Meteora (album)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Meteora | ||
| ||
| Studio album by Linkin Park | ||
| Released | March 25 2003 | |
| Recorded | June – September 2002 at NRG Recordings in North Hollywood, California | |
| Genre | Nu metal Rapcore | |
| Length | 36:32 | |
| Label | Warner Brothers Records | |
| Producer(s) | Don Gilmore | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Linkin Park chronology | ||
| Reanimation (2002) | Meteora (2003) | Live in Texas (2003)
|
Meteora is the second studio album by Linkin Park, first released on March 25, 2003.
Contents |
[edit] Music style
Compared to the previous 2000 Hybrid Theory, Meteora is characterized by more relevant influences from rapcore ("Lying From You", "Hit The Floor", "Figure.09"), hip hop ("Nobody's Listening") and electronic music ("Breaking The Habit").
Furthermore, none of the songs off this album feature profanity, just like all the others by the band (excluding early songs/demos, LPU songs, Collision Course, and Xero songs) .
[edit] Background info and production
The album was named after The Meteora. After seeing these monasteries on a trip to Europe, the band was inspired by the way they were built, almost defying gravity. It was this feeling of greatness and awesome accomplishment that Linkin Park wished to convey with their music, thus the name.
Don Gilmore co-produced the album. Linkin Park comprehensively rehearsed the album recording more than 40 choruses for the first single "Somewhere I Belong". Like the band's first full-length Hybrid Theory, Meteora was recorded using Pro Tools software. In its 1st week it sold an estimated 810,000 units. To date, it has sold nearly 11 million copies worldwide, with more than a half sold in the U.S. alone.
Also interesting to note is the almost complete synchronization of every song throughout the album. The precedent is immediately set with "Foreword," an intro to the album which finishes with a crashing sound (thought by many to be glass breaking, but it is in fact an external CD burner on a wooden table being smashed with an aluminum baseball bat). The sound effect smoothly transitions this cue into the album's first song "Don't Stay." Almost all the songs are likewise linked together, with some instrumental motif carrying over one song into the next. Besides the connection of "Foreword" and "Don't Stay," the album performs this trick best between "Easier to Run" and "Faint," and "Figure.09","Breaking the Habit" and "From The Inside","Nobody's Listening".
[edit] Track listing
- "Foreword" – 0:13
- "Don't Stay" – 3:11
- "Somewhere I Belong" – 3:37
- "Lying from You" – 3:00
- "Hit the Floor" – 2:47
- "Easier to Run" – 3:30
- "Faint" – 2:45
- "Figure.09" – 3:21
- "Breaking the Habit" – 3:21
- "From the Inside" – 2:57
- "Nobody's Listening" – 3:00
- "Session" – 2:28
- "Numb" – 3:10
[edit] Charting album positions
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Billboard 200 | #1 |
| 2003 | UK Albums Chart | #1 |
| 2003 | ARIA Top 50 Albums | #2 |
Meteora has topped the album charts in both the UK and the U.S. since its release and has reached #2 in Canada and Australia. It was the best selling rock album of 2003.
[edit] Charting singles
Meteora has a number of songs that have topped the Modern and Mainstream Rock charts and enjoyed success in the pop charts throughout the world.
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Somewhere I Belong | Mainstream Rock Tracks | #1 |
| 2003 | Somewhere I Belong | Modern Rock Tracks | #1 |
| 2003 | Somewhere I Belong | Billboard Hot 100 | #32 |
| 2003 | Somewhere I Belong | BBC Radio One Official Chart Show | #20 |
| 2003 | Somewhere I Belong | Canadian Singles Chart | #2 |
| 2003 | Somewhere I Belong | World Modern Rock | #1 |
| 2003 | Somewhere I Belong | World Internet Sales | #1 |
| 2003 | Faint | Radio One Official Chart | #30 |
| 2003 | Faint | Billboard Modern Rock | #1 |
| 2003 | Faint | World Modern Rock | #1 |
| 2003 | Faint | Billboard Mainstream Rock | #2 |
| 2003 | Faint | Billboard Hot 100 | #48 |
| 2003 | Faint | Netherlands Top 40 | #40 |
| 2004 | Numb | Billboard Hot 100 | #11 |
| 2004 | Numb | Modern Rock Tracks | #1 |
| 2004 | Numb | Mainstream Rock Tracks | #1 |
| 2004 | Numb | World Modern Rock | #1 |
| 2003 | Breaking the Habit | Billboard Hot 100 | #20 |
| 2004 | Breaking the Habit | Modern Rock Tracks | #1 |
| 2004 | Breaking the Habit | Mainstream Rock Tracks | #1 |
