Linkin Park have spent this year reflecting on their landmark debut album, Hybrid Theory, in celebration of its 20th anniversary.
During a recent interview with Billboard, Mike Shinoda delved into the strenuous process of writing what went on to be one of the most iconic songs in the Linkin Park canon, ‘In The End.’
“We had a bunch of tracks that we really liked, but we knew we needed something else that was a next-level kind of song,” Shinoda said of the track. “And I was having this moment of, I knew it was on me, I had to find it.”
He continued, “I locked myself in our rehearsal studio on Hollywood and Vine – back when Hollywood and Vine was like, drug addicts and prostitutes everywhere, so you wouldn’t just want to go in and out of there.
“Once it got to be about 7 o’clock, I went in there and locked the door, and stayed overnight. There’s no windows or anything, I didn’t know what time of day it was. I wrote all night, and I ended up with ‘In the End’ in the morning.”
The next morning, Shinoda showed the track to his bandmates, recalling that drummer Rob Bourdon “absolutely lit up” when he heard the track.
“He said something to the effect of, ‘I was dreaming, imagining that we needed a melodic song that took us to the next level, where the chorus was just the undeniable thing. This is the song. You made the song that I would have imagined'”
Love Classic Rock?
Get the latest Classic Rock news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
Elsewhere in the interview, Shinoda revealed that the track had proven to be a source of friction between the band and their A&R guy at the time. Who took umbrage with Shinoda rapping to the point where he insisted that he just play keys.
“The only part that we had a lot of drama around was my rap verses – my original verses were OK, but our A&R guy at the time was really an insecure guy all around, and he kept going around to everybody else asking what they thought about the rap verses on that song,” Shinoda recalled.
“He’d play them and go, ‘These aren’t right, don’t you think?’ And it was like, setting them up to pick something apart.
“He was the one who suggested that I not-rap in the band, that I just be the keyboard player or whatever. Thankfully the guys, and Chester [Bennington] in particular, came to my rescue on that one.”
Check out ‘In The End’ by Linkin Park:
Linkin Park’s landmark debut album Hybrid Theory recently finally scored the No.1 spot in Australia, 20 years after its initial release.
In a testament to their unwaning popularity, the band’s latest expanded multi-disc reissue of their career-defining album has firmly landed at no.1 on the ARIA chart.
The band released their expansive reissue, Hybrid Theory: 20th Anniversary Edition, on October 9th.
