Understanding In The End

It starts with one thing.
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Linkin Park was one of the bands that absolutely defined my teenage years. Their work sounded like nothing else going on at the time, taking the evolving nu metal scene and elevating it to new heights. Songs from Hybrid Theory and Meteora were in constant rotation on my iPod, so if you'll indulge me, I'd like to take a moment to revisit that era of my life and connect with some of the music that made me who I am today.
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And thanks as well to Henry Reich, Gene Lushtak, Eugene Bulkin, Oliver, Anna Work, Adam Neely, Dave Mayer, David Bartz, CodenaCrow, Arnas, Caroline Simpson, Michael Alan Dorman, Blake Boyd, Charles Gaskell, Tom Evans, David Conrad, Ducky, Nikolay Semyonov, Chris Connett, Kenneth Kousen, h2g2guy, W. Dennis Sorrell, Andrew Engel, Peter Brinkmann, naomio, Alex Mole, Betsy, Tonya Custis, Dave Shapiro, Walther, Jake Sand, Graeme Lewis, Jim Hayes, Scott Albertine, Evan Satinsky, Conor Stuart Roe, ZagOnEm, Kai, רועי סיני, Kottolett, Brian Miller, Thomas Morgan, Mark James, Matty Crocker, Adam Ziegenhals, Mark, Amelia Lewis, Justin St John-Brooks, DialMForManning, JD White, Andrew Wyld, Joe Johnston, Claymore Alexander, A Devoted Servant of the Holy Water Bottle, gunnito, Graham Orndorff, Kayla Sparks, Douglas Anderson, Foreign Man in a Foreign Land, Paul Tanenholz, Tom, William Christie, Joyce Orndorff, Kyle Kinkaid, Stephen Tolputt, Isaac Hampton, Mark Mitchell Gloster, Andy Maurer, William Spratley, Don Jennings, Cormag81, Derek H., Bryan, Mikeyxote, Milan Durnell, Dan Whitmer, Thel 'Vadam, M3RK Chaos Official Patreon page, Mike Wyer, Michael Morris, Bill Owens, Martin Romano, George Burgyan, N Zaph, Marc Testart, Carlfish, Matthew Soddy, Flavor Dave, Belinda Reid, DraconicDon, John W Campbell, StellarDrift, Jimmy2Guys, Megan Oberfield, morolin, An Oni Moose, Ken Birdwell, Blue 5alamander, Panda, Cliff Hudson, Olivia Herald, Macy Allen, JayneOfCanton, or dahan, Alin Nica, Ethan Savaglio, Robert Bailey, Deirdre Saoirse Moen, juneau, Sina Bahram, Ira Kroll, Patrick Minton, Justin Katz, Roahn Wynar, Chuck Dukhoff of The Stagger Lee Archives, Bob D'Errico, Robert Shaw, Shawn Beshears, David Shlapak, JD, Rennie Allen, Travis Briggs, Donald Murray, Cindy Klenk (Highlands Recording Arts LLC), Jonah C., Greyson Erickson, Matt Deeds, Claire Postlethwaite, Strife, Brian Covey, Miles_Naismith, Jordan Nordstrom-Young, Jay Harris, Sean Murphy, JasperJackal, Tommy Transplant, Wolfgang Giersche, Autographedcat, ParzivaLore, Alexander Whisnant, Amanda Jones, Olaf, Colleen Chapman, Gil, M. Dodge Mumford, Jon Purdy, Ken Brown, Colin Kennedy, Christopher Bork, Granger Meador, The Mauses, Tom Belknap, christopher porto, Steffan Andrews, William Wallace, Billy Abbott, Otto Koivunen, Karel P Kerezman, and Ted Trainor! Your support helps make 12tone even better!
Also, thanks to Jareth Arnold!

