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Meteora (album)

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For complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Kalambaka, Greece, see Meteora.
Untitled

Meteora is the second studio album by American rock band Linkin Park, released on March 25, 2003. Following the collaboration album Reanimation which featured remixes of their debut album Hybrid Theory. Linkin Park released singles from Meteora for over a year, including "Somewhere I Belong", "Faint", "Lying from You", "From the Inside", "Breaking the Habit" and "Numb".

It is the most successful album in the history of the Modern Rock Tracks chart, a chart that specializes in radio play of alternative rock songs. "Numb" was the biggest song of the year on the chart. The album has sold 6 million copies in the United States,[citation needed] and over 16 million worldwide to date.[3]

Background and production

The album was named after the Meteora rock formation in Greece. After seeing these monasteries on a trip to Europe, the band was inspired by the way they were built, almost defying gravity. It was this feeling of greatness and awesome accomplishment that Linkin Park wished to convey with their music, thus the name.

Don Gilmore co-produced the album.[2] Linkin Park comprehensively rehearsed the album, recording more than forty choruses for the first single "Somewhere I Belong". Like the band's first full-length Hybrid Theory, Meteora was recorded using multitrack recording methods in which each instrument is recorded individually rather than played all at once, as is done in a typical studio setting. In its first week it sold an estimated 810,000 units. To date, it has well over six million copies in the U.S. alone, nearly sixteen million copies worldwide.[3]

The music in Meteora represents significant changes since the release of Hybrid Theory. It is characterized by more relevant influences from rap metal ("Lying from You", "Hit the Floor", "Faint", "Figure.09", "Nobody's Listening"). Their instrumental song "Session" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 2003. "Nobody's Listening" featured a small sample from the band's track, "High Voltage", which appeared on the B-side of One Step Closer and the bonus disc of Hybrid Theory. The sample was a distorted version of Mike rapping, "Coming at you from every side" which comes from the chorus of High Voltage.

The instrumental track "Session" was featured on the soundtrack of the 2003 movie The Matrix Reloaded and on the Season Five Sopranos episode "In Camelot".

Track listing

All tracks are written by Linkin Park

No.TitleLength
1."Foreword"0:13
2."Don't Stay"3:08
3."Somewhere I Belong"3:34
4."Lying from You"2:55
5."Hit the Floor"2:44
6."Easier to Run"3:24
7."Faint"2:42
8."Figure.09"3:18
9."Breaking the Habit"3:16
10."From the Inside"2:56
11."Nobody's Listening"2:59
12."Session"2:23
13."Numb"3:08
iTunes bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
14."Lying from You" (Live LP Underground Tour 2003)2:55
15."From the Inside" (Live LP Underground Tour 2003)2:56
16."Easier to Run" (Live LP Underground Tour 2003)3:22
Tour Edition Bonus DVD
No.TitleLength
1."Somewhere I Belong" (Video)3:44
2."Faint" (Video)2:56
3."Numb" (Video)3:06
4."Breaking the Habit" (Video)3:18

Tour edition

The "Tour Edition" of Meteora comes 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". This edition also comes in a standard jewel case, rather than their trademark digipak case.

Special edition

There is also 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. In an alternate DVD that can be found on some parts of Asia, United States, and more commonly in India contains an alternate DVD and alternate cover that comes in a slimline case with the CD in original packaging.

DVD Chapter Listing

  1. "Intro"
  2. "Summer 2001"
  3. "Early 2002"
  4. "June 2002"
  5. "July 2002"
  6. "August 2002"
  7. "Early October 2002"
  8. "Late October 2002"
  9. "October 29, 2002"
  10. "Early November 2002"
  11. "Late November 2002"
  12. "December 6, 2002"
  13. "December 12, 2002"
  14. "2003: Meteora"

Tour Edition DVD Chapter Listing

  1. "Behind Meteora"
  2. "Somewhere I Belong"
  3. "Faint"
  4. "Numb"
  5. "From the Inside"
  6. "Breaking the Habit"
  7. "Meteora CD Ad"

Personnel

Linkin Park
Additional musicians
  • Violins: Joel Derouin, Charlie Bisharat, Alyssa Park, Sara Parkins, Michelle Richards, Mark Robertson
  • Violas: Evan Wilson, Bob Becker
  • Celli: Larry Corbett, Dan Smith
  • Shakuhachi flute on "Nobody's Listening": David Zassloff
Production
  • Produced by Don Gilmore & Linkin Park
  • Recorded by Don Gilmore
  • Engineer: John Ewing, Jr.
  • Assistant engineer: Fox Phelps
  • Recorded at NRG Studios, North Hollywood, CA
  • Mixed by Andy Wallace
  • Mixed at Soundtrack Studios, New York, NY
  • Assisted by Steve Sisco
  • Mastered by Brian "Big Bass" Gardner at Bernie Grundman Mastering
  • Digital editing: Brain "Big Bass" Gardner
  • Strings on "Breaking the Habit" and "Faint"
  • A&R: Tom Whalley & Jeff Blue
  • A&R coordination: Marny Cameron
  • Marketing directors: Peter Standish & Kevin Sakoda
  • Worldwide representation: Rob McDermott for the Firm with Additional Servitude by Ryan Saullo, Ryan Demarti, and Noah Edelman
  • Booking agent: Michael Arfin for Artist Group, International
  • Legal: Danny Hayes for Davis, Shapiro, Lewit, Montone & Hayes
  • Business Managers: Michael Oppenheim & Jonathan Schwartz for Gudvi, Sussman & Oppenheim
  • Worldwide licensing and merchandising: Bandmerch
  • Creative direction: Mike Shinoda & The Flem
  • Art direction & design: The Flem
  • Installation artists: Delta, Mike Shinoda, Joseph Hahn & The Flem
  • Photography: James R. Minchin III
  • Spray paint can close-up photos: Nick Spanos

