Hybrid Theory, a debut album produced by Linkin Park in 2000, is an album that fuses the genre of Rap, Metal, DJ, and Rock; this type is also known as nu metal. The album explores the theme of self doubt, internal struggle as well as identity crisis, which is a common problem in this generation. Hybrid Theory has always had a place in my heart ever since I was in my early teens. I always found bliss in Bennington’s screams and Shinoda’s rapid-fire rapping. However, now that I am slowly starting to reach adulthood, I steadily realised that the album was more than just a loud scream and rapping. Each song had lyrics that conveyed deep meaning behind each word. This would eventually help me overcome the problems I faced during my teens. To express my love and appreciation for this album, I will rank the top 10 best songs in the Hybrid theory album, and talk about my relationship with them.
Before we get started with the ranking of the songs, I would like to go over the criteria about how I am going to rank each song. Each song will be ordered based on the quality of the music, how well the song is able to create the emotion intended, and most importantly, how the theme is presented and how it relates to me. Keep in mind that this is a purely subjective ranking and mainly based on how I feel, not by generalisation nor any other method.
In the 10th spot is Runaway, the 6th track in the album. Runaway doesn’t have an apparent flaw in their song, nor does it have an outstanding aspect either. It has an amazing chorus, expressing Bennington’s frustration over his search for the truth, yet ends with a disappointing and static bridge, which is a cornerstone to a good heavy metal song. Despite the underwhelming music quality, I find the lyrics very poetic and relatable. The desire to search for the truth by running away is a very poetic way to express a common problem people have in our life: lack of self-identity and self-fidelity. This is a major problem I had during my mid-teens, where I often conformed with my friends to feel like I fit in, rather than finding my personal self and becoming someone different. Although the lyrics may considerably relate to me, in the end it really matters about the track and what it sounds like.
In the 9th spot is By Myself, which is the 7th track in the album. By Myself has all the features that a Linkin Park fan asks for: High energy start, frying screams from Bennington, and heavy drop tuning guitar sounds. Not only that, but it also has great dynamics in the song which helps convey the theme of self doubt. The slow paced rapping from Shinoda of the track represents a person’s constant doubt and reassurance of failure, while the explosive fry screams represent a person’s anger towards the endless doubts they face. Despite all these positive aspects of the song, there is one sound that I personally think is the coup de grace of the song: the DJ scratching. The high pitch DJ scratching by Mr. Hahn sounds more like a fork scrapping a steel pan than a DJ scratch. I understand the idea of attempting to mimic Bennington’s raise in pitch in his vocal to put more emotion in the chorus, yet it just isn’t able to execute it well. Therefore, it stays down at the 9th spot.
In the 8th spot is Forgotten, the 10th track in the album. Forgotten contains a constant call and response with Bennington and Shinoda in the chorus, mixing their rapid fire word spitting with a belting scream, making the song a lot more energetic and electric. Through the fast pace created from the rapping, fusing with the dynamics of the tone, and mixing with the slow yet steady rise in tension during the bridge, Forgotten is able to create a bewildering and chaotic vibe caused by distressful memories, which is the main theme the song aims to tackle through the lyrics. Thankfully, I had a very innocent childhood, therefore I do not relate to the lyrics a lot, which is a reason why it ranks low towards my personal ranking. Furthermore, the song sounds very similar to By Myself, both having similar dynamic tones throughout the track. Therefore, despite having an amazing expression of the intended emotion, it does not entirely relate to me personally, so it stays down at the 8th spot.
In the 7th spot is In the end, the 8th track in the album. Despite being a big fan favorite song for all of Linkin Park songs, personally, I find the song very stagnant and unexpressive. In the main chorus, it does have a very touchy sensation through Bennington’s singing, but it doesn’t have a lot of depth in the emotions. Nonetheless, the theme of the music is quite relatable. As it explores the theme of persistence, it talks about the countless failures the songwriter faces, and the unfairness of times like these. While the song can be praised for having a very relatable theme, the writers could have emphasised much more frustration and emotion towards the lyrics and the chorus, giving more significance towards the intended theme. For that reason, In the End gets ranked in the 7th spot.
In the 6th spot is Crawling, the 5th track in the album. Similar to runaway, it doesn’t have flaws that ruin the song, nor does it have memorable features either. The track has solid transitions during verses and chorus, which helps convey self doubt and paranoia empowering the mind. Conversely, no part of the track, including the final chorus or bridge which tends to be most iconic, is memorable. Granted, there is one aspect that separates the track from runaway: the lyrics. The use of the personification of the “paranoia” that lingers inside the songwriter is such a poetic method to evoke the theme intended. While the song could have easily ranked lower, it is able to recover enough to the 6th spot.
In the 5th spot is One Step Closer, the 2nd track in the album. Like the 8th track In the End, One Step Closer is another one of Linkin Park’s most successful songs. The song has very fast paced with heavy riffs in the background, producing explosive anger to the song. Bennington’s piercing screams in the bridge and final chorus makes the song very iconic for its intense yet blissful acoustics. While the song does make it impossible to not sing along, the track does not explore a concrete theme. It attempts to convey a vague theme of frustration and pressure, making the song unmoving and non-personal. Despite being such an iconic song to the Linkin Park community, it will disappointingly be placed in the 5th spot.