[@12tone]

Support 12tone on Patreon to help us keep making cool videos! www.patreon.com/12tonevideos Some additional thoughts/corrections: 1) Harmonics are a hard thing to explain in this particular editing style. Would've loved to use some motion graphics animations, but alas, I've committed to a bit, so I just left the explanation a little vague instead. 2) There's a lot to be said about the digital manipulations on Shinoda's voice, but the video was getting super long and it didn't really fit into the structure of the script. Broadly, though, I think my take is similar to the glitch track in the intro: It adds a sense of digital choppiness and ugliness that interferes with the implied smoothness of the underlying track, creating a technologically oppressive atmosphere that smothers the listener. 3) I feel like I should have more things to say here but honestly the production process of this video was really weird 'cause I had to go to a big conference in the middle of it so I can't really think of anything else. Still! Good song!

[@AnthemUnanthemed]

at 15:30 I think u mistook an open high-hat for a ride also 😅

[@AugmentedSmurf]

I really enjoy your breakdowns and analysis of the music, but this video just really killed me as far as band member names go. Brad's last name is Delson, not Delmon, and Rob's last name is Bourdon (pronounced "bored-n"), not Burton. With those corrections aside, thank you for the video. I enjoyed hearing your analysis thoroughly!

[@bmac4]

Very nostalgic song and good analysis, but yeah some pretty basic mistakes. The chorus beat is an open hi-hat not a ride, and some of the musician names were wrong.

[@deadersurvival4716]

In regards to #1, I wouldn't have minded the subtle break, and if you wanted to draw it while leaving in most of that, you could probably have used sticky notes. All in all, nice analysis, and a good reminder of a great song.

[@ReitheOffbeatOtaku]

@@AugmentedSmurf To be fair, I think 12tone had Rob Bourdon’s name right, but was just pronouncing it differently. I assumed myself that it was pronounced like the word “burden” until this comment, and I think that’s also what they were going for with their pronunciation.

[@christophermartin240]

It's worth saying that in the chorus the drummer doesn't switch to the ride cymbal, he just opens up the hi hats for that sloshy sound.

[@MrGreen4go]

Well when you put it like that ... 😳 ... Woo !

[@Xpauljay]

And their guitarists name is Delson, not Delmon 😂😂 love the work put into these but I couldn’t not make that distinction either

[@mak_attakks]

@@Xpauljay And also the bassist was Dave Phoenix, not Brad Delson lol. Unless I'm missing something. Still appreciate this analysis tho

[@Xpauljay]

@@mak_attakks correct! I think phoenix was just a nickname, I believe it’s Dave Farrell. Maybe he meant Brad recorded bass on the first record? Not sure on the validity to that but 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@GizzyDillespee]

It was actually Pharrell Williams, in disguise as Dave Farrell.

[@liamannegarner8083]

Now I understand the 4chan story of the guy whose iTunes Library was just "In The End" with 20,000 plays. "You played it two more times between these posts. What is wrong with you?" "I like the song."

[@WageSlavery]

Legendary

[@NoobixCube]

The weird thing about In The End is, we are blessed with a demo version that has completely different rap verses, so we can actually analyse how the lyrics changed from version to version. The whole album makes an arc of personal growth, though. You wouldn't think of a 2000s "nu-metal" band as releasing a concept album, and I don't know if they'd call it that, but you can clearly see a progression from the early tracks being directionless anger, lashing out at everyone, and at the self. If there were one central protagonist to Hybrid Theory, he wouldn't know who to be angry at, for the first half, and then By Myself is kind of a lost despair as the protagonist thinks they're the problem. In The End marks a kind of awakening, finally realising they've been gaslit or manipulated all along, and it's an articulated response to that realisation. The end of the album is shaky, retreating sometimes back to that self-recrimination and whiplashing back to the anger, because it's _new_ to the protagonist, but Forgotten, Pushing Me Away, and above all, Place for my Head, reinforce the direction, like a definite antagonist has been identified, and exactly how they've been antagonising you has been discovered.

