10 Hard Rock Bands Never Better Than Their First Album

Linkin Park have a bit of an uneasy relationship with the hard rock genre. While there have been plenty of haters who don't consider them "heavy enough" to be included in nu metal, their unique brand of hip hop and hard rock made them a staple on MTV and got many potential metalheads into the genre.

By sheer numbers alone, the band's debut Hybrid Theory is so beloved that most of you probably own a copy of it. This record has been certified Diamond in the United States and did just as well in other countries, which was no small feat for a new band. They had the tunes to back it up though, with songs like "In the End" and "One Step Closer" still getting attention to this day. Across this record, the band gave the best sonic depiction of being a disenfranchised teenager who feels like no one understands them.

At the same time, this album was the start of a pretty lucrative career for the band, as they went into more alternative territory and started incorporating synths and pop melodies in a more straightforward way. Though some records by the band may have been more mainstream or had better riffs, Hybrid Theory is the reason we're still talking about Linkin Park and the ideal pick for any hard rocker when talking about the best of their catalog.