Song Info

lpliveusername · August 12, 2015

martinez · October 6, 2015

Did you already checked "About Minutes To Midnight [Audio Commentary]" if there is some information?

iPodwithnomusic · October 6, 2015

Did you already checked "About Minutes To Midnight [Audio Commentary]" if there is some information?

Just listening to it now, here's what's new:

Joe:

"What I've Done is the first single off this album, and it encompasses what the album is about, for me at least. It deals with being at a point in time, where you recognize the past, and you're kind of figuring out what to do next."

Rob: [talking about What I've Done]

"It's a great song for us to put out there as the first single, to kind of tie together some of the stuff we've done in the past, with where we're going, and I think it's a great different bridge for our fans, to bring them over from this other part where we were before, over into the new music that we've made. And I think it even took us a little bit to cross that bridge."

Chester and Pheonix then say a lot more about What I've Done.

lpliveusername · October 25, 2015

Can't add stuff to the main post anymore.

By the way, if anybody has anything about collaborations and side projects, feel free to post here:

http://lplive.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=11010

lpliveusername · November 2, 2015

Updated.

lpliveusername · January 15, 2016

Updated.

Diaux · March 6, 2016

Manson say this in his old website before remixing by myself:

Regarding current material

I was glad to work with Jonathan Davis and to become friends again.

I have not seen the film yet.

I have not yet remixed Linkin Park but I have been asked to do so. It is possible I might make one of their songs something that people who dislike them could appreciate. I enjoy challenges and the opportunity to create.

Money doesn't make a difference as long as I enjoy doing something.

I am truly proud of my Resident Evil score and I hope to do more things like that.

HOWEVER, the new album has been my priority every day since October. I am quite confident you will enjoy it.

Goodnight

MM

Edited March 6, 2016 by Diaux

lpliveusername · March 7, 2016

Manson say this in his old website before remixing by myself:

Thanks. Could you please post the link?

Diaux · March 7, 2016

Thanks. Could you please post the link?

this website has a ton of information of manson and they archive his old BBS that was something like a blog from 1998 to 2003

http://www.nachtkabarett.com/MarilynMansonArchives/OfficialBBSPostings

lpliveusername · March 7, 2016

this website has a ton of information of manson and they archive his old BBS that was something like a blog from 1998 to 2003

http://www.nachtkabarett.com/MarilynMansonArchives/OfficialBBSPostings

Thank you very much!

Ryanz · March 7, 2016

Do you really think this guy is Mark Wakefield?

Well,he isn't.

Edited March 7, 2016 by Ryanz

lpliveusername · March 7, 2016

Do you really think this guy is Mark Wakefield?

Well,he isn't.

Mark Wakefield:

http://lplive.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=11278&page=2&do=findComment&comment=234033

Ryanz · March 7, 2016

I already knew that picture.

lpliveusername · July 24, 2016

Since I can't add to the main post anymore:

HYBRID THEORY EP

HYBRID THEORY

Papercut

Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park Web September 2000):
I like “Papercut” because it has a lot of energy and generally sums up our style pretty well. I know that Rob (our drummer) likes “In the End” a lot though he says that one day he was thinking how much he wanted a song that was really true about some aspect of life. And then, the very next day, I played him the beginnings of what I wrote on that song, which included the piano and the chorus, and Rob said it was exactly what he had been thinking and he had never even told me he had been thinking it.

Mike Shinoda (LPU Chat 9 December 2009):
[Hi Mike Where did some of Linkin Park?s more... random song names come from? (Figure.09, Sold My Soul to Yo Mama, Papercut, etc.) Were they just working titles you guys decided to keep? -Aud ?]
Yes, they were working titles!
Faint, too.

Mike Shinoda (Complex 27 September 2012):
I think the dishonest stuff will fall away, yeah. Like, if you see two artists get together because it’s going to sell records and they don’t really go that deep into each other’s music or genre, then yeah, you’ll feel like it’s fake. At least for us, if we’re ever dabbling with something that unfamiliar to us, there’s a real honesty there with our guys. Back in the day with Hybrid Theory, we were plugging in a little jungle and drum & bass thing into our songs—like “Papercut” you can really hear it. I don’t think I can even name 10 jungle songs or artists off the top of my head, but at the time we were so into it. We were getting all these sets of all this stuff, these 90-minute mixes of shit that we couldn’t name, and it was awesome.

Joe Hahn (Loudwire's "Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction?" 24 September 2014):

That one was a co-directing thing, so it was like a mishmosh of two guys kind of throwing ideas out there. So on top of that, the label wanted a different thing, they didn't want it to be dark. So we kind of went there intending it to be a lot darker than it was. It was kind of a weird video because there's like, there was a vision behind it, but it was shared between two guys, and then plus the label completely diluting it, so it's just like this whole thing. But, I don't know, people liked it. It's not one of my favorites.

