Among critics, it was met with some suspicion. If you play the opening piano notes of “In the End” in any room, millennials could probably take it from there.īut here’s the thing: You’re not likely to find Hybrid Theory in too many best-of lists. It’s the highest-selling debut album since Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite for Destruction from 1987. It’s the bestselling rock album since the turn of the century. Since its release, Hybrid Theory has sold 32 million copies, including 12 million just in the US. 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. 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.
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