Linkin Park's best album

[Mystery]

You can post your thoughts on this little article that I wrote up. Agree, disagree, anything works. It's the whole point of this thread, let alone the forums.

 

Linkin Park in my opinion does have their best album. It is Hybrid Theory. Yes this album is better than the more polished copy Meteora, yes it is better than the clean and simplistic Minutes To Midnight, and even better than the cacophonic electronic overdose of A Thousand Suns. Why am I making this statement, especially after having a different opinion 2 months ago?

 

Hybrid Theory had it all. Every song could've been a single on that album. There was a hint of some electronica with the light synths, scratching, and glitched vocals. There was a hint of some rock with the clean guitars, pianos, and soft vocals. There was hint of some nu metal with the dark distorted guitars and screams. There was a hint of hip-hop with the rapping verses. There was a hint of everything, and it all blended cohesively. The lyrics were written very simply. There wasn't a metaphor that you had to wrap your head around, there wasn't a distorted political speech that had several different meanings because of the way it was used. There was simple lyrics that talked about life whether it be regrets, heartbreak, and something the average human would experience. Yes, more challenging and creative lyrics are a great thing in music, but the simplicity and easy-listening of Hybrid Theory proves how great the album is. A 12 year old could listen to this album, same with a 17, 22, 27, and 32, 42, 62 year old and understand what the lyrics mean.

 

Meteora was a good follow-up, but at the same time was more of the same. Alot of the songs felt like previous songs from the band. You can figure out the comparisons, but for a good example or two, you have In The End - Somewhere I Belong, and Pushing Me Away - Numb. They are basically the same. The album also sounds more radio friendly. The lyrics are a notch down, and the music is a bit more polished.

 

Minutes To Midnight was a step in the right direction, but they dived to much into ballads. They easily could've had two or three, but the album ended up having around four or five. There could've been at least two more songs with rapping in them, or something similar to their older music just to give fans an easier transistion. "Blackbirds" and "QWERTY" are two songs that could've made this album an instant hit. QWERTY is the Linkin Park we all love and know, while Blackbirds teases the new soft style, while keeping that hip-hop edge. The album was good, but could've been better. Alot of the music can be compared to other bands. Once again, i'm saving my comparisons, but the most famous, Shadow Of The Day - U2.

 

We aren't talking: "you broke my heart and it hurts so much, in the end my life really sucks". There are some clever lyrics in this record. Many people could say "A THOUSAND SUNS IS SO CREATIVE HOW DARE YOU SAY THIS ALBUM ISN'T THEIR BEST". It isn't. It tries to be cohesive when it really isn't. One moment you're haunted by a choir and a female electronic voice, the next minute you're listening to a club-like song with dreadful monotone singing. Then of course you hear a beautiful orchestra of crickets. A Thousand Suns looks more of an attempt to try and be different, rather than becoming different on it's own. It seems like this record was made the way it was, for the sole purpose of shock value. You have reggae rapping blended with soft singing, dance-like screams over dark pianos and cacophonic beats, and robotic voices. That doesn't sound like it was written that way. It looks more like they were planning out how each song could be as different as possible. "Oh, in Wretches and Kings it sounds too much like us, let's add a reggae tinge to the chorus and add a 'hey hey hey' ", "Eh this structure is way too similar to a radio structure, let's rearrange the whole song, just so it's different". Even though they got it to work, it seems like they had a blueprint and followed it. The music came out pretty decent, but at the same time it doesn't look cohesive or even natural. There are 2-3 meaningless interludes on the album, and it seems like they thought instead of merging tracks, they could have a 18 second track, and a 57 second track to make the tracklist longer and the track lengths would look more "conceptalbumish", like The Wall.

 

Hybrid Theory on the other hand, has natural creativity, everything blends cohesively, and still ended up being different and unique, but it worked. It just worked. And if you want me to do a grading system of all of their albums, I would do it this way;

 

Hybrid Theory - A

A Thousand Suns - B+

Minutes to Midnight - B+

Meteora - B

Edited January 5, 2011 by Mystery

[DeepestBlue]

You kind of are focused more on why ATS is "bad" as opposed to why HT is the best.