| 2004 | Breaking the Habit | Netherlands Top 40 | #5 |
| 2004 | Breaking the Habit | Canada Muchmusic Chart | #7 |
| 2004 | Breaking the Habit | China Top 20 | #1 |
| 2004 | Breaking the Habit | World Modern Rock | #8 |
| 2004 | Lying from You | World Modern Rock | #9 |
| 2004 | Lying from You | Modern Rock Tracks | #1 |
| 2004 | Lying from You | Mainstream Rock Tracks | #2 |
| 2004 | Lying from You | Billboard Hot 100 | #58 |
[edit] Album sales
- Week 1: 834,000
- Week 2: 259,000 (1,093,000)
- Week 3: 177,000 (1,270,000)
- Week 4: 181,000 (1,451,000)
- Week 5: 94,000 (1,545,000)
- Week 6: 87,000 (1,632,000)
- Week 7: 73,000 (1,705,000)
- Week 8: 59,000 (1,764,000)
- Week 9: 57,000 (1,821,000)
- Week 10: 51,000 (1,872,000)
- Week 11: 51,000 (1,923,000)
- Week 12: 52,000 (1,975,000)
- Week 13: 47,000 (2,022,000)
- Week 14: 45,000 (2,067,000)
- Week 15: 45,000 (2,112,000)
- Week 16: 47,000 (2,159,000)
- Week 17: 45,000 (2,204,000)
- Week 18: 46,000 (2,250,000)
- Week 19: 47,000 (2,297,000)
- Week 20: 47,000 (2,344,000)
- Week 21: 48,000 (2,392,000)
- Week 22: 46,000 (2,438,000)
- Week 23: 43,000 (2,481,000)
- Week 24: 44,000 (2,525,000)
- Week 25: 36,000 (2,561,000)
The album, despite being in Week 25, was still at #16 on the Charts, and stayed in The Top 50 even longer. It is considered one of the strongest albums of that year and one of the most consistent albums in recent memory.
[edit] Critical response
Despite the strong sales response from fans, Meteora received a mediocre response from critics. The overall Metacritic score was 59, indicating a mixed response among the sources used to compile the score. [1]
- The album received excellent reviews from E! Online and Entertainment Weekly.
- E! Online rated it an A-, and expected it to "shoot straight for the stars". Best tracks: "Don't Stay", "Somewhere I Belong", "Numb". [2]
- Entertainment Weekly described it as "radio-friendly perfection".
- The album received good reviews from Dot Music, Billboard, and New Musical Express, .
- Dot Music described it as a "guaranteed source of ubiquitous radio hits". Best Tracks: "Somewhere I Belong", "Faint", "Lying from you", "Nobody's Listening"; rating 8 out of 10. [3]
- Billboard Magazine described Meteora as "a ready-made crowdpleaser". Best Tracks: "Somewhere I Belong", "Breaking the Habit" [4]
- The New Musical Express said it had "massive commercial appeal" but left the reviewer "underwhelmed" Rating 7 Best track: "Breaking the Habit". [5]
- The band received average reviews from All Music Guide, Rolling Stone, Blender, Q Magazine, and ShakingThrough.net.
- Rolling Stone said the band "squeezed the last remaining life out of this nearly extinct formula" (nu-metal) Rating 3 stars Best tracks: "Breaking the Habit", "Lying From You", "Figure .09", "Numb" [6]
- Allmusic.com described it as "nothing more and nothing less than Hybrid Theory Part 2". Best tracks: "Lying from You", "Breaking the Habit", "Hit the Floor" [7]
- Blender described it as "harder, denser, uglier" (#15, page 128) while Q Magazine described it as "less an artistic endeavour than an exercise in target marketing".
[edit] Trivia
- The intro of the song "Nobody's Listening" was featured in Jetix Spain's advertisement for the anime series Naruto. [8]
[edit] External links
| Linkin Park |
| Chester Bennington - Rob Bourdon - Brad Delson - Dave Farrell - Joe Hahn - Mike Shinoda |
| Scott Belsha (stand-in) - Mark Wakefield - Kyle Christener (stand-in) - Scott Koziol (stand-in) |
| Discography |
| Albums and extended play: Hybrid Theory EP - Hybrid Theory - In The End: Live & Rare - Reanimation - Meteora - Live in Texas - Collision Course EP - (Third Studio Album) |
| Singles: "One Step Closer" - "Crawling" - "Papercut" - "In the End" - "It's Goin' Down" - "Pts.of.Athrty" - "Frgt/10" - "Somewhere I Belong" - "Faint" - "Numb" - "From the Inside" - "Lying From You" - "Breaking the Habit" - "Numb / Encore" |
| Videography |
| DVDs: Frat Party at the Pankake Festival - Live in Texas - Breaking the Habit |
| Related articles |
|---|
| Bands/Groups: Relative Degree - Xero - Tasty Snax - Grey Daze - Fort Minor - Snow White Tan - The X-Ecutioners |
| Other: Linkin Park Underground - Machine Shop Recordings - Morning After |
bg:Meteora da:Meteora de:Meteora (Album) es:Meteora fi:Meteora (albumi) fr:Meteora it:Meteora (album) hu:Meteora nl:Meteora (album) pl:Meteora pt:Meteora (álbum) sv:Meteora
