10 Hard Rock Music Bands That Avoided The Sophomore Slump
3. Meteora - Linkin Park
As soon as the '90s were ending, the nu metal wave started to be on its own downward trajectory. Though acts like Korn and Limp Bizkit were still on top of the world, their unique brand of inner torment was starting to get played out amid the pop punk acts that were also on TRL at the time. And while Linkin Park definitely set the peak for the genre on Hybrid Theory, no one was really expecting what was going to come next.
Working on Meteora while on the road, this is a leaner experience than Hybrid Theory had been, with every single track bleeding into one another perfectly. Along with getting heavier on songs like Don't Stay and Hit the Floor, this is where the more radio friendly side of their sound really peaked. As much as some fans may have not liked the softer sounds of something like Breaking the Habit, these were the kind of songs that got fairweather fans into the genre, being moved by Chester Bennington's feelings of being lonely and not having anywhere else to go.
Even when the band tries to do some off the wall experiments, they go over just as well, like the hip hop cut Nobody's Listening or Joe Hahn flexing his cinematic chops on the scratch track Session. This should have been the time when the world collectively left nu metal in the past, but this is the wake up call that people needed. Don't turn your back on them...THEY WON'T BE IGNORED.