[Qwerty18]

The music came out pretty decent, but at the same time it doesn't look cohesive or even natural.

This! + 100000000000000

 

Hybrid Theory is just more "honnest" to me. ATS is a great record, but like Mike have said, while writing it, they tried to be the opposite of what they used to be. Something like "if we felt we had to go right, then we should probably go left". And, personnaly, I can feel that in the music. For exemple, the guitar in Irridescent (2nd verse) has not the LP-vibe in it, and I'm almost sure it didn't came out naturally. I can even picture Mike saying "No traditionnal LP guitar....so what about putting U2-style guitar on that song?

 

Anyway, HT is my favorite album ever. I can't be objective if I say it's LP's best

[MONDREUS240]

Many people could say "A THOUSAND SUNS IS SO CREATIVE HOW DARE YOU SAY THIS ALBUM ISN'T THEIR BEST". It isn't.

Uh..In my opinion it is...

 

You kind of are focused more on why ATS is "bad" as opposed to why HT is the best.

+1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway IMO

ATS>HT=MTM>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Meteora

Edited January 3, 2011 by MONDREUS240

[LMK]

Anyway IMO

ATS>HT=MTM>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Meteora

Are you doing that cuz you hate numb LOL

 

Anyway. MTM>ATS>>>>Meteora>>>>>HT

[annare]

Meteora is their best album. Period

[avo17]

Yeah the first paragraph was good, but then you seemed to delve too much into why ATS was not good, instead of why HT is better than their other efforts.

[Mr X]

MMM...Cookies - Sweet Hamster Like Jewels From America!

[Bliss]

Meteora is their best album. Period

i agree. Meteora is thier best album. Meteora takes the sound of Hybrid Theory but makes it better and flows the elements of HT together better. That's just my opinion though. And the one think i like about the lyrics of Meteora and HT is it tells stories of problems, problems that people listening could be going through.

 

Mystery, you said every song could have been a single on HT. I disagree. I don't really think By Myself, forgotten, or Cure For the Itch could be singles.

 

In my opinion: Meteora> A Thousand Suns> Hybrid Theory> Minutes to Midnight

Edited January 3, 2011 by LinkinParkFan4Ever

[leftshoe18]

By Myself and Forgotten could've easily been hit singles.

[Bliss]

it seems like they had a blueprint and followed it. The music came out pretty decent, but at the same time it doesn't look cohesive or even natural. There are 2-3 meaningless interludes on the album

more like 5 useless interludes.

 

cause even the blueprint is a gift and curse...

 

By Myself and Forgotten could've easily been hit singles.

in your opinion. I can see by myself as a single, but not really forgotten

[LMK]

in your opinion. I can see by myself as a single, but not really forgotten

I can't see by myself being a single at all

[FearOfTheDuck]

By Myself and Forgotten could've easily been hit singles.

I agree on Forgotten. Both the back and forth between Chester and Mike, and Chester's "In the memory" chorus, are super-catchy.

 

In reaction to the whole thread, you may as well just have called it "Why Hybrid Theory is better than A Thousand Suns".

 

If I had to "grade" the albums, it would go-

 

A Thousand Suns- A+

Hybrid Theory- A

Meteora- B+

Minutes to Midnight- C+

[LPlover]

In my opinion ATS>MTM=Meteora>HT

[feelthless]

Hybrid Theory - B+

Reanimation - B

Meteora - B+

Minutes to Midnight - A

A Thousand Suns - A

[MarkeyLP]

Minutes To Midnight - A+

Meteora - A

A Thousand Suns - A

Hybrid Theory - B+

[Sucre06]

Meteora is their best album. Period

+1

i agree. Meteora is thier best album. Meteora takes the sound of Hybrid Theory but makes it better and flows the elements of HT together better. That's just my opinion though. And the one think i like about the lyrics of Meteora and HT is it tells stories of problems, problems that people listening could be going through.

+2

____________________

 

 

my set:

 

Meteora > Minutes to midnight > Hybrid Theory > A thousand suns

[Mystery]

You kind of are focused more on why ATS is "bad" as opposed to why HT is the best.

Incorrect. I clearly wrote a paragraph or so on why I think Hybrid Theory is the best album. Many fans around here seem to think A Thousand Suns is, so I wrote my honest opinion on why I think it is not.

