Meteora is the second studio album by American
rock band Linkin Park.
It was released on March 25, 2003 through
Warner Bros. Records, following Reanimation,
a collaboration album which featured remixes
of songs included on debut studio album Hybrid
Theory.
Linkin Park released singles from Meteora
for over a year, including "Somewhere I Belong",
"Faint", "Numb", "From the Inside" and "Breaking
the Habit".
The song "Lying from You" was released as
a promotional single.
Meteora takes its title from the Greek Orthodox
monasteries.
Meteora is the most successful album in the
history of the Alternative Songs chart, a
chart that specializes in radio play of alternative
songs.
As of 2013, the album has sold over 20 million
copies worldwide, and is certified four times
platinum by the RIAA.
Meteora was also ranked number 36 on Billboards
Top 200 Albums of the Decade.
The song "Session" was nominated for the 2004
Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance,
losing to Jeff Beck's "Plan B".
Some songs from the album were remixed with
some of Jay-Z's songs for the EP Collision
Course.
Background and production
Meteora, which was co-produced Don Gilmore,
features a mixture of the band's previous
nu metal and rap metal styles with newer innovative
effects.
"Nobody's Listening" features a sample from
the band's track "High Voltage", which appears
on the B-side for the single "One Step Closer"
and the bonus disc of Hybrid Theory.
The sample is a distorted version of Mike
Shinoda's rapping line that is in the chorus
of "High Voltage" where he states "Coming
at you from every side".
The track also includes the induction of a
shakuhachi, a Japanese flute made of bamboo.
"Breaking the Habit" features an electronica-influenced
sound, live strings and guitar.
This is an exception from their previous nu
metal/rap rock performances, as no distorted
guitar riffs, nor any rapping vocals from
Mike Shinoda are included – a style they
would further explore on the albums A Thousand
Suns and Living Things.
Linkin Park comprehensively rehearsed the
album, recording more than forty choruses
for the first single "Somewhere I Belong".
In a retrospective interview, Chester Bennington
stated "We knew what we wanted, and we knew
how to execute to a certain degree.
However, we were also just going for it.
We didn't really care about what anybody else
was doing.
We also didn't care whether or not the songs
fit together stylistically as a whole or a
collection of songs."
Other editions
There is a special edition of Meteora, which
includes the "Making of Meteora" DVD documentary.
They are packaged together in a blue tinted
case with the blue Meteora cover that can
be found in some parts of Asia, United States,
and more commonly in India.
The India version contains an alternate DVD
and alternative cover that is packaged in
a slimline case with the disc in original
packaging.
The "Tour Edition" of Meteora is packaged
in a two disc set.
The second disc, which is a Video CD, has
the music videos for "Somewhere I Belong",
"Faint", "Numb", and "Breaking the Habit".
The tour edition is packaged in a standard
Compact Disc case, rather than their trademark
digipak case.
The album was also released on a very limited
quantity of vinyl records under Warner Brothers.
These are coveted by collectors and fetch
high prices at auction.
Reception
In its first week it debuted at #1 on the
Billboard 200 and sold an estimated 810,000
units.
It sold 5,913,000 copies in the US alone and
over 20 million copies worldwide.
The album was ranked number 36 on Billboard's
Hot 200 Albums of the Decade.
Meteora received generally positive reviews,
although critics noted that the album's musical
style was similar to its predecessor, Hybrid
Theory.
The overall Metacritic score is 62.
E! Online rated it an A, and expected it to
"shoot straight for the stars".
Entertainment Weekly described it as "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 this nearly extinct
formula".
Billboard Magazine described Meteora as "a
ready-made crowdpleaser".
The New Musical Express said it had "massive
commercial appeal" but left the reviewer "underwhelmed".
Allmusic described it as "nothing more and
nothing less than Hybrid Theory Part 2.",
adding "More importantly, the group has discipline
and editing skills, keeping this record at
a tight 36 minutes and 41 seconds, a move
that makes it considerably more listenable
than its peers and, by extension, more powerful,
since they know where to focus their energy,
something that many nu-metal bands simply
do not."
Blender described it as "harder, denser, uglier",
while Q described it as "less an artistic
endeavor than an exercise in target marketing."
Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+,
calling it a "thunderously hooky album that
seamlessly blends the group's disparate sonic
elements into radio-friendly perfection"
The song "Session" was nominated for a Grammy
Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance
in 2004.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Linkin Park. 
Multimedia Part
The Art of Meteora – 17:04
"Somewhere I Belong" Video
LPTV
Website tool-kit
Extra
Merch
LP Underground
Meteora – Live Around the World
Meteora – Live Around the World is a live
album which features live versions of seven
songs from the second studio album, Meteora.
They were recorded in various city's around
the world from 2007 to 2011.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Linkin Park. 
Personnel
Charts and Certifications
Singles
References
External links
Meteora official lyrics page at the Wayback
Machine
