Ah. It's good to be back.
You know, since I suffered massive burnout and kind of quit the reviewing game altogether for a bit there, and now that I'm fully ready and motivated to jump back into it all, I wanted to return with something big, something a bit special.
Because along with marking my return to music reviewing, today is a special day. A very special day. Today marks the anniversary of a very special album, or at least very important in my eyes. Today is the 15th anniversary of a little album called Hybrid Theory, which marked the beginning of the musical journey of one of the most important bands in my life, Linkin Park.
Linkin Park have been a massive influence on my life. Not only have they been behind some of my favorite songs and albums of all time, period, and consistently impressed me with their incredible genre-bending, songwriting, and musicianship, but they were one of the bands that first ever got me into and made truly love music. If it wasn't for this band, I don't know what the hell I'd be doing or where I'd be right now.
And as we are on the precipice of the band's 15th anniversary, I feel it's time to pay tribute to a band whose music has inspired and shaped me so much by going through their discography and picking out their top 20 absolute best works.
Why top 20? Because they just have so many great songs. Hell, even with 20, I still had to make some really painful cuts.
So what the hell are we waiting for? These are the Top 20 best Linkin Park songs!
20
Let's start this off with a bang, shall we?
#20. "Guilty All The Same" feat. Rakim
from The Hunting Party
Guilty All The Same proved to be one of the greatest highlights from The Hunting Party by simply being one of the group's absolute heaviest songs. The power in this song lies mostly in the instrumentation, Brad Delson and Mike Shinoda's thunderous, crunching guitarwork, Rob Bourdon's fast-paced and glorious drumming, and that minute-long instrumental opening that just provides the perfect buildup to the perfect payoff.
Chester's performance here is commendable. The pure raw, vitriolic anger brought out in both his singing and his singing is impressive, as he provides a perfectly precise and powerful strike on all who have wronged him. It's one of his best performances in the band's history.
That's to say nothing of Rakim's verse. Bringing a hip-hop legend into a guest verse can be tricky, but Rakim's presence makes the song all the better, as his verse is absolute fire. Many had problems with it, but for me, it's one of the best parts of the song.
Guilty All The Same isn't my favorite track on the Hunting Party, but it sums up everything great about that album and then some. It's Linkin Park at their heaviest, and I fuckin' love it.
19
For a while I was considering putting the two opening tracks on A Thousand Suns on this list, the Requiem and the Radiance, for being incredible pieces of atmosphere that haunt the listener and provide incredible buildup for the album to come. I eventually opted not to, given how they're technically not songs but interludes, but you can guarantee if they did make this list, they would've been damn high up, and hey, even if they didn't make it, we can still go with the next best thing.
#19. "Burning In The Skies"
from A Thousand Suns
Burning In The Skies is the perfect opener to an album like A Thousand Suns. For an album that deals with so many confusing and hurtful emotions, especially given the dark subject matter of nuclear holocaust, Burning In The Skies starts this tale on a note of somberness and regret. It's a very bleak, almost hopeless track, the dreary instrumentation and Chester's pained, imperfect delivery portray the emotion spectacularly.
It's a more subdued track in the face of the album's overwhelming emotion, one of reflection and loss in the face of great tragedy. It's depressed and bleak and regretful, in all the best of ways.
18
You know, while I love Hybrid Theory, I'll be one of the first to admit that in terms of Linkin Park's albums, it's arguably the one that's aged the worst. I mean, it's still a fantastic record and one that I'll almost always come back to, but when you look at songs like Forgotten or By Myself or especially Crawling, while all good songs, they definitely have that layer of early '00s nü-metal cheese all over them that can make them kind of hard to listen to.
However, Hybrid Theory does have a few standout tracks that still sound great even today, and my favorite song from it is, unfortunately, one of the most overlooked.
#18. "Pushing Me Away"
from Hybrid Theory
Pushing Me Away is a prime example of early Linkin Park's best traits.
The angsty songwriting, Chester's rough delivery, Mike's hip-hop-laden interjections, the turntables and rough guitars... it's all there, and it works spectacularly. Every element of this song flows together perfectly to provide a perfect punch of nü-metal greatness. It doesn't feel overly angsty or heavy, every element of the songwriting and instrumentation just fits so incredibly well, and make Pushing Me Away easily the best-aged track on Hybrid Theory, and in my opinion, the best overall.