One Step Closer

Points Of Authority

Crawling

In The End

Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park Web September 2000):
I like “Papercut” because it has a lot of energy and generally sums up our style pretty well. I know that Rob (our drummer) likes “In the End” a lot though he says that one day he was thinking how much he wanted a song that was really true about some aspect of life. And then, the very next day, I played him the beginnings of what I wrote on that song, which included the piano and the chorus, and Rob said it was exactly what he had been thinking and he had never even told me he had been thinking it.

Mike Shinoda (Web.com September 2000):
We try not to follow a pattern too much. But I can tell you about a specific song. On “In the End” (since we were talking about it already) I came up with the piano and the chorus music and chorus lyrics. Then Brad came up with the guitar in the verse and we worked on the bassline and composition. From there, I think everybody in the band began chipping in and adding their parts and critiquing each other’s parts. And right before we went into the studio to record it, we scrapped the beat I had originally written for the verse, and had Rob do a new one, which is the one that we recorded.

Mike Shinoda (linkinpark.com chat 10 July 2001):
[K, got stuff now, but I just wanted to say that u guys rock, and thanx so much for all the stuff u did in the album, but anyways,r u guys realesing papercut in the us? I know everyone probly knows this but I'm a bit slow...]
papercut? not in the u.s. --we're doing "in the end" next
shooting the video soon

Mike Shinoda (linkinpark.com chat 10 July 2001):
[if it's any better than the Papercut video... then it's going to be awesome]
thanks hed. joe and nathan are working on it together again

Brad Delson (Shoutweb July 2001):
We were filming our video for "In The End" in L.A. about a week and a half ago. You'll see in the video that we had a really cool set made.

Brad Delson (Shoutweb July 2001):
We filmed it on a sound stage in L.A. This guy, Patrick Kup, has done Godzilla and all of these huge motion picture special effects jobs in terms of set construction. He built our set and there were these little stairways with a ledge. Nathan Cox, who co-directed the video with Joe, wanted me to jump off this five foot thing. Maybe it was three feet but it makes it sound better if I say it was five feet! (laughter)

Brad Delson (Shoutweb July 2001):
No! (laughter) I couldn't land it right so the third time I did land it but I think I hurt my foot. Then I had to play on it the whole night. It was a 16 hour shoot. There were rain scenes and water being dumped on us for three hours. Alright, I am just the complaining guy today! My foot healed and now we just played this Camden, New Jersey show and I did something to it. It was kind of towards the beginning of the set. I was like, should I just push through or gimp out and lay down on the floor? I was able to do the latter unfortunately. You could get me to complain all day long if you keep asking me these types of questions!

Brad Delson (Shoutweb July 2001):
I just saw the first edit today. Joe has been increasingly involved in our video creation process. He actually co-directed our last video "Papercut" which is more for international audiences. I don't know if it will be shown in the U.S. He and Nathan Cox teamed up again for our "In The End" video. Joe and Nathan wrote the treatment and they just surrounded themselves with a bunch of great people. I think it's going to be really cool.

Brad Delson (Shoutweb July 2001):
That's as much as I can give you which is why I'm not a video director! I'd come in to pitch the band's video and I'd be like, "Okay guys, it's going to be really, really cool. We're surrounding ourselves with really great people. And it's going to be good."

Mike Shinoda (linkinpark.com chat 11 January 2002):
anime: akira, i guess. ghost in the shell is good. and obviously princess mononoke
(in the end video was inspired by it)

Chester Bennington (FHM Singapore May 2003):
[What is your definition of a good song?]
Something that stands the test of time. Anything that you can listen to 20 years from now, a song that your children's children will listen to.
[Which LP tracks do you think falls into that category?]
I think In The End is a really good song and off Meteroa: Breaking The Habit and Numb.

Chester Bennington (VMusic 9 August 2012):
'One Step Closer'. I would not leave 'One Step Closer' off of a festival setlist. No matter how many times we play that song or how old that song is, there's something that happens when that song starts getting played. 'In The End' is the same. Each record has a song that needs to be played. 'One Step Closer' is top of the list.

Chester Bennington (VMusic 9 August 2012):
I don't really participate in picking singles. I learnt that after making Hybrid Theory. I was never a fan of 'In The End' and I didn't even want it to be on the record, honestly. How wrong could I have possibly been? I basically decided at that point I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about, so I leave that to other people who are actually talented at somehow picking songs that people are going to like the most. It also gave me a good lesson, as an artist, that I don't necessarily have to only make music, in my band, that I want to listen to. More often than not, something that I like, very few other people like, and something that those people like is something that I kind of like, or don't like at all. And that's cool, it gives me a new appreciation for the songs. But, you know, now I love 'In The End' and I think it's such a great song. I actually see how good of a song it is, it was just hard for me to see it at the time. So I remove myself from the process but I can tell you that there are songs we've made videos for that are coming up, I just don't know what order they're going to be released in. We just made a video for 'Lost In The Echo' and we're going to be shooting a video for 'Powerless'

Chester Bennington (The Hollywood Reporter 16 September 2013):
It's funny because, I feel like every time Linkin Park puts out a song, we gain fans and we lose fans. We alienate people. There's people that love "Points of Authority" and "One Step Closer" and they just want that over and over again; and if we did that, we would alienate everybody else that likes "In the End" or "Crawling" or "Pushing Me Away." When we made our first record, we had no fans: We weren't making music to please anybody but ourselves.

