tckrockz
04-24-2007, 12:39 AM
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/63/Minutes-to-midnight.jpg
Meaning
The title is a reference to the Doomsday Clock, where "Minutes to Midnight" is a measure of the proximity of the world to nuclear destruction.[2] At the time of the title's announcement, the clock stood at 5 minutes to midnight. Mike Shinoda has explained that the album has various meanings:
“ Don't take that at face value. There are layers of meaning, most are metaphoric...It’s definitely a reference to the doomsday clock—the Apocalypse—a metaphor for death and rebirth, but it could also be applied to the music industry, sort of tongue-in-cheek.
Brief track review
In an April 2007 interview with Kerrang!, Linkin Park explained the songs in a track-by-track review, summarized in the following:
1. "Wake"
2. "Given Up"
3. "Leave Out All the Rest"
4. "Bleed It Out"
5. "Shadow of the Day"
6. "What I've Done" – 3:29
7. "Hands Held High"
8. "No More Sorrow"
9. "Valentine's Day"
10. "In Between"
11. "In Pieces"
12. "The Little Things Give You Away"
WAKE
Mike: This is an intro track that starts the album - you can hear a needle going down on a record and i think it sets the tone for what's to come.
GIVEN UP
Brad: We had a really bad song called 'fire in the city' - the chorus actually had the words 'fire in the city' on it! Mike was the only person who liked it. rather than just scrap the song, we mined it for any good parts.
Mike: It felt like brad stole my car and ripped out the stereo.
Brad: I took the bassline and the drums and built weird sounds around it, which eventually became this song. Chester's screaming: 'What the fuck is wrong with me? Put me out of my fucking misery!' so, without explaining exactly what the song's about, it's pretty clear he's not happy.
LEAVE OUT ALL THE REST
Chester: We knew this was going to be a single from the very beginning, so we worked really hard on making sure it had great lyrics. I'm singing 'Pretending someone else can save me from myself' during it because it's supposed to feel like an apology letter, as though i'm moving on but i want people to remember the good things and not the bad things. A lot of the song is about humility.
BLEED IT OUT
Mike: I wrote the lyrics to this about 100 times. it's always frustrating as a lyricist to come in with a new version that you spent hours on and have the band tell you that it's not there yet. in one case, they listened to my lyrics for 30 seconds and told me to start over again. that was pretty hard. it felt like i was bringing in the lyrics, getting punched in the face and then going back to the drawing
# "Shadow of the Day" — A difficult track for the band to write; said to be a ballad.
# "What I've Done" — The records first single, and the last track to be written for the album.
# "Hands Held High" — One of the few songs Mike Shinoda raps on.
# "No More Sorrow" — Said to be the heaviest song on the album, along with "Given Up".
# "Valentine's Day" — A poppy, yet radio friendly song.
# "In Between" — Mike sings lead vocals for the first time.
# "In Pieces" — A song about Chester's recent divorce.
# "The Little Thing Gives You Away" — The band's favorite song, clocking in over six minutes long; marks the debut of a guitar solo in a Linkin Park song.
Release
The album was delayed multiple times, first scheduled for summer 2006, then fall 2006, then early 2007, and now May 14, 2007 worldwide with the North American release the day after. In an interview in September 2006, Shinoda explained, "When songs are pouring out you don't ever want to stop that. We already have over 100 roughs for songs. We've narrowed it down since but we're not ready to commit to those yet."[3] From the early demo sessions, "QWERTY", which was rumored to be on Minutes to Midnight, has appeared on the Linkin Park Underground v6.0 CD on December 5, 2006 in both live and studio demo versions. A live version of "QWERTY" recorded at the Summer Sonic Festival in 2006 is included as a bonus track on the album.
"This was a year-and-a-half long process of really hard work and experimentation in the studio that yielded about 150 rough songs," guitarist Brad Delson told Billboard.com. "Not only is this album incredibly diverse, but the depth of the material is really strong."
The first single, "What I've Done", was released on April 2, 2007, and debuted at number one on the U.S. Modern Rock chart.
Released May 11, 2007.
