Meteora (album)

Writing and recording

In 2000, Linkin Park worked with music producer Don Gilmore to record and release their debut album, Hybrid Theory. Initial writing for a second album dated back to early 2001, while still touring in support of Hybrid Theory. The band had written around eighty different demos during their Hybrid Theory World Tour and LP Underground Tour, within the span of just eight months. Rough song ideas written then would find its way to the final album; notably the intro for "Somewhere I Belong". Lead singer Chester Bennington recorded guitar notes for it, but found it too folk rock sounding. However, bandmates Mike Shinoda and Joe Hahn reworked it, adding effects to it, and then played it backwards, molding it into something the band was happy with. As explained by Shinoda: "Since I reversed it, it was playing 4-3-2-1. The chord progression was reversed. Then I cut it into four pieces, and I played it 1-2-3-4. And that's why it has that sweeping sound."

Prior to releasing a second album, the band instead chose to release a remix album, Reanimation, in 2002, produced by Shinoda. The experience led the band to want to co-produce their second album, while still working with Gilmore, hoping to expand on the sound of Hybrid Theory with more experimental ideas. In early 2002, after the touring, the writing continued in Mike's home studio, pre-production of the album began there. The band worked in pairs during the writing process, whereas Shinoda was always involved in all the songs. The recording of the songs mainly used Pro Tools, whereas the band used the traditional method of writing, in main studio. In June, pre-production terminated and the band headed for main production. The band finalized Don Gilmore as their producer. When Reanimation was released, the band had started to write the main content. Drummer Rob Bourdon spent eight hours a day in the studio for the recording of the album. By August, the band entered NRG Studios as Bennington also began writing songs with the band.

Linkin Park had finished rough versions of many songs before entering the studio to begin recording. They spent the time in the studio to create the sound for the album and write the lyrics. By October, the drum recordings were completed and guitar parts were introduced. By the middle of October, the bass parts were introduced. The scratching and sampling parts by Hahn were introduced just a month before the deadline. The song "Breaking the Habit" featured live strings arranged by David Campbell; the song had been worked on by Shinoda for five or six years. The vocal recordings began on a song after all the instruments were finished for it. The band went to New York for mixing with Andy Wallace, where the album was finished in December 2002.

Composition and themes

Lyrically, the album contains elements including depressing emotions, anger, and recovery. Explaining to MTV, Bennington said: "We don't talk about situations, we talk about the emotions behind the situations. Mike and I are two different people, so we can't sing about the same things, but we both know about frustration and anger and loneliness and love and happiness, and we can relate on that level." In the same interview, Shinoda explained it as: "What we really wanted to do was just push ourselves and push each other to really find new ways to be creative." He continued: "We wanted each sample that was in each song to be something that might perk your ear – something that you might not have ever heard before."

In a promotional interview, Rob Bourdon stated: "We wanted a group of songs that would sit well together because we wanted to make a record that you could pop into your CD player and, from beginning to end, there would never be a spot where you start daydreaming."

In titling the album, Mike said that "Meteora was a word that caught my attention because it sounded huge." Dave, Joe, and Chester elaborated that just like how Meteora, the rock formation in Greece, is very epic, dramatic, and has great energy, the band wanted the album to have that same feeling.

Genre-wise, the album is categorized as nu metal, rap metal, rap rock, and alternative rock. Alternative Press opined that the album represents a release in thescene music style.

Promotion

The promotion for the album began well ahead of its release, as pictures of the band recording were distributed to the media. To support the album, there were many photo shoots of the band on October 29, 2002 at the Ambassador Hotel, where the band took a break from recording the album for two days, for designing the cover art of the album. "The Flem" and "Delta" helped the band for the art works, for the album as well as for the singles spawned by it. A TV commercial for the album was premiered on January 1, 2003.