 

I didn't write a paragraph for Hybrid Theory calling it the best album, without supporting details.

 

On a side note, the bands last two albums were very good, but felt incomplete. Minutes To Midnight lacked alot of electronica and hip-hop, while A Thousand Suns lacked the rock/metal edge of the band. Their first two albums blended that perfectly. Now it seems like they are making albums based on parts of their styles. If we're lucky, i'd expect a heavy hip-hop album next, but it's doubtful.

Edited January 3, 2011 by Mystery

[ChuckCheese]

Meteora

A Thousand Suns

Minutes to Midnight

Hybrid Theory

 

 

 

 

Yup.

[Bliss]

Incorrect. I clearly wrote a paragraph or so on why I think Hybrid Theory is the best album. Many fans around here seem to think A Thousand Suns is, so I wrote my honest opinion on why I think it is not.

 

I didn't write a paragraph for Hybrid Theory calling it the best album, without supporting details.

 

On a side note, the bands last two albums were very good, but felt incomplete. Minutes To Midnight lacked alot of electronica and hip-hop, while A Thousand Suns lacked the rock/metal edge of the band. Their first two albums blended that perfectly. Now it seems like they are making albums based on parts of their styles. If we're lucky, i'd expect a heavy hip-hop album next, but it's doubtful.

i read it and yes, you did make points as to why the hybrid theory is the best, so idk what people were saying.

 

But to say, minutes to midnight may not have had the electronica and hip-hop feel, and most of the album wasn't heavy, but IMO, it worked. It may, my opinion, be their worsst album yet, but it still worked. ATS, was lacking some thingss, but overall it was a great album

[avo17]

Incorrect. I clearly wrote a paragraph or so on why I think Hybrid Theory is the best album. Many fans around here seem to think A Thousand Suns is, so I wrote my honest opinion on why I think it is not.

 

I didn't write a paragraph for Hybrid Theory calling it the best album, without supporting details.

Yes, but you didn't compare Hybrid Theory to Meteora or Minutes to Midnight. In order for something to be the best, it has to be better than everything else, but you only talked about one. It's kind of like saying why an apple is the best fruit, but only comparing it to a banana, leaving out the strawberries and kiwis... I'm sorry I couldn't think of a better analogy

[LPxDC]

[Mystery]

I modified the first post.

[Bliss]

Meteora was a good follow-up, but at the same time was more of the same. Alot of the songs felt like previous songs from the band. You can figure out the comparisons, but for a good example or two, you have In The End - Somewhere I Belong, and Pushing Me Away - Numb. They are basically the same. The album also sounds more radio friendly. The lyrics are a notch down, and the music is a bit more polished.

 

Minutes To Midnight was a step in the right direction, but they dived to much into ballads. They easily could've had two or three, but the album ended up having around four or five. There could've been at least two more songs with rapping in them, or something similar to their older music just to give fans an easier transistion. "Blackbirds" and "QWERTY" are two songs that could've made this album an instant hit. QWERTY is the Linkin Park we all love and know, while Blackbirds teases the new soft style, while keeping that hip-hop edge. The album was good, but could've been better. Alot of the music can be compared to other bands. Once again, i'm saving my comparisons, but the most famous, Shadow Of The Day - U2.

Minutes to Midnight should have had QWERTY and Blackbirds, don't know where the bands head were leaving thoose two out.

 

And i actually like the lyrics of Meteora more than the lyrics of Hybrid Theory

[Mr_wil5on]

For me personally Hybrid Theory brings a Nostalgia to me about my younger years, but listening to A Thousand Suns thoroughly I have to say the album is as good as Hybrid Theory 2 me, with songs like When They Come For Me, Waiting for the End, Wretches and Kings, Iridescent and The Catalyst make me say wow, they really did as good or BETTER than Hybrid Theory, to say Iridescent with its lyrics has so much meaning to me at this moment as much as A Place for My Head used to have years ago. So here's my order:

 

1- A Thousand Suns

1.5ish- Hybrid Theory (lol)

2- Meteora

3- Minutes to Midnight

 

Of corse this is only my opinion