Customer Reviews
My opinion - By: Jess Millar, 27 Jun 2008 
I first heard Linkin Park's `Crawling' on a Saturday morning music show- I had never heard anything like It. I'd never really been into music before, but the angst ridden, thundering chorus of this song really spoke to me. On the strength of the single alone I bought the album & - to my delight - loved it!
Even though the album & band where bourn for an era where short-lived Nu-metal ruled the world, after which many bands failed to move on from the sound which popularized them & subsequently where soon defunct, linkin park have survived & have since built on the solid foundation of Hybrid Theory, pursuing various sounds & becoming one of the only successful bands to meld together rap & metal.
I'd be lying if I said I liked any of there more recent albums any where close to as much as their debut, but nethertheless I owe it to them for introducing me to the kind of music I now love, & though I've since moved on to liking a broader musical spectrum I still hold a fondness & nostalgia for an album which, I can listen to even now & still love every song.
I'd recommend; A place for my head, Crawling, Paper cut, points of Authority & One step Closer....if I had to choose.
Linkin the tracks together is an art - By: M. Speller, 03 Jan 2008 
Hear me out on this one. Might not be entirely positive, but it's honest.
Linkin Park. Hybrid Theory. So much hype from so many quarters & up to now I have refrained from buying into what I felt was the pressure from the music industry to like pop rock. Stereotyped rock music sanitised for the populous which was kept to a basic recipe without too much deviation. I was pretty certain I'd find the album too samey, too safe, too commercialised.
So I brought it then.
Simply, I was kind of right. It is pretty commerical but it isn't that safe or middle of the road. I'll hold my hand up & say there are hi-lights & there are moments that made me think twice before branding them with my bland rock brush. The main issue with the album is the production of it, &in more ways than one.
Firstly, I find it over produced. Too much going on to appreciate the music. I could not tell you if the guitarist (or guitarists for that matter) are any good as they are drowned outin layer upon layer of riffs. Vocals are strong, but it is like a kidin a sweet shop who been sick from too much chocolate - there was no need for so many effects to distort what is obviously a good singing voice, too many effects (like the chocolate) spoilt it.
The sameness. It hit me after the album hi-light 'By Myself'. By this point I was doing ok. The early part of the album is ok, dipsin quality dramatically (half saved by throwingin the single 'Crawling') before rising for the middle section with 'By Myself'. After that, I can't quite tell you if it was good or not. Got a bored, all sounded the same. If you like the music then this album is a sure fire winner, if you don't completely get into it then there is the risk you will end up gazing into the ether waiting to be inspired.
Track 11, Cure For The Itch sums it up completely with the name. It was just like I had an itch that was irritating me, not able to really neither concentrate nor enjoy the music as things had grown stale. This was like a soothing cream, erasing the boredom, re-lighting my concentration. Completely different, hiphop beat, general mess around - but it broke the album up. Unfortunately it was track 11 out of 12, any earlier would have enhanced the second half of the album tenfold. Instead it only made Pushing Me Away a pleasant track.
Just feel that Linkin also are not 100% sure of their own identity. Always hovering around a likeness to another artist, without every really nailing it before flitting off to experiment with another style.
So they missed a trick here with the album production, a poor start, bad placement of the wildcard track & grouping average songs around one or two killers. An album should be peaks & troughs, but there should be a natural order & flow that leads the listener through the journey, this seemed to chop & change too quickly. Add this to the distinct lack of variation & you get a patchy album that could have done much much better.
*** Like: Papa Roach, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, Rage Against The Machine, Alien Ant Farm ***
Record Sales Justified? - By: Jasper Wong, 10 Nov 2007 Linkin Park's debut album. It has sold over 15 million copys, which is probably more than most bands can hope to sell over their entire career. Is it good? Yes, it is.
Linkin Park had their own sound. It was different from anything that other bands released, with their unique fusion of rock & rap, dj-ing & sampling. It is still the best album that they have released.
Linkin Park is a very melodic, yet heavy band. almost every song is amazing.
1. papercut 8/10 sets the tone perfectly
2. one step closer 8/10 i like it, except the 'shut up' part, its too raw.
3. with you 9/10 no-one else likes this song, but i really do
4. points of authority 7/10 catchy raps
5. crawling 9/10 you've gotta have heard this song before
6. runaway 6/10 it is dwarved by crawling & by myself
7. by myself 8.5/10 heavy & less melodic than other songs
8.in the end 10/10 the most famous linkin park song. hands down. & it IS that good!
9. A Place for my head 6/10 i dont really like this song; doesnt flow that well.
10. forgotten 9/10 'once the papers crumpled up, it cant be perfect again'
11. cure for the itch 5/10 interlude
12. pushing me away 10/10 a bit like numb actually
hybrid theory is a showcase of just how good nu-metal without the stupid meaningless swearyourheadofffornoreasonin it (limp bizkit anyone?) definately worth the money, but then again, you probably have it already.
A truly great Album - By: Mr. N. Haslam, 17 Oct 2007 My first Linkin Park album, & its totally sold me!
Why did it take me so long to find this group ?
Good Debut.. - By: P. Philips, 01 Sep 2007 
I'd heard the odd Linkin Park song like 'Forgotten'(on here) & wasn't disappointed when I bought this album. Interesting to note also that it's produced by Andy Wallace, who also worked on Nirvana's 'NeverMind'.