"Somewhere I Belong" was released as the lead single and premiered on US radio on February 24, 2003. Being released a month before the album release, it influenced the album sales performance worldwide. The second single off the album was "Faint", released before the band started its world tour. The third single "Numb" was released when Linkin Park performed it live in Madrid. "From the Inside" was released as the fourth single off the album before the North American leg of the world tour. "Breaking the Habit" was released while the band was in Indonesia. The album was released with various limited edition content for promotional purposes.

There is a special edition of Meteora, which includes the "Making of Meteora DVD documentary. The special-edition package was packaged in a blue tinted case with the blue Meteora cover that can be found in some parts of Asia, United States, and more commonly in India. An alternate Indian version contains an alternate DVD and alternative cover that is packaged in a slimline case with the disc in original packaging. The "Tour Edition" of Meteora is packaged in a two disc set. The second disc, which is a Video CD, has the music videos for "Somewhere I Belong", "Faint", "Numb", and "Breaking the Habit". The tour edition is packaged in a standard Compact Disc case, rather than their trademark digipak case. The album was also released on a very limited quantity of vinyl records (spread across two LPs) under Warner Brothers. These are coveted by collectors and fetch high prices at auction. In 2014, Linkin Park released a demo version of Shinoda singing the song, on their 14th annual fan club CD, LPU XIV.

The band promoted the album with their Meteora World Tour and various other supporting tours. The world tour was supported by Hoobastank, P.O.D. and Story of the Year. The band played shows at Pellissier Building and Wiltern Theatre on the day before the album release and on the release date. The shows were called "'Meteora' Release Show". The European leg was cancelled because Chester was having severe back and abdominal pains. As a result, half of the music video of "Numb" was shot in Los Angeles and the Czech Republic. The album was also promoted by the Projekt Revolution festival. A live album was released in support of the album titled Live in Texas. Linkin Park played various special shows worldwide, including "Reading Ireland", as well as performing during the Kerrang! Awards, "Livid", "X-103's Not So Silent Night", "The End's Deck The Hall Ball" and "KROQ Almost Acoustic X-Mas", in promotion of the album.

Critical reception

Meteora received generally positive reviews, although critics noted that the album's musical style was similar to its predecessor, Hybrid Theory (2000). The overall Metacritic score is 62. E! Online rated it A, and expected it to "shoot straight for the stars". Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+, calling it a "thunderously hooky album that seamlessly blends the group's disparate sonic elements into radio-friendly perfection." Rolling Stone said the band "squeezed the last remaining life out of this nearly extinct formula". Billboard Magazine described Meteora as "a ready-made crowdpleaser". The New Musical Express said it had "massive commercial appeal" but left the reviewer "underwhelmed".

Writing for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine described the album as "nothing more and nothing less than a Hybrid Theory part 2.", but added that the band "has discipline and editing skills, keeping this record at a tight 36 minutes and 41 seconds, a move that makes it considerably more listenable than its peers... since they know where to focus their energy, something that many nu-metal bands simply do not." Sputnikmusic writer Damrod criticized the album as being too similar to Hybrid Theory, but praised the album's production quality and catchiness, stating "the songs just invade your brain".

Blender described it as "harder, denser, uglier", while Q described it as "less an artistic endeavor than an exercise in target marketing."Critics reviews at Metacritic sorted by publication :

• Blender review. "Harder, denser, uglier. [#15, p.128]".
• Q Review. "Meteora is less an artistic endeavour than an exercise in target marketing. [May 2003, p.104]".

Accolades

The song "Session" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 2004. Single from the album "Somewhere I Belong" won Best Rock Video at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. At the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, "Breaking the Habit" was nominated for Best Rock Video but won MTV Viewer's Choice.

Commercial performance

In its first week, Meteora debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The album sold 810,400 copies in the US and 36,700 in Canada its first week of release. In its second week, it sold an additional 265,000 copies in the US and stayed at the top for another week. As of June 2014, the album has sold 6.2 million copies in the US, and around 16 million copies worldwide. The album was ranked number 36 on *Billboard'''s *Hot 200 Albums of the Decade''.

