finished listening to the cd, and i must say that is freaking amazing and perfect; everything i want in a cd, it's so damn heavy too; and chesters screams are much more frequent and great! they topped hybrid theory." The album hasn't aged well for me, but it is still holds a special nostalgic place in my heart for what it meant to me back then. I'll always remember my adventures on that day!
That was a great story! I went a different way from you guys, since I wasn't a fan when Meteora came out. I only discovered LP 2 years later, both HT and Meteora at the same time. I didn't even know which one of those albums had been released before the other, and which songs belonged on which album. All I can say is...Numb made me a fan of Linkin Park. It was THE song that introduced me to LP, and to music in general. Don't Stay, Faint, Figure.09, and From The Inside made that new fandom even stronger. Those five songs remained my favorite pieces of music ever for 2 or 3 years, along with some HT songs. And to this day, I still like them for what they are. Not being a native english speaker, I never really cared for the lyrics of the album. What was important was the power behind the music, the melodies, the way I felt connected to the songs, even if I didn't understood the meaning of them. It's just... The guitar sound mixed along with Chester and Mike voices mixed along with the electronic elements...I just loved that mixture of sounds. It felt perfect for me. And it still feels good to this day. Also, I have to thank that record for all the good times it offered me through the years. When I was studying. When I was training. When I was bored. When I was angry. When I was happy. And so on. So yes, thanks LP for Meteora!
While Meteora wasn't my gateway into LP (Hybrid Theory had that honor), I so vividly remember everything about the Meteora release. I was already an enormous fan after Hybrid Theory. Linkin Park was the first rock band I really got into, and after hearing In The End, and then the rest of the album, I was ridiculously hooked on them. For that reason, the arrival of Meteora was extra special to me. The follow-up to an album I loved by a band still trying to prove themselves. I remember their website uploading Somewhere I Belong, Faint, and Numb. I listened to those songs so many times on their website. I was about 11 at this point, so I didn't have money to buy the album when it came out. I got it for Christmas in 2003. I remember sitting up at 6:30 in the morning, putting the CD into my portable CD player, and listening to it from start to finish. If Linkin Park was my favorite band leading up to Meteora, I can safely say that they became a lot more to me after that release. They've been an escape, as they have for many of you, and I know without a shadow of a doubt no other band will ever have this same impact on me. As a side-note, I got a very similar feeling after hearing Burn It Down for the first time last year. Minutes To Midnight is great, and I love A Thousand Suns, but hearing Burn It Down blasting through my speakers for the first time brought out feelings that no other band but Linkin Park can make me feel. The excitement and emotional attachments this band has made me feel over the years is ridiculous, but I'm not ashamed of it at all. I know the day will come when Linkin Park doesn't exist anymore, but until then I'm enjoying one hell of a ride with these guys. In a way I feel like I owe them so much.
This. It happened to me too. And while LIVING THINGS drew mixed opinions too like ATS, it's still to get old for me, even BID. The first time I listened to LIVING THINGS was super special, just like all the other albums and it's an undescribable feeling the only Linkin Park can give me. I am a The Rasmus fan with the same passion as for LP, but there's still no question that Linkin Park takes the number one spot and always make album release day an extra-special day, while TR doesn't approach the release with the same intensity and intrigue. Altough Meteora wasn't the 1st album I heard from LP, it was the first where I felt that level of expectation and excitement for a release. Thanks again, LP.
I remember as a little 6 year-old kid watching TV and I saw the "Numb" video on MTV. I didn't really dig in to the video, but for some reason, it was the first nu metal song I kind of liked (The Beatles were the first rock band I loved). When I bought a hits compilation that had "Numb" in it, I saw that it came from Meteora, and since I was obviously 6 at that time, I thought it was their first album. Sure I caught up to Linkin Park again with "What I've Done" and "New Divide", but after I became a devoted fan following "The Catalyst" and ATS, I learned of Hybrid Theory's existence and streamed all of LP's songs on YouTube. When I listened to Meteora, I fell in love with many of the songs, from the whiplash "Faint" to the emotional "Easier to Run" to the spectacular "Session". It was my favorite of all the albums. And that was two years ago. Now, I'm more accustomed to a huge variety of music, and I've considered Meteora as superior to HT sonically, although lyrically inferior to their other albums. Still, I constantly play the album on my phone and holds a special place in my heart. Hopefully you guys don't feel old with the beginning of my story.