Chester Bennington (Kerrang! 01 March 2017):

In The End is a pure pop song. That was on the first record and is the biggest song of our career. It's been this way for 20 years.

Cure For The Itch

REANIMATION

Enth E ND

My Dsmbr

1stp Klosr

Krwlng

Buy Myself

METEORA

Lying From You

Faint

Figure.09

Breaking The Habit

Chester Bennington (FHM Singapore May 2003):
No that's a bad rumour, we don't fight, we discuss. Mike and I are a vocal team, sometimes people say, "Doesn't Mike get annoyed that you do more singing?" No. Take 'Breaking The Habit' for instance, I sing it but he wrote it and he asked me to sing it.

Chester Bennington (FHM Singapore May 2003):
[What is your definition of a good song?]
Something that stands the test of time. Anything that you can listen to 20 years from now, a song that your children's children will listen to.
[Which LP tracks do you think falls into that category?]
I think In The End is a really good song and off Meteroa: Breaking The Habit and Numb.

Mike Shinoda (Rockline Radio 24 August 2004):
["Breaking the Habit appeared to define the sound of Linkin Park's future." What does that mean?]
It's an interesting idea, I think the place that that idea came from, the reason that that's written in the book, is that was the first song we completely finished for the album. And up until then, we didn't know what was going to make Meteora different from Hybrid Theory. Why this album is worth listening to. I think that once that showed up, we realized that we had so far, that there were so many things that we could do, that we weren't doing yet. There's a million different ideas we could have tried in the studio that opened up those doors. In the future, I think we know from that experience that there is a lot of different things we can try. There are really no boundaries to the types of songs we can make. We'll continue to be creative when we get in the studio and try out all those things.

Brad Delson (Rockline Radio 24 August 2004):
Breaking the habit is a totally unique song. It actually started as an instrumental and more of an electronic style song. It combines different styles in a different way than in the other songs and that's what I think makes it so compelling.

Mike Shinoda (Rockline Radio 24 August 2004):
Every once and a while I think, what's funny, is that I wrote most of In the End and these two songs came together in a similar way. Like I just sat down and there was an idea that'd I'd had. Especially for Breaking the Habit, there's an idea I'd had for years that I wanted to do and I tried it out a few different ways but when I sat down with this instrumental and that idea of the theme of the lyrics, it was literally finished from the time I started writing it until being done, probably 2 hours. In the context of writing an album, that's fast. You never know when those types of things just pour out and they feel right. That's a good feeling, with a lot of momentum.

Brad Delson (Rockline Radio 24 August 2004):
We're all obviously fans of Japanese animation, in particular, Joe, likes the classics like Ghosts in the Shell. He was able to team up with a company called GDH in Japan. It's the guys who did the animation for the anime sequence in Kill Bill volume 2 and they also did the anime for the Matrix and those guys are sick, so we're really excited to have worked with them and also to have been able to put out a Manga book with Tokyo pop that features the artwork from Breaking the Habit so if you haven't seen that, you should go check it out because I think it turned out really cool.

From The Inside

MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

A THOUSAND SUNS

The Radiance

Waiting For The End

Blackout

Mike Shinoda (RockZone September 2010):
To be sincere, I don’t want to talk about the lyrics. I have wanted people to hear them and decide for themselves. What I can tell you is that we used a technique that encouraged the entire process, automatic writing. The entire world, from Johnny Cash to Tom Petty, have used it. We introduced ourselves in this when Chester and I were trying the lyrics for ‘Blackout’, and Rick Rubin and the band said ‘It’s okay, but it seems like that you have been repeating too much and this song is completely the opposite, it’s about removing the innermost insides.’ So as a joke I asked RIck if he could help us, and he said to try the automatic writing. Basically, how it works is the band starts to play and the vocalist begins singing without thinking, and the words begin to form, without writing them. We tried it on the song and the pieces started fitting well. That was the first one we tried it on and later we tried it on the others. We didn’t write anything on paper, that’s why the record is very visual.

Keaton Hashimoto (YouTube 8 September 2010):
I was asked to do a lyric video for one of the new songs from A Thousand Suns titled Blackout. The video features a very glitch-heavy effect, used to mirror not only the chaotic and serene dynamics of the song itself but also the overall approach the band have taken with the new album.

