About a month before Minutes to MIdnight was released, I came across a few reviews of the album stating that it "isn't Hybrid Theory Part III." Given that statement, one can assume that the reviewer(s) believe that Meteora is Hybrid Theory Part II. Personally, I see a big difference between the two albums, but after investigating, I've found that a lot of people don't agree. I found a review of the album on Amazon that goes as far as to say that Meteora was just Hybrid Theory with new lyrics and new music. In other words, the style didn't change, and the band stayed stuck where they were. Now, I have nothing against Hybrid Theory, but to me, it's not the best album. I much prefeer Meteora, because it's got more of an eclectic sound than Hybrid Theory. That, and the fact that it's not one of those albums that's like "Okay, now I'm done. Shut me off, go listen to something else." It made you want more LP. Hybrid Theory was the same way, but in a different sort of way. Anyway, my whole point is to ask if anyone actually thinks that Meteora is the equivalent of a sequel to Hybrid Theory. I guess it is to a point, because every album released by anyone is sort of a cintinuation of the music from the previous album, but it changes between albums most of the time, if you're a good artist. Seriously, people will stop listening if nothing changes.
Meteora sold significantly less copies than Hybrid Theory, and I'd say it has somewhat to do with this. Of course it's different to an extent, but the structures and formula remained very similar. Not to mention the simplistic instrumentation for the most-part. e.g Easier to Run is very similar to Crawling in structure. That's what people are getting at when they say it's Hybrid Theory II.
I'd always been an advocate that Meteora was essentially the "second half" of a Hybrid Theory double-disc album, but I don't think that way anymore. To be honest, I can listen to Meteora over and over and over and over and over without being bored. I guess the novelty of Hybrid Theory wore off with me, even though I still consider it one of the ten best albums I've ever heard.
There was a significant change in downloads from 2000 to 2003. Hybrid Theory was released 2-3 years earlier than Meteora and honestly the amount of downloading was limited at that time. But during 2003 I'm assuming that downloading was becoming more and more common. Meteora was a slightly experimental album for the band; just less than Reanimation. The band said that they want to bring out the electronic side out of the band more and that's where we got Meteora which was supposed to be dynamic. Of course the formulas were still there because the band weren't sure whether or not they should touch with that formula with their second album, hence the cautiousness. A few big things to note the difference between Hybrid Theory and Meteora. Meteora had strings, more electronic (notably Breaking The Habit but all tracks also were mostly more electronic), more common use of piano (Numb and Breaking The Habit as examples), Japanese flutes (Nobody's Listening) and a more rapcore sound to some tracks (Figure.09, Lying From You, Hit The Floor). Personally its my favourite album.
Song structure was really similar yea, but musically I think they were quite different. Meteora was far more sample based IMO.
You'll find that several, several people agree with the idea that Meteora is simply a watered-down Hybrid Theory. I'm one of those people. Although I do believe that there is some integrity and some individuality to Meteora, it is essentially a copy of the style portrayed on Hybrid Theory, with the exception of Breaking the Habit and Session. Comparing the songs and listening to them in such an order will probably strengthen the idea in your mind. Somewhere I Belong is structurally the same as In the End was. You have Mike rapping, Chester with some singing in the verses, and then Chester has the choruses essentially to himself as well as the bridge. It's too much like In the End. Other songs such as Figure.09 and Numb can be easily compared to By Myself and Crawling / Pushing Me Away, respectively. The structures are very much the same and you really can't avoid the fact that they sound so much alike. There are more comparisons I could make, but it's 6:20 in the morning over here and I'm too tired to think about it. Either way, Meteora is very much like Hybrid Theory, and the concern surrounding Minutes to Midnight was that it would end up the same way. People were afraid that Linkin Park would continue making songs based on the same structures portrayed in both Hybrid Theory and Meteora. Unfortunately, Rap-Rock was one of those genres that, even though Linkin Park boosted its popularity by a good deal, it had to die down within a few years. Had they continued on with the same style, it would have been beating a dead horse. They'd be making music that not many people would listen to. If you were around during all of the time when Linkin Park was talking about how incredibly different Minutes to Midnight was, you might find that perhaps, they were exaggerating a little bit. Yeah, I would say they were, but you have to realize that they had to advertise it. I may be taking it to some extremes here, but I think Linkin Park's career was at an edge with this album. If it didn't reach expectations, it would have sold badly and it may have marked a downward spiral in their career. Even though Minutes to Midnight did receive mixed reviews, those who gave it a good review pretty much loved it and marked it above Meteora and Hybrid Theory. Those who hated it were too attached to their sound and thought songs like Given Up and Bleed It Out were the only songs worth anything on Minutes to Midnight. You'll still find that people are still at bad terms with Linkin Park's breaking out of the box. Yeah, the rap-rock sound served them well but after a while, everyone would become bored of it. Linkin Park themselves were becoming bored of it. So, yes, Meteora was essentially a repeat, and it also marked the end of that sound being prevalent in their music.
