10 Classic Music Albums That Will Make You Love Nu Metal

The idea of any kind of nu metal crossing over into the mainstream felt like a pipe dream when the genre started. While they did have their fair share of superstars, they were all meant to be in metal and hip hop circles, not alongside people like Britney Spears or anything like that. Right when the genre was supposed to be on its way out though, Linkin Park blew the doors off the hinges with their debut record.

Granted, there are probably only a few people who don't know at least a few cuts from here, seeing how this became one of the biggest selling albums of the '00s. It's for good reason though, since most of these songs took the nu metal boom to its most logical conclusion, making tracks that had that same internal pain and pop hooks to match. Not having to sacrifice singing either, Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington were a match made in metal heaven, having the perfect dichotomy of clean singing and rapping at the same time on songs like Points of Authority or Place For My Head.

Compared to bands that tried to fake their way through their "tortured" songs, you could feel that there was something genuine going on beneath these tracks, where Chester would try to cleanse himself of some of the pain that he had been dealt his whole life. Not all of us have experienced what these guys have gone through, but everyone knows a little bit about pain, and Linkin Park gave us a friend during those dark times.