[@blueredlover1060]

In a very real way, Linkin Park bridged the gap between pop and nu metal, especially compared against other nu metal artists like Disturbed, Slipknot, Three Days Grace, Godsmack, Deftones, among others. That's not a bad thing. You need to be able to connect to the mainstream somehow, and Linkin Park did that for nu metal. Sadly though, most modern rock and metal doesn't have that bridge in place anymore.

[@wheresmymuffins]

i was hoping someone else would mention it, I remember the first time I listened to the demo it gave me chills, imo it's way more interesting writing and rhythm but I also don't think the song would've gained the popularity it did if it never moved beyond that form

[@PenneySounds]

There are two demo versions available, and one really shows off the hip hop production underlying the track that their label wanted to hide so they could sell it to rock fans.

[@AM-rb4ps]

thank you for this

[@ryanevans371]

A Place For My Head has always been the sneaky climax of that album.

[@gsuberland]

That description of "we just wanted someone else to recognise that things were broken" is so accurate. I would listen to Hybrid Theory at night on a Walkman hidden under my pillow when I was about 11 years old, right around the time I was starting to become cognizant of problems around me and a complete lack of agency to do anything about them. While I certainly didn't make that poignant connection at the time, it strongly shaped my teenage years.

[@jasonGamesMaster]

While I was about 6 years older, this album was really the first (and to this day one of only a few) nu metal albums that really spoke to me. That feeling of hopelessness and angst at things beyond your control easily encompasses the feelings of millenials everywhere

[@CortexNewsService]

And how the world lost Bennington, just makes it that much more powerful.

[@Jeremy-hx7zj]

Same. And then I discovered music with good lyrics and never listened to LP again

[@WageSlavery]

@@Jeremy-hx7zj I'm willing to trade Shinoda's vocabulary decisions for the much more beautiful soundscape and emotional landscape that they paint. I've always thought Shinoda was holding the band back...but 12 tone just helped me realize that he was using the words as more of a sound than an idea. And when you start the journey from that perspective, it's actually kind of impressive how much he accomplished

[@Jeremy-hx7zj]

@@WageSlavery not to me, sorry

[@2010billyjack]

And then “In the middle of all those noise sits Bennington” After having not heard Linkin Park in a few months, this isolated pure perfect vocals brought me to tears. 😭😭😭 Miss him so much.

[@stormix5755]

I never thought I’d see LP on here. They are a popular band, but I see their technicality and sophistication beyond just the cool screams. It’s so nice to see them getting appreciated :)

[@JoeStuffzAlt]

I learned In The End and how to scream, and one thing I noticed is the nuance in how Chester screamed. It's not a Vegeta scream, but a pained, delicate scream with a lot of emotion

[@tylerphillips503]

He did a video for What I've Done in the early days of the channel shortly after Chester died in 2017.

[@8393Robertrex]

Oh thats cuz 12 tone heres hiding a couple secrets about his music taste lol I never EVER thought id see farewell Sputnik on here but..lo and behold man made a whole "what makes metal heavy video" and sure enough it was the example he used first lol

[@geemcd]

​@@JoeStuffzAlt the scream in this is autotuned. I can hear the glitchiness in it and it puts me off a bit. But man that dude could sing. Check out the LP acoustic version of Adele Rolling in the Deep, it'll send a shiver down your spine all the way to your bollocks ❤ kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZSQc4R-gquhic0

[@mikesmusic8751]

What he said at 24:00 is *EXACTLY* what I've been trying to verbalize for decades. I was just a little kid (3-4 yrs) when Linkin Park got big, but my older siblings were in Middle/High school listening to them. Due to cultural osmosis, I've been dedicatedly listening to LP for almost [literally] my entire life. Despite realizing how depressed the lyrics & themes often were, I've always felt a deep comfort in them. It was this unexplainable sensation, & I suddenly felt forced to quantify it when Chester Bennington passed in 2017. I was in college, first time on my own, & the singer of my lifelong *favorite* band took his own life. It felt like, just... the worst irony possible, because Linkin Park was *my* depression music. I asked myself, "Am I dishonoring Chester's legacy by using his music this way?" But eventually, I came to a realizaton: I don't love LP because I "revel in my own misery"... but because I felt my own feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness, su¡cidality, etc, being *validated.* I no longer felt alone, because it proved that someone out there could empathize with me. Even if I *couldn't* solve the problem, at least I was being told for certain that I wasn't crazy for feeling what I did. That there actually were real, problematic issues both in my home life, & in the world broadly.