Chart performance

Album

Year Chart Position Certification Shipments
2003 Billboard 200 1 4x Platinum 4,000,000+
2003 UK Albums Chart 1 Platinum 300,000+
2003 Canadian Albums Chart 2 4x Platinum 400,000+
2003 Hunarian Albums Chart[4] 2 Gold 3,000+
2003 French Album Charts 2x Platinum [5] 200,000+
2003 Billboard 200 1 4x Platinum 4,000,000+
2003 Australian ARIA Albums Chart 2 4x Platinum 280,000+
2008 German Albums Chart 1 3x Platinum 600,000+
2003 Polish Albums Chart 3 Platinum 50,000
2003 New Zealand RIANZ Albums Chart 1 3x Platinum 45,000+
2003 Mexican Top 100 Albums Chart 4x Platinum 500,000+

Singles

Year Song Peak chart positions
U.S.

[6]

U.S.
Alt.
[6] 		U.S.
Main
[6] 		AUS
[7] 		NZ
[8] 		UK
[9] 		BEL
[10] 		FIN
[11] 		FRA
[11] 		GER
[12] 		ITA
[13] 		IRE
[14] 		NLD
[15] 		NOR
[16] 		SWE
[17] 		SWI
[18]
2003 "Somewhere I Belong" 32 1 1 13 1 10 33 14 32 12 13 4 14 12 19 15
"Faint" 48 1 2 25 — 15 44 — — 40 29 26 20 — 49 32
"Numb" (Platinum) 11 1 1 10 13 14 48 — — 19 18 16 82 — 23 15
2004 "From the Inside" — — — 37 50 — — — 35 35 — — — — 54 38
"Lying from You" (promo) 58 1 2 — — — — — — — — — — — — —
"Breaking the Habit" 20 1 1 23 27 39 — — 27 25 — 46 41 — — 56

Critical response

Despite the strong sales response from fans, Meteora received an average to positive response from critics. The overall Metacritic score was 62, indicating a mixed response among the sources used to compile the score, while with a higher user score of 8.3.[19]

  • The album received excellent reviews from E! Online and Entertainment Weekly.
    • E! Online rated it an A-, and expected it to "shoot straight for the stars". Best tracks: "Don't Stay", "Somewhere I Belong", "Numb".[20]
    • Entertainment Weekly described it as "radio-friendly perfection".
  • The album received good reviews from Dot Music, Rolling Stone, Billboard, and New Musical Express, .
    • Dot Music described it as a "guaranteed source of ubiquitous radio hits". Best tracks: "Somewhere I Belong", "Faint", "Lying from you", "Nobody's Listening"; rating 8 out of 10.[21]
    • Rolling Stone said the band "squeezed the last remaining life out of this nearly extinct formula" (nu metal) Rating 3 stars. Best tracks: "Breaking the Habit", "Lying from You", "Figure .09", "Numb"[22]
    • Billboard Magazine described Meteora as "a ready-made crowdpleaser". Best tracks: "Somewhere I Belong", "Breaking the Habit"[23]
    • The New Musical Express said it had "massive commercial appeal" but left the reviewer "underwhelmed". Rating 7. Best track: "Breaking the Habit".[24]
  • The band received average reviews from Allmusic, Blender, Q Magazine, and ShakingThrough.net.
    • Allmusic.com described it as "nothing more and nothing less than Hybrid Theory Part 2". Best tracks: "Somewhere I Belong", "Lying from You", "Breaking the Habit", "Hit the Floor".[25]
    • Blender described it as "harder, denser, uglier" (#15, page 128) while Q Magazine described it as "less an artistic endeavour than an exercise in target marketing".

Notes

  1. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/linkinpark/meteora
  2. ^ a b [1] back cover showing "Produced by Don Gilmore and Linkin Park"
  3. ^ a b [2] Billboard News Report
  4. ^ "Hungarian Albums Chart". Mahasz.hu. Retrieved 2009-12-03.
  5. ^ "French Album CertificationsChart". Retrieved 2009-12-23.
  6. ^ a b c "Linkin Park > Chart History".
  7. ^ "Australian Singles Chart". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  8. ^ "New Zealand Singles Chart". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  9. ^ "British Album Chart". Chart Stats. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  10. ^ "Belgian Singles Chart". ultratop.be. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  11. ^ a b "French Singles Chart". lescharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  12. ^ "German Album Chart". Charts-Surfer. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  13. ^ "Italian Singles Chart". italiancharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  14. ^ "Irish Singles Chart". The Irish Charts. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  15. ^ "Dutch Singles Chart". dutchcharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  16. ^ "Norwegian Singles Chart". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  17. ^ "Swedish Singles Chart". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  18. ^ "Swiss Singles Chart". Die Offizielle Schweizer Hitparade. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  19. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/linkinpark/meteora/ Metacritic.com Retrieved on 05-28-07
  20. ^ http://www.eonline.com/Reviews/Facts/Music/RevID/0,1107,2917,00.html Eonline.com Retrieved on 05-28-07
  21. ^ http://uk.launch.yahoo.com/l_reviews_a/28815.html Uk.launch.yahoo.com Retrieved on 05-28-07
  22. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/265830/meteora Rollingstone.com Retrieved on 05-28-07
  23. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bb/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1844735 Billboard.com Retrieved on 05-28-07
  24. ^ http://www.nme.com/reviews/linkin-park/7056 Nme.com Retrieved on 05-28-07
  25. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:ypdgylo4xpeb~T0/ Allmusic.com Retrieved on 05-28-07
Preceded by Billboard 200 number-one album
April 6, 2003 – April 19, 2003 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK number one album
April 5, 2003 – April 11, 2003 		Succeeded by
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