It pretty much is Hybrid Theory part 2. They did a few new things, but those can be considered baby-steps at best. I've always attested that Meteora's biggest problem is that it's overproduced. The songs are just too slick and perfect for my tastes, which makes the album falter. Many of the songs from the album sound better live because of the raw feel. Heavy songs (for the most part) sound much better with less production, imo.
I actually agree quite a bit. There are many things in Meteora and Hybrid Theory that are similar (like the general genre), some of the song "meanings", ect ect. Honestly, for me, I enjoy listening through all three of the albums without skipping a song, but Hybrid Theory seems to have a few songs that I can listen to a few times over and over and not get bored, whilst Meteora has that AND I can listen to the whole thing a two or three times. For Minutes To Midnight, it's a mix of the two really. But really, a sequal to Hybrid Theory? WTF. Seriously, people who say that usually don't care much for the band/song/album their listening to; or they just don't pay attention. So no, the albums arn't in a pair or trilogy to me. They're their own seperate albums.
Well said Shrazer, personally I prefer Meteora but that does not mean that I liked it for the more hard rock songs, I actually liked the way the samples stood out more, basically I like the dynamic layers of most of the songs. I heard someone once assume that if you prefered Meteora than you would most likely prefer Given Up and Bleed It Out but I actually prefer IP and TLTGYA to those tracks. VD, SOTD and NMS being my favourites. Also I don't think Given Up could be put on Meteora, it's quite dissonant from a musician point of view compared to BTH. I think BTH fits with Meteora.
Agreed. From the overall album theme and standing point, Given Up doesn't have enough electronica sound to it to be considered as a Meteora song anyways. More suitable songs would be QWERTY; not that its really all that dynamic but it kicks ass and it was nu metal so the band would probably not put it on MTM. Of course the song was made 3 years after Meteora was released so we can't do anything about that, including other songs. Its not really all that safe to say that both were the same album just because they sounded the same. The process was definitely different and some songs had their own unique sound to it. Take Faint for example. On Hybrid Theory there wasn't a fast rock song that could be compared to Faint, hence its success. Breaking The Habit at the time of the release of Meteora might have been considered the most radical song different others and I consider it still unique in its own aspect. Hit The Floor? Rock & Hip Hop mashed naturally well together in that, not like any other songs didn't but it had that "bounce" effect the band was talking about. Nobody's Listening? Definitely put with Breaking The Habit as most radical song at that time. Lots of rapcore in Lying From You, Figure.09 and including Hit The Floor. Easier To Run was a very ballad song and sort of had a unique flow to it. Also there are strings in some songs and more samples.
i think there's a bit they did in "meteora" that, maybe, they never would've done on "hybrid theory". i think they sort of did mess around with string textures on, like, "in the end", though, that song stood out really well compared to the rest of the album. i think it's something to do with mike's vocals being overproduced and the whole song just felt so much more glossy compared to the rest of the album's songs. but, even then, that electronica that was on "hybrid theory" was different, or, at least, evolved into something more, on the sophomore. it almost felt vintage, i guess, compared to what was on "meteora". and, all in all, "meteora" was a little more eclectic than "hybrid theory"; it didn't bring the sound to a new level per se -- but it stretched the boundaries a bit more with the string textures, different samples to give the songs a more electronic sound, and a japanese flute to ice the cake! lyrically, "meteora" wasn't much different and, at some points, was a lot more simplistic than "hybrid theory". but there was a trickle of optimism in "somewhere i belong" and "breaking the habit". oh, and "nobody's listening" would've rivalled "high voltage" had the latter been included on "hybrid theory". ha.
