You can sit down and listen to Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, Korn, whoever was also considered nu metal in the 90s, and none sound anything like LP. IMO at least, many of those bands were shoddy attempts at best.. their sounds were grungy, unpolished and not exactly the most enjoyable to listen to.
As Radiohead's Kid A pretty much revolutionized Alt Rock at the turn of the century, Linkin Park did similar things at a mainstream level. No attempts at Rap/Rock had the same kind of melodies, hooks or production value, while also using sampling like they did with Joe Hahn to create a modern electronic sound (for the time) over top of it all. There was a ton skepticism and negativity received at the time when recording HT, yet they persisted with their own sound and it obviously paid off, as it caught the attention of a lot of people. The combination of rap with other genres in mainstream music exploded after they stepped in, and it's obvious they had a large part in it. Today it's pretty much commonplace. Of course the quality has subsided over time, but nobody raises an eyebrow at a hip hop track with a rock chorus/anthem on a top 40s song anymore.
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