(Netherlands)
May 14, 2007
(Worldwide)
May 15, 2007
(North America)
Recorded June 2006 – January 2007 in The Mansion
Meaning
The title is a reference to the Doomsday Clock, where "Minutes to Midnight" is a measure of the proximity of the world to nuclear destruction.[2] At the time of the title's announcement, the clock stood at 5 minutes to midnight. Mike Shinoda has explained that the album has various meanings:
“ Don't take that at face value. There are layers of meaning, most are metaphoric...It’s definitely a reference to the doomsday clock—the Apocalypse—a metaphor for death and rebirth, but it could also be applied to the music industry, sort of tongue-in-cheek.
Brief track review
In an April 2007 interview with Kerrang!, Linkin Park explained the songs in a track-by-track review, summarized in the following:
1. "Wake"
2. "Given Up"
3. "Leave Out All the Rest"
4. "Bleed It Out"
5. "Shadow of the Day"
6. "What I've Done" – 3:29
7. "Hands Held High"
8. "No More Sorrow"
9. "Valentine's Day"
10. "In Between"
11. "In Pieces"
12. "The Little Things Give You Away"
WAKE
Mike: This is an intro track that starts the album - you can hear a needle going down on a record and i think it sets the tone for what's to come.
GIVEN UP
Brad: We had a really bad song called 'fire in the city' - the chorus actually had the words 'fire in the city' on it! Mike was the only person who liked it. rather than just scrap the song, we mined it for any good parts.
Mike: It felt like brad stole my car and ripped out the stereo.
Brad: I took the bassline and the drums and built weird sounds around it, which eventually became this song. Chester's screaming: 'What the fuck is wrong with me? Put me out of my fucking misery!' so, without explaining exactly what the song's about, it's pretty clear he's not happy.
LEAVE OUT ALL THE REST
Chester: We knew this was going to be a single from the very beginning, so we worked really hard on making sure it had great lyrics. I'm singing 'Pretending someone else can save me from myself' during it because it's supposed to feel like an apology letter, as though i'm moving on but i want people to remember the good things and not the bad things. A lot of the song is about humility.
BLEED IT OUT
Mike: I wrote the lyrics to this about 100 times. it's always frustrating as a lyricist to come in with a new version that you spent hours on and have the band tell you that it's not there yet. in one case, they listened to my lyrics for 30 seconds and told me to start over again. that was pretty hard. it felt like i was bringing in the lyrics, getting punched in the face and then going back to the drawing
# "Shadow of the Day" — A difficult track for the band to write; said to be a ballad.
# "What I've Done" — The records first single, and the last track to be written for the album.
# "Hands Held High" — One of the few songs Mike Shinoda raps on.
# "No More Sorrow" — Said to be the heaviest song on the album, along with "Given Up".
# "Valentine's Day" — A poppy, yet radio friendly song.
# "In Between" — Mike sings lead vocals for the first time.
# "In Pieces" — A song about Chester's recent divorce.
# "The Little Thing Gives You Away" — The band's favorite song, clocking in over six minutes long; marks the debut of a guitar solo in a Linkin Park song.
Release
The album was delayed multiple times, first scheduled for summer 2006, then fall 2006, then early 2007, and now May 14, 2007 worldwide with the North American release the day after. In an interview in September 2006, Shinoda explained, "When songs are pouring out you don't ever want to stop that. We already have over 100 roughs for songs. We've narrowed it down since but we're not ready to commit to those yet."[3] From the early demo sessions, "QWERTY", which was rumored to be on Minutes to Midnight, has appeared on the Linkin Park Underground v6.0 CD on December 5, 2006 in both live and studio demo versions. A live version of "QWERTY" recorded at the Summer Sonic Festival in 2006 is included as a bonus track on the album.
"This was a year-and-a-half long process of really hard work and experimentation in the studio that yielded about 150 rough songs," guitarist Brad Delson told Billboard.com. "Not only is this album incredibly diverse, but the depth of the material is really strong."
The first single, "What I've Done", was released on April 2, 2007, and debuted at number one on the U.S. Modern Rock chart.
Released May 11, 2007.
(Netherlands)
May 14, 2007
(Worldwide)
May 15, 2007
(North America)
Recorded June 2006 – January 2007 in The Mansion