To me Meteora has a more epic sound... hybrid theory was awesome dont get me wrong but i would prefer Meteora anyday... The songs had more meaning to me and more feeling . plus Chester's screaming was better and Mike's raps were way better as well.
As much as I love Meteora, I have to say it is somewhat of a Hybrid Theory clone...in most respects. I actually think it was a good move, at that point. Hybrid Theory was a great album that had great impact on the Rap/Rock scene, and as such Meteora was never really going to sell as many albums as it's predecessor. It got stuck in the rapidly growing world of music download, and still came out with strong record sales. In a way, LP had to stick to the same formula, as it was only their second album. It would have been less noticeable had it come out say 2 years earlier. So for that reason, Minutes to Midnight became a risk that they had to take. They simply took too long putting albums out. Had they been a little quicker with their production of music, Meteora probably would have sold nearly as well as Hybrid Theory, and it would have kept fans interested, therefore holding onto the ones that were lost. If you take a look at both track lists, you'll see how they set out both albums very similarly. For example, although it seems it's an LP trait to blast into the album with heavy rockin' type songs, they had One Step Closer and Don't Stay very early in the albums (2 & 1 respectively). They had the powerful, almost ballad like Pushing Me Away and Numb both finishing them. Add to this that they had With You and Lying from you towards the top (3 & 3), and it starts to paint a picture. I know, it is probably just the way LP like to have their albums, but it doesn't shy away from the fact it's in a simliar order to Hybrid Theory. I suppose with that last point said, Minutes to Midnight starts with Given Up, ends with The Little Things Give You Away, and has Bleed It Out towards the beginning of it. So I do't really know how valid that makes my previous point lol But, with all this said I still love all of LP's albums, and don't particularly have a favourite. It goes in a cycle really. I still listen to Hybrid Theory after all these years, still love Meteora as much as the first time I heard it, and Am currently enjoy Minutes to Midnight. So all I can say is bring on the next wave of creativity from LP
i watched a video and chester had said that HT and Meteora were kinda the same cause it still has tht rock/rap vibe to it. and then here comes M2M and its something we didnt expect....exactly what linkin park wanted to do. when they had HT then they came out with Meteora and of course ppl knew it was going to be simular to HT. i love Meteora i think its great! the same with HT. and M2M is wonderful. im glad that they are changing it up a little. they are getting more of a variety in their music.
My sentiments exactly. It's hard for me to choose between the two, because Hybrid Theory has so many quality songs with reminiscent value, but Meteora (imo) is just a better album on the whole. There isn't a sore spot on the disc, which I cannot say for Hybrid Theory, since I feel the second half is somewhat weaker. So to answer the question, no I don't think Meteora is an extension of Hybrid Theory per se. It's a much more refined sound. You can literally feel the production value, and know that every minute, little sound was intentional.
Exactly the same for me. Hybrid Theory is so perfect for about half the CD. Most of the songs in the first half became singles even. It had great constancy. I believe With You was going to be chosen as a single even, but POA took its place (Correct me if I'm wrong). It sort of lost that through the second half with songs like Runaway, By Myself and Pushing Me Away which were sort of less-perfect compared to some other songs. I don't care about all the "Meteora is HT Pt. II" stuff, to be honest. I just listen to it and enjoy it. If you listen to Meteora and you're comparing it to HT, then you'll just get sick of listening to the music because you've been comparing it the whole time instead of really listening to it and enjoying it, I think.