10 Best Hard Rock Songs Of The 2000's

As the 90's quickly faded from view, the new millennium left a lot of things uncertain for the hard rock world. With nu metal on in its mid-period and grunge long since died, where do you go from there? While the charts seemed grim with a lot of pop stars hogging the spotlight, some bands were festering from the shadows, ready to explode.

All of a sudden, offshoot bands quickly found their way from their niche local audiences onto the album and singles charts. No matter what kind of rock they played, each track hit you with the blunt smack of a baseball bat, ready to absolutely demolish you with pure sonic force. Along with these newer acts, old bands from the alternative and metal scenes were still holding their own with the competition with heavyhitters that revitalized their careers.

While a lot of hard rock tended to fall under a common umbrella, these bands bucked the trends by taking bold new steps and create genres of their own. Regardless of what filter you wanted to put on these tunes, each of them helped shape the way rock would look moving forward. Hard rock had now entered its 4th decade, with bands more than happy to carry the torch for incendiary headbangers.

At the turn of the millennium, nu metal was in somewhat of a creative tailspin. After bands like Korn had broken down the door for heavier music in the mainstream, bands like Limp Bizkit were coming out of the woodwork showcasing the more cartoonish side of the genre. With the disparate aesthetics clashing, this California ensemble burst onto the scene with the best of both worlds.

Linkin Park's debut with Hybrid Theory set the music world on fire with its mix of raw aggression and pop hooks, which work to glorious effect on "One Step Closer." While the song is dominated by Chester Bennington's softer vocals, his shout in the chorus is undercut by the hip hop flows of Mike Shinoda. Now that there were two vocalists, you didn't need to sacrifice singing ability for more meandering hip hop tendencies. The real force of the song comes from the breakdown, where the angst is brought to full capacity as Bennington screams "SHUT UP WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!"

It may seem a bit tame nowadays, but "One Step Closer" was the breath of fresh air needed to bring nu metal back from the mainstream edge. Sure, it might sacrifice some heaviness at times, but these songs are the kind of metal that would get other people interested in the genre.