Hybrid Theory is the first studio album by Linkin Park, released on October 24, 2000.
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Its title was originally the name for the band, between 1998 and 1999 (they were previously called Xero). After a trademark issue with Welsh electronic music producers Hybrid, they finally changed to "Linkin Park", in early 2000. Their lead vocalist Chester Bennington had driven by a park named Lincoln Park (now Christine Reed Park, in Santa Monica, California) every day after recording, and suggested the name. "Hybrid Theory" was kept as the album title.
Linkin Park recorded this album without their bassist, Dave Farrell, who had prior commitments at the time. The bass tracks on most of the songs were recorded by guitarist Brad Delson, but the band also hired two temporary bassists for the sessions. Ian Hornbeck plays bass on three songs, most notably on "Papercut," while Scott Koziol plays bass on what became the band's first US single, "One Step Closer."
Music style
Most of its songs merge a lot of Rock and some elements of hip hop, with some additional sampling in the backgrounds. The former is quite prevalent in a few tracks, like "One Step Closer" and "Runaway."
Hybrid Theory is also notable for its absence of profanity, in contrast to many other nu metal bands' records.
Total sales
The album was the best-seller of the year 2001 in the United States (5th best selling in 2002), and was the most popular of the early-2000s nu metal/rapcore acts like Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, Papa Roach, P.O.D. and Korn. Some argue that this huge sales push was caused because Linkin Park has received airplay on hit/pop music stations while those other bands have not.
Hybrid Theory is certified Diamond (10 times Platinum) in the U.S. by the RIAA. It is also the twenty-first century's highest selling debut album, selling 24 million copies worldwide as of October 2006. Moreover, it is sometimes considered the most commercially successful album of the nu metal genre. MTV2 ranked it #10 on its list "22 Greatest CDs" of the past 20 years.[1]
Track listing
- "Papercut" – 3:04
- "One Step Closer" – 2:35
- "With You" – 3:23
- "Points of Authority" – 3:20
- "Crawling" – 3:29
- "Runaway" – 3:03
- "By Myself" – 3:09
- "In the End" – 3:36
- "A Place for My Head" – 3:04
- "Forgotten" – 3:14
- "Cure for the Itch" – 2:37
- "Pushing Me Away" – 3:11
Bonus Disc
- "Papercut" Live at Docklands Arena in London 3:13
- "Points of Authority" Live at Docklands Arena in London 3:30
- "Place for My Head" Live at Docklands Arena in London 3:11
- "My December" Produced by Mike Shinoda 4:20
- "High Voltage" (Remix) Produced by Mike Shinoda 3:45
Remade Tracks
The majority of its tracks are represented by remakes of older demo songs, which the band recorded between 1997 and 1999. The songs in question are:
- "One Step Closer" (originally entitled "Plaster");
- "With You" (originally entitled "Now I See");
- "Points of Authority" (originally entitled "Points & Authority");
- "Crawling" (of which a demo was recorded under their previous name Hybrid Theory);
- "Runaway" (which draws its main riff from the older "Stick N' Move" from Xero);
- "By Myself" (whose original title "Super Xero", was the first name for the group);
- "In The End" (originally an untitled demo);
- "A Place for My Head" (originally entitled "Esaul");
- "Forgotten" (originally entitled "Rhinestone" when the band was called "Xero").
One track that was cut from the album was the remake of "High Voltage", a hip hop song that appeared on the second disc of Hybrid Theory Special Edition. It is believed that the song was meant to be track twelve on the album, between "Cure for the Itch" and "Pushing Me Away", because "Cure for the Itch" and "High Voltage" seem to be transitional (like most tracks from 2003's Meteora).
Additionally, every song on the album was reimagined in a new style for Reanimation.
Personnel
- Brian Gardner - Digital Editing, Mastering
- Don Gilmore - Producer, Engineer
- Steve Sisco - Engineer
- Andy Wallace - Mixing
- The Dust Brothers - Beats
- James Minchin - Photography
- Matt Griffin - Assistant Engineer
- Joseph Hahn - Turntables, Sampling, Illustrations, Drawing, Sketches
- Mike Shinoda - Vocals, Emcee, Guitar, Keyboard, Engineer, Sampling, Digital Editing, Beats, Drawing, Sketches
- Chester Bennington - Vocals
- Brad Delson - Guitar, Bass
- Rob Bourdon - Drums
- Scott Koziol - Bass (One Step Closer)
- Jeff Blue - Executive Producer, A&R
Chart performance
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Billboard 200 | #2 |
| 2001 | Top Canadian Albums | #16 |
| 2001 | Top Internet Albums | #25 |
| 2002 | Billboard 200 | #2 |
| 2002 | Top Canadian Albums | #5 |
| 2002 | Top Internet Albums | #17 |
The album was also the 2001 #1 album of the year in New Zealand.
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | One Step Closer | Modern Rock Tracks | #5 |
| 2000 | One Step Closer | Mainstream Rock Tracks | #4 |
| 2000 | One Step Closer | Billboard Hot 100 | #75 |
| 2001 | Crawling | Billboard Hot 100 | #79 |
| 2001 | Crawling | Mainstream Rock Tracks | #3 |
| 2001 | Crawling | Modern Rock Tracks | #5 |
| 2001 | In the End | Modern Rock Tracks | #1 (5 weeks) |
| 2001 | In the End | Mainstream Rock Tracks | #3 |
| 2001 | In the End | Billboard Hot 100 | #2 |
| 2002 | In the End | Adult Top 40 | #15 |
| 2002 | Papercut | Modern Rock Tracks | #32 |
| 2002 | In the End | Top 40 Mainstream | #1 |
| 2002 | In the End | Top 40 Tracks | #2 |
| 2002 | In the End | Billboard Hot 100 | #2 |
| 2002 | In the End | Top 40 Adult Recurrents | #9 |
| 2002 | Runaway | Mainstream Rock Tracks | #37 |
| 2002 | Runaway | Modern Rock Tracks | #40 |
Trivia
- "One Step Closer", "Points of Authority" and "Pushing Me Away", were used respectively in the soundtracks for Dracula 2000, Little Nicky and Valentine.
- "A Place for My Head" was featured and used in the opening video of the PlayStation 2 game ESPN X Games Skateboarding.
- It was listed as one of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die by the book of the same name, edited by Robert Dimery.
References
- ^ www.shadowcouncil.org/randy/archives/003072.html