I'm not from the people that write here very often, but i have to say that this topic got me excited! I really like all of your stories guys, but now it's time to write mine, although it may not be as great as the ones I read so far. So here it is. I was 10 years old when I found out about Linkin Park, thanks to my (still) best friend, when he gave me the Hybrid Theory CD as a present for my 10th birthday. But it was not the original CD, it was a copy that was burned on a Sony cd. He gave that as a present cause he found out that I like Linkin Park's Points of Authority (a differen story, maybe I'll tell you some other time). But since this topic is for Meteora, not HT, let's move on... SO! I'm 10 years old, ''hardcore LP soldier'' (you can and must laugh here) when I found out, thanks to a TV show, that Meteora is going to be released soon. My birthday is on March 17 so I immediately asked my parents if I can get it as a present for my birthday. So one week later I got my Meteora audio tape. I unwrapped it carefully and put it in the stereo. I blast it out so anyone in the neighbourhood could hear it! It doesn't sound like a cool story, but I can tell you that this was one of the best moments for me, cause my brother (six years old then) came in the room running and he was like that --> :O through the whole album... Me too ofc! I'm a little bit unlucky as it comes to listening to LP albums for first time, cause MTM came out a week after my grandpa died, ATS was released when I was in hospital, LT - when me and my family was in e big financial crisis and I couldn't afford to buy it right away... So I remember the release of Meteora as one of the greatest day in my life, and as the day that I introduced my brother to music. Now we are still LP fans, and every release of an LP album is a special moment for us. A moment that we enjoy together (when we can <-- black humor). As for the songs I can tell that I loved them all, ofc, but Hit The Floor and Sessions were my favorites back then and now too. The other thing is that I'm Bulgarian so you could pretty much tell by yourself how much I understood from the lyrics when I was 11, but fortunately my aunt is philologist (English) so she translated all the songs on paper for me! So that's it! My ''Meteora story''. And for ending my post I will quote Andreina's words, cause this is what I feel and think too: ''Altough Meteora wasn't the 1st album I heard from LP, it was the first where I felt that level of expectation and excitement for a release. Thanks again, LP.''
So I got into "Hybrid Theory" in late 2001 and listened to it nonstop until I would have more Linkin Park music to listen to. By the time the band were gearing up to release "Meteora", I was twelve and not yet a regular Internet user by any stretch. I was listening to the radio one day and the news that my favourite band had a new single out and were about to release a new album caught me completely by surprise. After that, I guess, I was obsessed with two CDs rather than just one. In the years since, I've read up a lot, trying to understand what had been going on online while I had remained blissfully unaware of what Linkin Park had been up to. My questions about the fan community's initial reactions to the song title "Somewhere I Belong" sadly remain unanswered
Meteora along with Hybrid theory got me through some really dark times in my life, and still to this day they both get me through rough times in life. Those albums saved my life and they still save my life today.
I am 14, so I am pretty new to LP. I got LT back in July at a baseball tournament, and I absolutely LOVED IT! So.... I decided to buy another LP album. That album was meteora. It was the nail in the coffin . Since then, ive bought every album and appreciate them all for what they are. As hybrid said in her post, ive become the "Linkin Park kid". People rag on me and say LP sucks and isn't cool, but I really don't care. Listening to Linkin Park gives me a feeling like no other- its unexplainable. I am so pumped for another album and Mall. I will always think of meteora as the album that got me into LP. I cant wait for the memories I know I will gain in the future from the band! Thanks LP