Also the live piano version of this song is just... breathtaking.
17
A Thousand Suns is a very dark album, but it ends on one of the most beautifully optimistic and hopeful songs I've ever heard.
Now, The Messenger is not on this list, but it did come damn close. There's a B-side that many LP fans consider to be the "alternate ending" to that album, a much more bleak and hopeless ended to an already very somber album. And as a fan of tragedy in works of fiction, of course that's the one made my list instead.
#17. "Blackbirds"
A Thousand Suns B-Side
Blackbirds is one of Linkin Park's darkest songs. Everything about it, the instrumentation, the vocals, the lyrics, it's all so... post-apocalyptic. It conveys the feeling that everything you've ever known and loved is gone, dead. It's very similar to Burning In The Skies in that sense, but I think Blackbirds works better, because it's even sadder. Where Burning In The Skies was a song about searching for some kind of hope or some answers, Blackbirds is the realization that there is none.
It's one of the most crushing and depressing concepts out there, everything there has ever been to know and love being destroyed, and there being just about no more to live for. It's a slow burner of a song, but the emotional payoff is absolutely incredible.
16
Reanimation is possibly one of the most underrated albums in existence. I rarely see anyone, even fellow LP diehards ever talk about it, and that's a real damn shame because it is one of their best.
Remember how I said Hybrid Theory hasn't exactly aged spectacularly? Reanimation doesn't sound like it's aged a day. It took everything great about Hybrid Theory and cranked it up to 11, while leaving out some of the album's more... embarrassing moments.
Another great thing about it is, much like A Thousand Suns, it feels less like a simple collection of songs and more like a cohesive, full-length musical experience, each track and interlude flowing into the next superfluously to create one big musical journey. Because of that, it was hard to pick individual songs from that album for this list, but when songs on that album did stand out, they stood out spectacularly.
#16. "My{Dsmbr"
from Reanimation
My{Dsmbr is a song that is, in every element of its existence, stunning. The piano, the electronics, Chester and guest vocalist Kelly Ali, it's all just so... immaculate.
That's the best word I can use to describe Reanimation, immaculate. It's all just so seamless, so flawlessly and carefully put together, and My{Dsmbr is the epitome of that. It's one of the most flawless executions of a purely emotion-driven ballad I've ever heard. The sense of isolation, of coldness, of sadness... it's all conveyed through a song that's so minimal yet so all-encompassing at the same time. It's a true masterpiece of a remix, if you haven't heard this song or the amazing album it came with, I implore you to go listen to it right now.
Seriously, go do it. I'll wait.
15
If this list is to be any indication, Linkin Park know how to end a fucking album. It seems that their album closers tend to be the ones that leave the most impact, or are just plain the best, which is good practice seeing how the last song is the one that leaves that last taste in your mouth when you finish listening to an album, and can affect your viewpoint on the product as a whole.
Linkin Park has great album closers down to an art, and you can tell that when the closing track to one of their weaker albums is still one of their best songs.
#15. "Powerless"
from Living Things
If this list is to be any indication, Linkin Park know how to end a fucking album. It seems that their album closers tend to be the ones that leave the most impact, or are just plain the best, which is good practice seeing how the last song is the one that leaves that last taste in your mouth when you finish listening to an album, and can affect your viewpoint on the product as a whole.
Linkin Park has great album closers down to an art, and you can tell that when the closing track to one of their weaker albums is still one of their best songs.
14
Ah, Living Things.
Living Things is probably the most lukewarm of all of Linkin Park's records. It's not overly spectacular in comparison to many of the band's albums, and while still very, very good, many would say it probably wouldn't line up with some of the band's more prominent works. I'd probably agree, but that doesn't mean Living Things is completely worth overlooking, as there are still plenty of really fantastic songs on there.
And, oh look, here's one of them now!
#14. "Roads Untravelled"
from Living Things
Roads Untravelled is a song that just grabs you. It all just comes together, the brilliant music and vocals and vibe are all this song needs to be absolutely stunning.