As of April 2023, the album has sold 8.55 million equivalent album units and 6.49 million in pure album sales in the US.

Track listing

20th anniversary edition

• Nu metal
• rap metal
• alternative metal
• rap rock
• alternative rock
• Warner
• Machine Shop}}
• Don Gilmore
• Linkin Park}}

In January 2023, the band started teasing the 20th anniversary of Meteora by updating their website, featuring a countdown to February 1, where it was speculated that they would be announcing something related to their second album. By the time that the countdown concluded, the website was updated again in the style of an interactive game that progressed every day up until the announcement of "Lost", on February 6, to commemorate the album's 20th anniversary. The previously unreleased track was released on February 10 as the lead single alongside the official announcement of the 20th anniversary reissue. A second single, also previously unreleased, entitled "Fighting Myself" was released on March 24. The 20th anniversary reissue was released on April 7.

The 20th anniversary super deluxe edition of Meteora, promoted as Meteora20, features the original tracklist; an extended release of Live in Texas, featuring tracks previously omitted from the CD release; a previously unreleased live performance at Nottingham, England in 2003, titled Live in Nottingham 2003; previously released demos for the Linkin Park Underground fan club, titled LPU Rarities 2.0; previously released live recordings, titled Live Rarities 2003–2004; previously unreleased demos, titled Lost Demos; and three DVDs: the first disc feature the previously released The Making of Meteora and The Art of Meteora documentaries, along with a new documentary titled Work in Progress, while the second and third discs feature previously unreleased live performances from 2003 and 2004 respectively. The Deluxe CD features the original Andy Wallace mix of "Lost", called "Lost (2002 Mix)", as the 14th track of the first disc, after "Numb".

Lost Demos was later released on vinyl for Record Store Day Black Friday 2023.

Track listing

The 20th anniversary edition includes the original album (in CD, vinyl and digital) on disc one.

''Meteora – Live Around the World''

• Warner Bros.
• Machine Shop

Meteora – Live Around the World is a live album which features live versions of seven songs from the second studio album, Meteora, similar to their prior live release, Hybrid Theory – Live Around the World. They were recorded in various cities around the world from 2007 to 2011. The album was released exclusively on iTunes.

Track listing

Personnel

Linkin Park

• Chester Bennington – lead vocals, acoustic guitar intro ("Somewhere I Belong")
• Rob Bourdon – drums, backing vocals
• Brad Delson – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Dave "Phoenix" Farrell – bass, backing vocals
• Joe Hahn – turntables, samples, backing vocals
• Mike Shinoda – rap vocals, samples, strings arrangement ("Faint" & "Breaking the Habit"), rhythm guitar ("Somewhere I Belong", "Easier to Run", "Faint", & "From the Inside"), piano ("Somewhere I Belong", "Session", & "Numb"), keyboard ("Lying from You", "Easier to Run", "Breaking the Habit", "From the Inside", "Figure.09", & "Session")

Additional musicians

• David Campbell – strings arrangement ("Faint" & "Breaking the Habit")
• Joel Derouin, Charlie Bisharat, Alyssa Park, Sara Parkins, Michelle Richards, Mark Robertson – violins
• Evan Wilson, Bob Becker – violas
• Larry Corbett, Dan Smith – cellos
• David Zasloff – shakuhachi flute ("Nobody's Listening")

Production

• Produced by Don Gilmore and Linkin Park
• Recorded by Don Gilmore
• John Ewing, Jr. – engineer
• Fox Phelps – assistant engineer
• Andy Wallace – mixing at Soundtrack Studios, New York, NY
• Steve Sisco – mixing assistance
• Brian "Big Bass" Gardner – mastering, digital editing at Bernie Grundman Mastering

Artwork

• Mike Shinoda & The Flem – creative direction
• The Flem – art direction & design
• Delta, Mike Shinoda, Joseph Hahn & The Flem – installation artists
• James R. Minchin III – photography
• Nick Spanos – spray paint can close-up photos

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

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