[@gabe_s_videos]

I knew this song had become a part of pop culture history when I heard it on the piped in music at the supermarket.

[@stripedpants1668]

How it feels when they change the layout of the aisles.

[@gabe_s_videos]

@@stripedpants1668"Pardon our dust" my ass! :P

[@sonicadventure3130]

Not so much that, it’s that we’ve gotten so old we’re now the target audience.

[@gabe_s_videos]

@@sonicadventure3130 I can think of plenty of other songs that are the same age and would never get played there. This one is special.

[@Richard_Nickerson]

​@@gabe_s_videos It's been played in stores for 2 decades

[@emmbeesea]

And all in all, there's few songs as good as this one that make you want to shout out your distraught emotions at the world. It holds up arguably even better today than when it was first released in that regard.

[@Jeremy-hx7zj]

Even when I was a fan of LP I didn't like this song

[@WageSlavery]

The mark of a trailblazer 💪🏽

[@mildly_miffed_man1414]

@@Jeremy-hx7zj”song bad because I don’t like it!1!1!!!!111!1!!”

[@Jeremy-hx7zj]

@@mildly_miffed_man1414 no, I don't like it because it's bad. You seem mildly miffed.

[@LInkinPark4life]

​@Jeremy-hx7zj then why are you watching the video about the song? are you brain dead or something?

[@Insert_Bland_Name_Here]

The first "ruined" version of the riff you played actually sounded pretty much exactly like the Reanimation Remix version, "Enth E Nd". It's not a bad riff, it just gives a different vibe, which fits the remix pretty decently.

[@ziero1986]

I was sort of hoping he'd mention Enth E Nd. that remix was very well done imo

[@andrewblawson]

I love that remix, except I wish they didn't put the verse in there to remind us that we're listening to a remix.

[@terribleplan]

This has to have been done on purpose. I guess we know how he feels about Reanimation.

[@PanAndScanBuddy]

​@@andrewblawsonthey're not to remind you, the lyrics literally say "to remind myself"! /s

[@hanna-liminal]

AAA I thought the same thing!! And I love the Re_Animation album, somedays even more than Hybrid Theory itself (heresy, I know) because it feels so much more experimental (which is where I feel LP thrived, in being fresh and fusing genres and genre elements that are unexpected)

[@Mirro18]

Honestly one thing that I have discovered for myself... or rather rediscovered for myself through Linkin Park was that in a world that treats depression like a foregone conclusion and just something that happens to you and that you need working, that there are reasons from the outside that make me that way and that at times I am well within my rights to be angry at them for it. That there is an anger in depression and that this is not a failure of me as a person, but that this is also me trying to get up from the hole I have partially dug/partially been pushed into. And in the End fills that little niche perfectly. It's defeated, depressed, but also angry at the world that made us that way and in a sense also a call to stand up, because for being shit on all your life, the fact that I tried should mean something, GOD FUCKING DAMNIT

[@WageSlavery]

PREACH

[@WageSlavery]

It does matter. Make it matter

[@LInkinPark4life]

ONE THING? I DONT KNOW WHY?