Mike Shinoda (Noisecreep 20 September 2010):
Well, it was a really intuitive process. Our default mode is to be very detail-oriented and perfectionist, and to let go of that and be free to experiment for as long as it would go was a weird thing for us. This record was more like, “Let’s jam on that idea until it takes us to the next one. Let’s just let the song decide.” And it seems like almost a weird psychedelic trip, like a hippie mentality or something, but we’re not sitting around in tie-dyed shirts doing acid [laughs].
We’re still the same perfectionist, detail-oriented guys opening our minds up to this idea, and the balance of the order and the chaos just always seemed to come into play. They were always at odds in the lyrics and the music. [Lyrically] this record was made over two years, and you experience a lot of things in two years — whether you’re talking about emotional things or experiences with reality, things you read in the news or see on TV. And I think that in conscious ways and unconscious ways that stuff worked its way into the album. And in many cases, it just kind of showed up.
In the middle of the process, we had a song called ‘Blackout.’ We had the music and the scat vocal where Chester was kind of screaming gibberish over the crazy dance-style track, and there were no words. And every time we tried to put words to it, the lyrics felt like too left-brained, we were thinking too hard and it didn’t feel like a gut spill to use Rick’s words. And so at a certain point we got frustrated and I happened to ask Rick, “Is there something I can do to tap into this a little better and get it right?”
He said, “Yeah, have you heard of automatic writing? It’s something that I’ve done with like Tom Petty, Johnny Cash; many other people do it.” Essentially, to make a long story short, he said, “Let the music loop and go into the track singing words and melody right off the bat and whatever the song wants to do, whatever words pop out of your mouth, make it the song and go for it.”
To walk up in front of the mic on record — and possibly other people in the room, your engineers or whoever watching — and to act like you can sing a brand new song with brand new words and melody off the top of your head, that’s pretty f—ing crazy. It’s a daunting task, and when we started doing it we were terrified that we were gonna say something that we didn’t want to say, maybe say something mean about somebody, say something revealing about ourselves, say something offensive; like you never know what could pop out of your mouth.
And it took us a while to get over that and just go into the booth and let stuff flow right off the top of our head. And it literally felt like you were hallucinating, it felt like you were channeling the song, and by the end of the album we had tracks where most of the song was off the top of our head and we didn’t even write down any words. We didn’t even know what we were saying. To this day I’m saying some of the words wrong, because I’m saying some of the other vocal scats that we did.
And then once you have that then we went in with our kind of like left brain, our organized, order-based mentality and really crafted the lyrics and made sure they said the right things and there were layers of meaning that we liked. But again, that balance of the chaos and the order is kind of what the record is built on.
That particular story about the automatic writing hasn’t been told yet about this record, and it’s a really important one. It’s a moment in the process that defined the record to some degree. We have been working with Rick since 2006, I think, off and on. We did an entire record for 18 months with him, and then we were in the studio for another three or four or five months this time and then he gives us this gem.
So once we tried it and it worked we sat around and celebrated that and said, “Oh my god, like it’s incredible.” Rick didn’t tell us how to make this song. He said, “Here’s a technique. I think you guys are ready for it and I want you to try and use it.” And two things occurred to us. Number one, if he had told us about this technique any earlier we would not have been ready for it. He is definitely a mentor — like a sensei in this example — because he knew the right time to give us that gem. And the second thing it made us think is, “Holy s—, how many more of these things does he know he hasn’t told us yet? What’s the next gem he’s gonna give us?”
He’s constantly doing this, and he waits for just the right moment and you usually have to ask him.
We were just more interested in this writing style than ever before. When you’ve made a bunch of albums and written in the studio as long as we have, you are looking for things to keep it interesting and make it fun. And there are certain techniques or certain ways of going about things in the studio that are kind of timeless.
I can’t imagine that it will ever get old to sit down at piano with me and Chester in a room and write a new song that way. That’s just one of the timeless good feelings that you get in a studio and the songwriting process, as opposed to renting some cool exotic instrument that you’ve never played before. Like you’ll play with it and then it’ll get old. You’ll rent it, you’ll play with it, you’ll use it, and then you’ll give it back [laughs].

Iridescent

The Catalyst

Mike Shinoda (Noisecreep 20 September 2010):
Well, ‘The Catalyst'; we picked that as the single because we felt like it was the best indicator of the change in sound and direction that this record was gonna bring. I don’t think, to be honest, there’s any song on the record that’s gonna sum up the whole record. So it wasn’t like this is an indicator of how the whole album sounds, it was just an indicator of the change that was happening.
It’s a six-minute song, the chorus isn’t the most catchy thing in the song. I think the ‘A’ section and the ‘C’ section are the most catchy — arguably the turntable solo is as catchy as the part that actually would be the chorus. But what I really liked about that song is it was a very fluid, automatic writing experience where I was just playing the organ sound that happens in the intro and I started singing the words that basically were the foundation of what ended up being the final vocal; maybe 50 to 75 percent the same.
And it just built up from there to the almost six-minute version that you hear now. I think that song is probably more powerful in the context of the whole album. At this point in time, everybody listens to music in little bite-sized chunks, so we thought it might be a good time to make a case for the album. We love the album format, we grew up pressing play on a cassette or dropping the needle on vinyl and listening to a whole album, and people just don’t do that as much anymore.

