‘In the End’ is, particularly for the more casual listener, the signature song of Linkin Park. While it’s obviously beloved by fans around the world, what did the band’s members like Chester Bennington think of it? Were they bored of playing it? Frustrated at hearing it so much?
According to Mike Shinoda, rumours that the late frontman seriously hated ‘In the End’ have been grossly overstated.
During a recent appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Shinoda insisted it’s “a misconception” that his former bandmate didn’t like the track, as per Loudwire.
“[Bennington] didn’t hate it. No, no, no, no. That’s actually a misconception,” he said. “Some people think that he hated the song, [but] he liked the song.
“He just loved really heavy stuff, and so when we were like – when people were like, ‘This should be a single,’ he was like, ‘Uh, whatever. Like, that’s fine.’ It’s not the one he would’ve chosen.,” Shinoda added.
Shinoda also told Stern that Bennington was “born for” the track, which anyone who’s listened to ‘In the End’ even once can attest to.
‘In the End’ featured on Linkin Park’s acclaimed 2000 debut album, Hybrid Theory. The track reached number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number four on the ARIA Singles Chart, and over two decades later, it surpassed one billion streams on Spotify.
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Linkin Park isn’t the only band to have struggled with their signature song. Kurt Cobain famously struggled to play ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ once it become a generation-defining anthem, once saying “I literally want to throw my guitar down and walk away.”
The Beastie Boys, meanwhile, hated that their iconic hit ‘Fight for Your Right (to Party)’ became a symbol of everything they used to make fun of in music.
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