In the 4th spot is Points of Authority, the 4th track in the album. Personally, I adore this song. This track is what I like to call an epitome of nu metal: it perfectly balances the sounds of rap, metal rock, and DJ into the song. Starting with Shinoda’s breathless tempo, continuing with Bennington’s thunderous screams and closing it with Mr. Hahn’s scratchy DJ work creates a regretful emotion, which helps convey the overall theme and message of the track. The theme of toxic relationships is clearly evident, when the lyrics in verse two state “The way I hurt myself again just to get back at you”, which is one of my favourite lines. Fortunately, in my mid teenage life, I never had to hurt myself to maintain a relationship with someone, but I do have my fair shares of facing disappointment and betrayal due to an unhealthy relationship. When I did face those emotions, the high speed bridge sung by Shinoda resonated heavily with me. The lyrics “cover up your face; you can’t run the race; the pace is too fast; you just won’t last” is such a poetic way to express what I felt during those moments, it makes the song unforgettable. It hurt my heart to put this song in only 4th place, but it just couldn’t overcome the top 3 songs in my list.
In the 3rd spot is With You, the 3rd track in the album. Although I love Point of Authority, With You has all the aspects Point of Authority has, just 3 times better: it’s faster, it’s louder, it’s scratchier. The mixture of all the components in nu metal is just another level. The electric intro from Mr. Hahn, the hopeless tone sung by Shinoda in verse one, then Bennington’s belting in the choruses fuse each component so well together it occasionally makes me want to cry because of how good it is. Another component I further want to emphasize is the singing from Bennington. In this track, his singing is significantly more sharper and stressed than the other tracks. His voice is so deep and monster-like it gives off a sense of angst, and is able to synthesize the painful emotion they wanted to produce to the listeners. As for the themes, it covers the problems with overattachments and dependency over a person, which a problem a lot of people go through, including myself. The song exploits the problems of overattachment and exposes to the audience that the problems only exponentially grow the longer you stay attached. With the exceptional blast of emotion sung through the lyrics, With You is going to be placed at 3rd place.
In the 2nd spot is A Place for My Head, the 9th track in the album. This song is placed 2nd not for the acoustic features. Granted, the song still has brilliant rhythms, such as the dramatic drumming sounds during the bridge giving you enough adrenaline to fight in a battlefield, or the fastest rapping done by Shinoda during the final chorus in the entirety of the album, but it isn’t the main reason why A Place for My Head deserves 2nd place. It’s the lyrics. Compared to the entirety of the hybrid theory album, the song has never expressed the theme better through the lyrics than this one. One of the prime examples is the first verse, featuring shinoda rapping as usual. Comparing the relationship of the moon and the sun with the loss of a relationship due to ego, condescension, and manipulation is such a distinct yet accurate way to convey a theme. In addition to that, fast pace rapping with the incredible rhyme and fluid flow in the pre-chorus further accentuates the exhaustion caused by the toxic relationships. In some points of view, it can be considered that I did have to deal with these emotions throughout my teen life. Due to my clueless and silly personality, I often get patronized, making me feel the exact same feeling mentioned in the pre-chorus and the outro. With all this in mind, A Place for My Head is going to be placed 2nd.
In the rank 1 spot in the whole Hybrid Theory album is going to be: Papercut, the 1st track in the album. To me, It feels like this song contains nicotine that releases to my body every second I listen to it. The sheer amount of goosebumps I get on my arms when I listen to this song is absurd. The track starts with high pitch guitar notes, followed by an explosion of heavy riff thrown at your ears. Just by listening for 20 seconds, so much emotion is blasted to the audience, it clears the checkmark for expressing the intended expression. During the main chorus, the track mixes the super fast guitar riff in the background with the steady lyrical beat, creating a surreal sensation of listening to a both fast and slow pace, a rhythm that cannot be found in any other Hybrid Theory songs. Last but not least, the bridge and the final chorus. In the final lines of the music, Bennington is able to sing a note so tranquil yet exhaustive at the same time it not only creates a sensation of ascending , but it also illustrates the act of giving up and succumbing to the paranoia in our mind, which is the main theme of the song. The feeling of the “sun” and the “light”, which are both something that maintains the lives of the human race, “betrays me” illustrates such an accurate depiction of a feeling you sense when giving up, which is exactly what the songwriters intended to do. Paranoia isn’t something I ever faced when growing up, but I did occasionally feel the need to give up encouraged by self doubts as well as the feeling that everything and everyone was against me. This feeling lingered in my life for quite a while, until I started to listen to this track again. It helped me understand my thoughts more coherently, and helped me figure out what I could do to solve this problem. Through the amazing vocal work by Bennington, with the superb songwriting by the band as a whole, and the resonation of the theme towards my teenage life, I place Papercut as my rank 1 in my top ten best Hybrid Theory tracks.
As mentioned in the introduction, Hybrid Theory means so much to my teenage life. Throughout the years, this album not only helped me overcome and control my self doubts and fear, but it always provided me a sense of comfort by addressing the fact that I am not alone in the feeling I face, and that the million people that enjoy listening to the music most likely feel the same as I do about who I am. I truly am grateful that I discovered their music, and I truly hope more people can start listening to this album as well.
By: Dylan Doyun Lee
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