Chester Bennington (Phoenix New Times 30 October 2015):
It's funny, I think A Thousand Suns is my favorite record that we've done. The process was really fun, and everyone was ready to just be weird and comfortable being weird. We were just in a cool headspace and I think it really allowed us to make music that was pretty cool. The Catalyst was certainly for me one of those songs that I knew right when we nailed "God Bless Us Everyone/ We're a Broken People Living Under Loaded Gun." I was like, "Holy fuck we just nailed this song." It was just a great song, and I think, like, "The Catalyst" helped the vibe of the rest of that record. My idea was to release that whole record as one track because I thought it was too good not to listen to the whole thing. Go sit back in your chair and close your eyes, get as comfy as possible, push play, and just listen to it. There is a version where you can buy it as one track, it's called "A Thousand Suns The Full Experience."

LIVING THINGS

Lost In The Echo

Chester Bennington (VMusic 9 August 2012):
I don't really participate in picking singles. I learnt that after making Hybrid Theory. I was never a fan of 'In The End' and I didn't even want it to be on the record, honestly. How wrong could I have possibly been? I basically decided at that point I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about, so I leave that to other people who are actually talented at somehow picking songs that people are going to like the most. It also gave me a good lesson, as an artist, that I don't necessarily have to only make music, in my band, that I want to listen to. More often than not, something that I like, very few other people like, and something that those people like is something that I kind of like, or don't like at all. And that's cool, it gives me a new appreciation for the songs. But, you know, now I love 'In The End' and I think it's such a great song. I actually see how good of a song it is, it was just hard for me to see it at the time. So I remove myself from the process but I can tell you that there are songs we've made videos for that are coming up, I just don't know what order they're going to be released in. We just made a video for 'Lost In The Echo' and we're going to be shooting a video for 'Powerless'

Chester Bennington (VMusic 9 August 2012):
We're working in 'Burn It Down', 'Lost In The Echo', 'In My Remains', 'Victimized', 'Lies Greed Misery' -they'llall be part of our set going forward and touring. At that point, maybe 'Powerless' will be getting worked in there, so a lot of the new record is going to be incorporated into our new set, as well as a lot of the songs that people really want to hear. And also some songs that we've put on the backburner for a while, so hopefully a lot of a our fans that came to our last show will get something that they didn't really get before.

Mike Shinoda (Complex 27 September 2012):
No, I mean day to day I guess I could, but it changes. I mentioned “Until It Breaks” earlier. I just like that one because it’s a little more wild than a lot of the other stuff on the record. Today we’re going to play “Lost In The Echo,” which is another favorite of mine. I just like to play it because it’s got a lot of energy.

Victimized

Chester Bennington (Noize News 31 July 2012):
Well, each song is so different. One of us could be inspired by the sound of a popping engine of a car that goes by. Everyone’s like, “Oh, that’s awesome,” and you try to create that sound in the studio. And all of a sudden that creates a beat, and next thing you know Mike is rapping over it, and the melody popped in my head. Creativity in the studio is such a weird substance. It’s a weird sticky thing that grows when it feels like it. And so, um, it’s very cool when it happens. And this is one of these songs that Mike came in with this kick-ass beat and I loved it, it was like, it by the way felt really heavy, it felt in your face, it felt like metal but it didn’t feel predictable. It was so cool. And we looked at each other and we know exactly what the song needs. And so I think I started yelling something like “Fuck” or something over it, and we were sort of laughing about how funny it would be if that was like the chorus, and then I think it was Mike or maybe Brad, but someone in the band was like, “Just pick like one word, that could be like one really good word,” and I think someone threw out “victimized” and I was like, “That’s great.” And I just ran in the studio and just kind of screamed “victimized” over it. And then kind of the most obvious line to come after screaming victimized is “never again.” And then that was it. It was pretty much that simple. I mean that song kind of was done at that point in terms of what I needed to contribute to the song. And I think the verses are some of Mike’s best. I think the rapping on this record for Mike is the best that he’s ever done. I mean, there’s a swagger to his whole vibe and a confidence that I don’t think I’ve seen from him before. So I think that also adds to the heaviness of the song, too, the vibe that Mike is sending out. And so, but it’s a pretty complex (Indiscernible) track, and I really like it, it’s one of my favorites.

Skin To Bone

Roads Untraveled

Until It Breaks

Powerless

ONE MORE LIGHT

Talking To Myself

Heavy

Mike Shinoda (Billboard 16 February 2017):

We're super-excited about the song, and the excitement around it has been kind of crazy. We've put out a lot of first singles, and I've actually kind of been taken aback by the amount of excitement over the song and everything.