Chester and Mike's harmonizing is excellent. These two voices were practically made for each other, as we'll see with more songs on this list.
The instrumentation is great. The mix of the soft electronica, guitar, organ, and minimalist production just come together and make the song absolutely striking.
Above all, it's just a song that gets emotion. It nearly bring me to tears every time. It's of the biggest emotional punches that the band has ever delivered.
13
When Mike said LP were going for their heaviest record yet in The Hunting Party, they meant it. Not only was it the closest to straight-up metal the band has ever gotten (and they fucking pulled it off), the themes of war, death, and pure rage were the most prevalent they've been since A Thousand Suns. This allowed them to do plenty of songs about inner struggle, of course, but that doesn't mean they were afraid to get political. Quite the opposite, in fact.
#13. "Rebellion" feat. Daron Malakian
from The Hunting Party
From a musical standpoint, Rebellion is absolute insanity. System Of A Down's Daron Malakin provides the guitarwork on this track, and believe me, the System influence shows. This is what I was talking about when I said they could do straight-up metal. I haven't commented on this yet, but Mike is an amazing singer, and his performance here is incredible.
But where Rebellion really shines is the lyrics, where the band acknowledges that, yes, in the grand scheme of everything, they are the most fortunate ones, and that there are many out there who actually suffer horribly, which provides a very interesting and potent contrast to Linkin Park's usual bouts of inner turmoil. It's heavily political and provocative, yet at the same time very self-reflective. Rebellion shows Linkin Park's most heavy, politically righteous side, and it is just striking.
12
I love Minutes To Midnight. One of the big reasons why is that it finally allowed Linkin Park to break away from the chains of their stigma as an angsty my-metal band and begin to grow and mature artistically, and it allowed them to do more storytelling and write more emotionally complex and even relatable subject material, something that would show even more in later album. It was a transitional album to be sure, but it's definitely worth a listen, especially with tracks like this.
#12. "Leave Out All The Rest"
from Minutes To Midnight
When I say the band can write very down-to-earth and emotional music, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Leave Out All The Rest shows Chester at his most vulnerable, both in his vocals and his lyrics, contemplating what he's going to remembered for after he dies, if anything. It's a really striking emotional dilemma, one that I know I've been through before, and one that's delivered perfectly.
The dark, almost haunting tone set by the instrumentation and the aforementioned brilliant vocal work by Chester make the sole absolutely beautiful to listen to as well. It's one of their most beautiful songs to date.
This is an example of LP's songwriting capabilities. It provides a very emotional, very striking dilemma, and it makes you feel that emotion, that drama, that turmoil. It's what the band does best.
11
And now it's time to talk about Meteora.
Meteora is, without a doubt the band's most acclaimed album and one of the most influential and praised rock albums of the 21st Century, and it completely deserves it.
Meteora is a modern-day masterpiece. One of the album's greatest aspects is just how perfectly it captures pure inner angst and turmoil. A lot of less capable musicians would come off as whiny when they write songs about "their pain", but Linkin Park got it 100% right. They wrote very angry, screaming songs of sadness and angst and confusion, and it was still surprisingly very mature and even relatable. That's what made that album so god damn great.
And one of the greatest examples of this was Easier To Run.
#11. "Easier To Run"
from Meteora
Sometimes it's easier to just run away. Sometimes it just seems like the best option, to just burn all bridges and run away from your problems. You may not be able to escape them, but you just want to.. keep trying, as if it were that easy. If only it were that easy...
Yeah, we're getting into the personal shit now. Just deal with it.
Easier To Run is a song I really relate to. Whenever I'm stressed out or under lots of deadlines or trouble or whatever, I just wish I could drop it all and leave it behind, but it's never that easy, and even though you know you can't escape all the daily bullshit, you just never stop trying because hey, it's better than the alternative.
Linkin Park are at their best when they can get as intensely personal and relatable as this. They're able to convey emotion and relate with and speak to their audience like very few artists can. Easier To Run is a powerful song for me, and it speaks volumes about how hard a piece of music can really hit you personally.
~~~
PART 2 COMING SOON
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