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Hybrid Theory

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This article is about the Linkin Park album. For the EP released in 1999, see Hybrid Theory EP.
Untitled

Hybrid Theory is the debut album by the American nu metal band Linkin Park. Released on October 24, 2000 by Warner Bros. Records, Hybrid Theory received much critical acclaim and proved to be a commercial success worldwide, peaking at #2 in the U.S. Billboard 200 and charting in eleven other countries. The album also helped Linkin Park to achieve themselves as one of the leading bands in the nu metal scene.

Hybrid Theory also produced four hit singles “One Step Closer”, the Grammy Award-winning “Crawling”, “Papercut” and “In The End”. The diamond-certified album has sold 24 million copies[1] worldwide as of 2006, making it the highest selling debut album of the twenty-first century and remains the band's best-selling album.

Background

In 1996, Xero was formed by Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson, who recruited DJ Joe Hahn, drummer Rob Bourdon, bassist Dave “Phoenix” Farrell and then-vocalist Mark Wakefield.[2] Wakefield resigned, however, due to the group's failure to achieve mainstream success and eventually became the manager of Taproot. Later Farrell would also leave to tour with the Tasty Snax.[3]

During this time, Xero inquired through Zomba's Vice President of A&R co-ordination, Jeff Blue, for a new vocalist. Blue came up with positive results about Phoenix native Chester Bennington, originally of the band Grey Daze, who impressed him with his unique and vivid singing style. [4] Reflecting about Bennington, Delson elaborated that “He really was kind of the final piece of the puzzle [...] We didn't see anything close to his talent in anybody else.”[5]

Soon after, the band renamed themselves as Hybrid Theory and released a self-titled EP. However, after resolving a copyright issue with electronic music producers Hybrid, they mutually decided on the name Linkin Park, suggested by Bennington who mentioned a park in Santa Monica known as Christine Emerson Reed Park, which was then named “Lincoln Park”.[6][7] Linkin Park had produced a nine-track demo that was sent to various recording companies in 1999.[8] Initially, they faced denial from most recording companies, and were even blacklisted by some. During this time, Warner Bros. Records expressed interest in the band. Jeff Blue also joined the label after resigning from Zomba.[4] This move saw a definite record contract signing for the band.[5]

Recording and production

After facing initial struggles to find a producer willing to take charge of a newly signed band, they found Don Gilmore.[4] Most of the songs were remakes of the songs off of the nine-track demo recording (see remade tracks) below. The rap sections in most of the songs had undergone the most significant changes, with most of the choruses remaining similar.[9] Four weeks were dedicated to re-recording the tracks. Some re-recorded songs were partially reminiscent of the tracks that were featured on the Xero sample tape. A noticeable aspect in almost all of the songs is Brad Delson's Drop D tunings.[10] Due to the absence of the bassist, Dave Farrell, the band hired Scott Koziol and Ian Hornbeck as stand-ins. Delson also played bass in a majority of songs. The Dust Brothers provided additional beats for the track “With You”. After recording was completed, Andy Wallace mixed the tracks.

Track listing

  1. "Papercut" – 3:04
  2. "One Step Closer" – 2:36
  3. "With You" – 3:23
  4. "Points of Authority" – 3:20
  5. "Crawling" - 3:30
  6. "Runaway" (Mark Wakefield, Linkin Park) – 3:04
  7. "By Myself" – 3:09
  8. "In the End" – 3:37
  9. "A Place for My Head" – 3:04
  10. "Forgotten" – 3:14
  11. "Cure for the Itch" – 2:37
  12. "Pushing Me Away" – 3:12

Bonus disc

  1. "Papercut" (Live at Docklands Arena, London) - 3:13
  2. "Points of Authority" (Live at Docklands Arena, London) - 3:30
  3. "A Place for My Head" (Live at Docklands Arena in London) - 3:11
  4. "My December" - 4:20
  5. "High Voltage" (Remix) - 3:45

Remade tracks

The majority of Hybrid Theory's tracks are represented by remakes of older songs and demos, which the band recorded between 1997 and 1999. In some cases, the songs were almost completely rewritten keeping few of their original elements.

  • "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 "SuperXero", was the first name for the group);
  • "In The End" (originally entitled "The Untitled");
  • "A Place for My Head" (originally entitled "Esaul");
  • "Forgotten" (originally entitled "Rhinestone" when the band was called "Xero").

The rap sections in most of the songs had undergone the most significant changes, with many of the choruses remaining similar. The songs written when the band was known as Xero are also changed more significantly than those from the Hybrid Theory band name era.

One track that was cut from the album was the remake of "High Voltage". The song's original version had been featured on Hybrid Theory EP. The updated version 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).

In 2002 an entire remix album was released for Hybrid Theory entitled Reanimation. It featured reinterpretations of every song on Hybrid Theory as well as the special edition bonus tracks "High Voltage" and "My December".

Personnel

All songs written by the members of Linkin Park, with occasional collaboration stated below. Mark Wakefield and David Farrell contributed to earlier versions of several songs before each of their departures from the band.

Chart performance

Album

Chart Peak position Certification (if Any) Shipments
Billboard 200[11] #2 Diamond
UK Top 40[12] #4 3x Platinum
Swedish Top 60[13] #4
Italian Album Chart[13] #2
New Zealand RIANZ[14] #1 5x Platinum 75,000+
Austria[15] #2
Finland [16] #4
Poland [17] Platinium 50,000
Switzerland[18] #5
Mexican Top 100 Albums Platinum[19] 150,000+

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 Top 40 Adult Recurrents #9
2002 Runaway Mainstream Rock Tracks #37
2002 Runaway Modern Rock Tracks #40

References

  1. ^ [1]LiveEarth - LINKIN PARK HEADLINES LIVE EARTH TOKYO
  2. ^ "Linkin Park was Xero at first". AskMen.com. Retrieved 2007-08-08. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ "Linkin Park biography". Rockdetector.com. Retrieved 2007-08-02. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ a b c "Everybody loves a success story". The LP Association. Retrieved 2007-08-08. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ a b Sculley, Alan. "Rappin' and rockin' in Linkin Park". Madison.com. Retrieved 2007-08-15. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Tyrangiel, Josh. "Linkin Park Steps Out, p.2". Time.com. Retrieved 2007-08-14. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ "Map of Christine Emerson Reed Park". Santa Monica College.edu. Retrieved 2007-08-09. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ "Complete Linkin Park discography". The LP Association. Retrieved 2007-08-09. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ "Linkin Park demos". The LP Association. Retrieved 2007-08-19. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ "Linkin Park Association forums". The LP Association. Retrieved 2007-08-19. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ "Linkin Park album chart history". Billboard. Retrieved 2007-08-18. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ "UK album chart archives". everyhit.com. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  13. ^ a b "Swedish album chart archives". hitparad.se. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
  14. ^ "New Zealand album chart archives". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  15. ^ "Austrian album chart archives". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  16. ^ "Finnish album chart archives". finnishcharts.com. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  17. ^ "Polish album chart archives". ZPAV.pl. Retrieved 2007-09-26.
  18. ^ "Swiss album chart archives". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  19. ^ "Mexican Albums Chart". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
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