Mike Shinoda (Billboard 16 February 2017):

One of the reasons why we chose "Heavy" as the first single is because it is really the core sound of the album. This wasn't a scenario where the whole album sounds one way and the single sounds different. This is how the album sounds. So we wanted to go out with a song like that, where everybody can get a sense of the direction of this body of work.

Mike Shinoda (Billboard 16 February 2017):

When we wrote this one it was me and Brad (Delson) and Chester (Bennington) from the band and [songwriters] Justin Tranter and Julia Michaels. And I remember Chester walked in and it was, "Hey, how are you doing today?" and he's like, "OH, I'm fine," and we were hanging out for a minutes and he was like, "Y'know what? I have to be honest. I'm NOT fine. I'm NOT OK. Too much stuff is just happening to me. I just feel underwater." It was like that saying "when it rains it pours;" It's that kind of feeling that stuff is piling up one on top of the other, and it creates this feeling of just being overwhelmed, like, "Things feel so heavy to me..."

What I would say is the key to it, the most important lyric to it all is "if I just let go I'd be set free." 'Cause for us it is about the catharsis and that element of, "No matter what's happening to me, how am I reacting to it? What's my responsibility to it?" So that's a lyric that was really important; I felt like when we added that, it kind of solidified the message of the song.

Mike Shinoda (Billboard 16 February 2017):

I got introduced to Kiiara by Zane Lowe. He interviewed her and asked her what her favorite music was, and she said Linkin Park right off the bat and he emailed me and said, "She's really interesting. I think she's so cool, and you guys should really meet." So we started talking and one thing led to another. Originally Chester had sung the whole song, but we felt like it needed this other perspective, if you hear another voice on it it would make it feel like it's coming from more than one person. We asked her if she'd sing on it, and I thought it really took the song to another dimension.

Mike Shinoda (iHeartRadio 17 February 2017):

A friend introduced us and we were just sending messages back and forth on Twitter, actually, and had her come down to the studio. I wanted to meet her and she had tweeted and mentioned in interviews what a big Linkin Park fan she was, and listening to her music, you wouldn't think so. When she came by I was like, 'You should hear some of the new stuff, it's not like what you would think.' And when I played her some of the tracks she was like, 'Oh my god, this is so different. It's so cool.' So it just kind of jumped off from there.

Chester Bennington ("Linkin Park Filmed the "Heavy" Music Video" 23 February 2017):

What's funny is like this song is like not a heavy song, but I destroyed more stuff making this song than like any other song. It was more violent and more intense making this video than any other video. Like, I got into like fist fights with myself, fist fight with other people, breaking a bunch of stuff. I got to take a lamp and throw into a television set. Like, I've wrecked so much stuff it was awesome.

Chester Bennington (Kerrang! 01 March 2017):

I never feel confortable or satisfied, so the thing that makes things really heavy for me are my thoughts and behaviours where I'd get caught in these cycles of negativity or substance abuse. There's a really bad neighbourhood inside my skull, so I shouldn't really walk those streets by myself.

My answer before was to close my eyes, grab a machete and just start swinging. That worked for a long time, but doing that you don't know where you're going and you don't know what you're swinging at. Now I survey the area where I want to go and I find the most productive way of getting there, and I work with as many people as I can to tread a clear path.

Mike Shinoda (Kerrang! 01 March 2017):

When we're writting a song and we're talking about these things, we're all talking about them from our own perspectives. For me, it's the idea that when it rains, it pours, and it feels that there are too many things stressing you out.

Chester Bennington (Kerrang! 01 March 2017):

Mike was talking to [DJ] Zane Lowe, who has always been a huge supporter of the band. We invited him into the studio to listen to some stuff because we appreciate his outlook on music. He told us about Kiiara. He told us that she'd said in interviews that she's a big Linkin Park fan, so he put us in contact with her. Her music is dope.

Chester Bennington (Kerrang! 01 March 2017):

I'd done a whole performance of the entire song all the way through, and then she came in and crushed her vocal. It took the song to another place; it gave me the feeling that it's not just me going through that thing. It's not a duet love song; it's two people approaching the same experience.

Chester Bennington (Kerrang! 01 March 2017):

For Heavy we wrote with Justin Tranter and Julia Michaels. Julia seemed to be able to tap into that dark side quite easily, which is awesome because that's where I live. I'd asked her to sing the song with us, but she said, 'I like to be in the background.' And here we are nine months later, and she's got a Top 20 hit song [issues], so something must have changed her mind (laughs)!

Sorry For Now

Halfway Right

One More Light

LP UNDERGROUND

Sold My Soul To Yo Mama

Grr

Attached

OTHER

Blackbirds

High Voltage

It's Goin' Down

My December

New Divide

Mike Shinoda (Ultimate Guitar June 2009):
We don’t usually write a song to fit with a story like this one. Trying to find a way to make it our own was the challenge; to keep it true to the spirit of the movie, but true to our band’s intentions as well. It was a careful balance.

