The band made a religion out of vulnerable lyrics. Lyrically, the music sounded heartbroken, betrayed, scared, furious. Assertive guitars pounded out of speakers as Bennington traded lines with Mike Shinoda, Bennington’s distinctive scream giving way to Shinoda’s bouncy rapping, a hypnotizing push and pull. The album’s 12 tracks (14 if you could spring for the deluxe version!) became the soundtrack of nascent angst, the defining topography of turbulent feelings at the turn of the millennium. Twenty years ago this month, Linkin Park released Hybrid Theory, and it took over the world. Music that sits with your darkness, and names it.

It was a small, remarkable testament to the reach of Linkin Park’s music, a lovely moment to add to a collage of reflections on what the band has given the world: music to weep and scream and fall apart to, without reservation. But they all seemed so familiar with the song’s contours, like it was a security blanket they had known their whole lives. Many in the crowd might’ve been younger or not alive at all. He would have been 4 years old when Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory came out. Not long after it was filmed, Peep died of an overdose. It wasn’t until late 2001 with the release of “In The End” that the attention around the band began to swell and the sales of Hybrid Theory continued even a year after release.There’s a video I think about often, of the rapper Lil Peep in 2017, joining the crowd at one of his shows in losing their shit to Linkin Park’s “In the End.” It was a few weeks after the band’s beloved vocalist Chester Bennington died, and Peep led off with “This one’s for Chester,” before launching into the song. The album’s initial reception was a slow burn when it was first released in 2000, and none of the singles were an immediate hit. Today is the 15th anniversary of the band’s debut album Hybrid Theory, which spawned a number of hits that they’re still known for today: “One Step Closer” (#68 on Billboard’s Hot 100), “Crawling” (#79), and what remains their biggest hit of their career “In the End” that reached #2 on the popular chart. Maybe their lyrics were too forward, too raw, and just too direct, but that is what makes Linkin Park such an amazing band from the outset. Yet, for them, that is where they dug deeper.

The band dug into the woes of adolescence that for many are best left behind. At their commercial peak, Linkin Park was a band associated with unfiltered teenage feelings and endlessly mocked for it.

Linkin park hybrid theory album