Maps of Music

Meteora (2003)

Where the lyrics of Meteora take you, and where it was really made.

The album sold over 810,000 copies in its first week, yet reviewers could only hear it by visiting the record label's offices before release.

Key places

Recording at NRG Studios (2003)

Recording site NRG Recording Studios (Hollywood) — By August 2002 the band entered NRG Studios to record the album, and Bennington also began writing songs with the band there. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Photo shoot for the cover art (2002)

Album cover Ambassador Hotel — The band held many photo shoots at the Ambassador Hotel on October 29, 2002, during a two-day break from recording, for the design of the album's cover art. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Meteora: second studio album by American rock band Linkin Park
• Released 25 March 2003 through Warner Bros. Records
• Follows Reanimation, a remix album of songs from the 2000 debut Hybrid Theory
• Produced by the band alongside Don Gilmore
• Title taken from the Greek Orthodox monasteries originally bearing the name
• Sounds similar to Hybrid Theory, as described by critics
• Took almost a year to record
• First Linkin Park studio album to feature bassist Dave Phoenix Farrell, who rejoined in 2000 after temporary touring with other bands

Background

• Initial writing for a second album dated to early 2001, while the band was still touring for Hybrid Theory
• The band wrote around eighty demos during the Hybrid Theory World Tour and LP Underground Tour, within eight months
• Rough ideas from that period became part of the final album, including the intro of 'Somewhere I Belong'
• Chester Bennington found the original guitar intro too folk rock sounding; Mike Shinoda and Joe Hahn reworked it
• The band released Reanimation in 2002 instead of a second album, a remix album produced by Shinoda
• That experience led the band to co-produce their next album with Gilmore, aiming to expand the sound of Hybrid Theory with more experimental ideas
• Genres: nu metal, rap metal, rap rock, alternative rock

Recording

• Writing continued in Mike Shinoda's home studio in early 2002, where pre-production began
• Pre-production ended in June 2002 and the band moved to main production
• The band entered NRG Studios by August 2002, while Bennington also began writing songs
• Drum recordings were completed by October and guitar parts were introduced
• Bass parts were introduced by mid-October
• Hahn's scratching and sampling parts were introduced a month before the deadline
• 'Breaking the Habit' featured live strings arranged by David Campbell; Shinoda had worked on the song for five or six years
• Mixing took place in New York with Andy Wallace, and the album was finished in December 2002
• Production had unprecedented security to prevent leaks and bootlegging, including 24-hour security during mastering

Cover

• The band held photo shoots for the cover art on 29 October 2002 at the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, during a two-day break from recording
• 'The Flem' and 'Delta' helped the band with the artwork for the album and its singles

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Linkin Park was formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996 by high school friends Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon, and Brad Delson.
• The band began as Xero, recorded a four-track demo in 1997, and changed its name to Hybrid Theory after Chester Bennington joined in 1999.
• Warner Bros. Records advised another name change, and the band chose Linkin Park.

Members

• The original lineup included vocalist Chester Bennington and drummer Rob Bourdon.
• Bennington died by suicide in July 2017, and the band went on hiatus.
• In September 2024 the reformed lineup was announced, with Emily Armstrong and Colin Brittain added to Shinoda, Delson, Joe Hahn, and Dave Farrell.

Career

• Debut album Hybrid Theory (2000) was certified Diamond by the RIAA and sold more than 4.8 million copies in its first year.
• Meteora (2003) followed, and Minutes to Midnight (2007) marked a change in sound.
• A Thousand Suns (2010), Living Things (2012), The Hunting Party (2014), and One More Light (2017) explored electronic, rock, and pop directions.
• The band has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.
• Eighth album From Zero (2024) returned to a heavier sound.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Meteora received generally positive reviews, although some critics felt the album's style was too similar to its predecessor
• Metacritic gave a weighted average of 62 out of 100 from 13 critic scores, rated as generally favorable
• E! Online rated it A and expected it to shoot straight for the stars
• Entertainment Weekly gave it a B+, calling it a thunderously hooky album that blends the group's sonic elements into radio-friendly perfection
• Dot Music described it as a guaranteed source of ubiquitous radio hits
• Rolling Stone said the band squeezed the last remaining life out of a nearly extinct formula
• Billboard Magazine described it as a ready-made crowdpleaser
• NME said it had massive commercial appeal but left its reviewer underwhelmed
• AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it nothing more and nothing less than a Hybrid Theory part 2, while praising its tight running time of 36 minutes and 41 seconds
• Sputnikmusic's Damrod criticized its similarity to Hybrid Theory but praised its production quality and catchiness
• Blender described it as harder, denser and uglier
• Q described it as less an artistic endeavor than an exercise in target marketing

Reappraisal

• In 2025, Loudwire's Rae Lemeshow-Barooshian ranked it sixth on her list of the top 50 nu-metal albums of all time

Records

• Debuted at number one on the Billboard 200
• Sold 810,400 copies in the US and 36,700 in Canada in its first week
• Sold an additional 265,000 copies in the US in its second week and stayed at the top for another week
• As of June 2014, sold 6.2 million copies in the US and around 16 million worldwide
• Ranked number 36 on Billboard's Hot 200 Albums of the Decade
• As of April 2023, sold 8.55 million equivalent album units, including 6.49 million pure album sales in the US
• 'Session' was nominated for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 46th Grammy Awards
• 'Somewhere I Belong' won Best Rock Video at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards
• 'Breaking the Habit' won MTV Viewer's Choice at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Reviewers were denied advance copies and could only listen to the album by visiting the record label's offices
• Some songs from the album were remixed with some of Jay-Z's songs for the EP Collision Course (2004)
• A very limited vinyl run spread across two LPs was released under Warner Brothers, and collectors pay high prices for it at auction
• The album's 20th anniversary edition was released on 7 April 2023, with the previously unreleased outtake 'Lost' as its lead single
• The European leg of the world tour was cancelled because Chester Bennington had severe back and abdominal pains
• Half of the music video for 'Numb' was shot in Los Angeles and the Czech Republic as a result

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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