Mike Shinoda (Ultimate Guitar June 2009):
I guess the sound should be “epic,” at least for this movie. When we were looking through our existing demo material, in deciding how to approach this song, we had a lot of more complex stuff, and more introverted stuff. Transformers isn’t exactly an introverted film!

Mike Shinoda (Ultimate Guitar June 2009):
The new album actually doesn’t sound a lot like “New Divide,” but it sounds great. We’ve got about 40 song ideas so far. We’re trying to do something different from our other albums, with a focus on making some stuff that’s more experimental, and hopefully more cutting-edge. There actually might be more rapping. I’m putting all my Fort Minor energy into the new Linkin Park album…you never know which tracks will make the final cut, but hopefully there will be more rapping, and some great beats on the new record.

Mike Shinoda (Ultimate Guitar June 2009):
There are tons of examples of songs that were a challenge for one reason or another. Each one seems to have its own complication! Most recently, “New Divide” was tough because, being a song for a big summer movie, it had a tight deadline. To be honest, the movie people had other bands they were considering in the beginning; all were successful bands worthy of having a song teamed with this movie. We were constantly under the time pressure to show Michael Bay and his team that our song would be the best one. Once we delivered it and they came back with a positive response, it felt we had won a race.

Mike Shinoda (Guitar Center June 2013):
There is pressure, yes. There have been times when I feel that everyone's looking at me and saying that they need me to make it happen. Usually I can do it. But there have been occasions when I can't and that makes me feel that I've let myself and the other guys down. It can be rough.
A good example is the song we did for the Transformers movie [2009's New Divide]. We had to write something new and the band were looking at me like, 'Okay Mike, what do you have?'. So, I brought in a few things and it wasn't there. That made me think, 'Shit, am I going to be able to do this?'. Obviously, in the end, I did. But that's when the pressure's on. That's when it's time to find out if I can actually deliver.

Things In My Jeep

Wish

Wretches & Kings (HavocNdeeD RemiX)

Edited March 1, 2017 by lpliveusername

lpliveusername · March 1, 2017

Updated.

Geki · October 17, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb7_tz5-ODU

Never saw that video until now. Chester said that Given Up had 20 different versions and that it originally started off as more of a punk song. He said that the 18 second scream was somewhat of a joke at first but it ended up staying.

Just wanted to share that so we can have some info on Given Up, since it's one of my favorite songs of all time!!

Justin · October 17, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb7_tz5-ODU

Never saw that video until now. Chester said that Given Up had 20 different versions and that it originally started off as more of a punk song. He said that the 18 second scream was somewhat of a joke at first but it ended up staying.

Just wanted to share that so we can have some info on Given Up, since it's one of my favorite songs of all time!!

Awesome video.

I really wish there was video of Mike/the band's initial reaction when Chester pulled off the full scream for the first time. That had to be an amazing moment.

Chester really always gave it his all.. He was so passionate and intense.

Also this can be added to the list of times that Chester stated how much he disliked having to sing the chorus of Crawling lol. I'm glad in later performances they stripped it down and lowered the key. That way audiences got to hear the song, and Chester didn't have to destroy his voice to sing it.

Geki · October 17, 2017

Awesome video.

I really wish there was video of Mike/the band's initial reaction when Chester pulled off the full scream for the first time. That had to be an amazing moment.

Chester really always gave it his all.. He was so passionate and intense.

Also this can be added to the list of times that Chester stated how much he disliked having to sing the chorus of Crawling lol. I'm glad in later performances they stripped it down and lowered the key. That way audiences got to hear the song, and Chester didn't have to destroy his voice to sing it.

I thought that Chester nailed Crawling up until like 2009. With the ATS era, it fell apart, so it was better that they changed it eventually. But yeah, it's an epic video. During the making of MTM (webster hall theater edition), Mike went in depth about Given Up and how they made the song, the 18 second scream, etc. Sucks we never got a video of it again. But yeah, Mike was probably like oh shit, Chester is the man. Haha.

lpliveusername · October 17, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb7_tz5-ODU

Never saw that video until now. Chester said that Given Up had 20 different versions and that it originally started off as more of a punk song. He said that the 18 second scream was somewhat of a joke at first but it ended up staying.

Just wanted to share that so we can have some info on Given Up, since it's one of my favorite songs of all time!!

Thanks! Added to Linkinpedia. If you (or anyone) have anything else, feel free to post it here.

Geki · December 14, 2017

Was there ever any song info for ''Dark Crystal'' off of LPU16? I've been playing it lately and it really reminds me a lot of the instrumentals for songs off of OML. I know they started writing OML in 2015 so it's possible it's a demo from OML. Sounds totally like OML, IMO, the most out of the other 2015 demos on LPU16 by far.

lpliveusername · December 14, 2017

There's a loop of the song in the Stagelight pack from 2014, so the date could be wrong. Just like Burberry is labeled as a 2015 demo but a longer version of that same track was released in 2012 under a different title.

Soeffingnaive92 · December 14, 2017

Was there ever any song info for ''Dark Crystal'' off of LPU16? I've been playing it lately and it really reminds me a lot of the instrumentals for songs off of OML. I know they started writing OML in 2015 so it's possible it's a demo from OML. Sounds totally like OML, IMO, the most out of the other 2015 demos on LPU16 by far.

Yeah, it sounds a lot like GG or HR instrumental parts, and in general to the whole OML album

Geki · December 15, 2017

Yeah, it sounds a lot like GG or HR instrumental parts, and in general to the whole OML album

It really does. Especially those 2, but others on the album as well. It also feels like it could have been a completed song, if it had vocals, I could picture rapping and singing from both Mike and Chester on it. Sometimes the demos on LPU don't seem like finished ideas, like Air Force One for example, but Dark Crystal is kind of complete sounding to me. Pretty cool. Homecoming off of LPU12 also seems like a completed song to me. There are a few others over the years.

There's a loop of the song in the Stagelight pack from 2014, so the date could be wrong. Just like Burberry is labeled as a 2015 demo but a longer version of that same track was released in 2012 under a different title.

Yeah, they've probably got tons of dates wrong over the years. I still think it's a demo for OML, though. 2015 would have been OML sessions anyways.

Edited December 15, 2017 by Geki

hahninator · December 15, 2017

You're right Geki. Mike started the London sessions like, the day after Fort Minor's show there and LP actually entered the studio as a band in September 2015. They were ready to get the album going immediately for a 2016 release. Even had told their booking agent to get info for 2016 fall touring. And then Chester's stuff happened so it all got delayed significantly. Completely understood. I'll always wonder if they should have taken more time... really not sure what would have helped Chester. Terribly sad situation any way you look at it.

Geki · December 15, 2017

You're right Geki. Mike started the London sessions like, the day after Fort Minor's show there and LP actually entered the studio as a band in September 2015. They were ready to get the album going immediately for a 2016 release. Even had told their booking agent to get info for 2016 fall touring. And then Chester's stuff happened so it all got delayed significantly. Completely understood. I'll always wonder if they should have taken more time... really not sure what would have helped Chester. Terribly sad situation any way you look at it.

Yeah, and if you listen to the instrumental version of Good Goodbye, Halfway Right, and others, Dark Crystal really fits in with all of those, IMO. And I remember reading or hearing somewhere that Mike said Good Goodbye was actually one of the very first songs written for the album, so they both could have popped up around that time of 2015. The band is always writing, and they said they started work in 2015, there is even that video of the band working on new music right after Chester broke his ankle in early 2015. Mike usually starts all the songs, I think, but I bet other members do as well. I know Valentine's Day was one of the first songs written for MTM, and when I asked Mike about what the lyrics are about at Holmdel 2014, he said you'd have to ask Chester, he wrote that one. So I know Chester came up with the song, and like I said, one of the first written for MTM, interesting that it made the cut. But good because it's one of my fav songs. It's cool how LP works.

But yeah, you're right. And we now know about Chester in November 2016 (fuck TMZ, though). I understand why it was delayed now. I remember the band wanted it out in June 2016, and it was going to be, but now I understand why it had so much delays. In Rolling Stone from August of this year, Ryan said that Chester started drinking again to blackout in mid 2016. So then that, plus the November thing, and then 2017, man... I don't think the band could have helped Chester. They helped him so much in the past, they saved him in 2006, Chester said that everyone in Linkin Park went to his house to help him and he ended up getting help. Sometimes you just can't help, I guess. I still don't think he should have been left alone, especially on Chris's birthday, but I have no place to say that, I'm just speaking from a fan's point of view, but with a history of suicidal attempts and thoughts... But then again, you don't ever want to think that someone might kill themselves, it's hard... I think Ryan said it best earlier this year. He said that a sane Chester wouldn't have done it, that he was mentally unwell and wasn't sane at the time, I agree, I don't think Chester ever wanted to hurt anybody, he probably didn't even think about it like that, because depression can really fuck with a person's head. So sad all around.

I don't want to get too dark here, but there is an interview from 2017, where Chester flat out says that ''he hated everyone in his life, all of his relationships were failing, with his family and friends, he didn't like doing anything anymore, nothing makes him happy, etc.'' when talking about 2015-2017. You could tell Mike was trying to help him with it all just based off of his reaction, cuz he was sitting right next to Chester while he said it. It's somewhere in this interview. 24:24 he starts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfoV2L2MkQ4Idk, talking about this stuff, it helps me. I know some people don't want to talk about what happened with Chester, but it has helped me deal with it. I mean all of this stuff was nothing new, Chester always was open about his depression and his drinking, etc. He has said it in like 1000 interviews, even the one above from this year.

Edited December 15, 2017 by Geki

Sign In

Song Info

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Posted Images

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Join the conversation