[@RubyRoks]

This song is heartbreaking, empowering, cathartic, isolating, cold, aggressive, simple, convoluted, calculating, and pissed all at once, and despite that, it makes sense. It, like many Linkin Park tracks, is a masterclass in distilling the chaos of life into something radio friendly without actually removing the complexity, just arranging it

[@Jeremy-hx7zj]

And yet, the lyrics are basically totally literal recitations of the singers feelings with almost nothing in the way of wordplay, imagery, compelling metaphors, or literally anything that makes lyrics interesting

[@RubyRoks]

@@Jeremy-hx7zj Not everything needs to be Shakespeare, and more often than not you make a better emotional connection to the audience if you're not pussyfooting around.

[@green5260]

​@@Jeremy-hx7zjdoes it need to be?

[@Jeremy-hx7zj]

@@green5260 yes. Of course lyrics should be well written

[@Jeremy-hx7zj]

@@RubyRoks you don't have to "pussyfoot" around to write in an interesting way. Just saying "I'm sad and mad, I wanna feel, I wanna heal, the pain inside my brain" is just bad writing. It's dull, it's colorless, and it's the kind of thing any mopey teenager alive could write.

[@TheOneWhoKnocks969]

The thoughtful choices these musician makes is crazy

[@Roxfox]

@@DisregardWhatISay You've discovered something interesting, in that "thoughtless" and "thoughtful" don't necessarily relate to thinking. It's almost certain that the composition of this song wasn't made with as much care as this analysis, but I can guarantee that most of the types of considerations brought up in this video were present when the song was written. Rarely does a good riff, melody or chord progression just appear on the first try. You feel it out, test different variations, work together with the rest of the music to find what hits hardest, discover what you want it to say and how to bring that out the clearest. Even if you never *think* about what notes you play or the timing of the performance, this is still a thoughtful process. Attentive, deliberate, with intent. Thoughtful.

[@derpz_]

you just proved op@@DisregardWhatISay

[@GizzyDillespee]

Maybe the song came to him in Hot Topic, and then he fleshed it out on the back of a napkin in the food court, over a Cinnabon and Oranjulius

[@WageSlavery]

Every step counts! It's a process! And... you'll know when it's ready

[@sayakmukhopadhyay]

Linkin Park is one of the most technical rocks bands out there. Just that their technique has always been to know how to tug at human emotions. Not just making an earworm, like pop artists, but music and lyrics that people can identify with.

[@WageSlavery]

Can't fake it!

[@LInkinPark4life]

Green Day is up there too

[@res0nance197]

I love the analysis of Chester's modulation in the bridge. In fact, this is a hilariously common technique in metalcore (to the point I did a presentation about it in my freshman year theory class). Since one of the biggest complaints of modern metalcore is "every chorus just sounds like a rip off of what Linkin Park did 20 years ago", it's funny to see that one of the most fundamental techniques of metalcore chorus composition came from LP.

[@markjames8664]

The thing is, I’m not sure anyone since has done it as well.

[@WageSlavery]

You know it when you feel it 💪🏽 and they're probably right about metal/metal core. I strictly listen to bands from the early 2000s, because I believe metal became a fad once it became mainstream. They started chasing the sounds, not the feelings. I can't relate to that, I need my dose of PAIN

[@WageSlavery]

Like, I think modern metal is garbage! There's a difference between making noise and using the feeling of the noise. Silent Theory is one of the few bands worthy to carry the torch. Everybody else I've heard is just stretching it too far. Get back to the basics, the feeling

[@paulweyer4339]

So validating to hear someone take these guys seriously as writers and artists. I was very young when I heard this and the feeling you describe toward the end was 100% the vibe I couldn't articulate yet. It often felt like the listeners were the "you" chester put his trust in. Here's hoping we're up to the task.

[@dancellmovies]

Great video! A note: The guitarist is Brad DelSON and not Delman. This song was pivotal to my interest in music when I was younger, and seeing you break the raw tracks down brings lots of great perspective!

[@miahthorpatrick1013]

Glad someone else besides me mentioned this. It was super jarring every time he said it wrong!

[@PenneySounds]

5:31 That beat is nor made by the turntablist. That's the hip hop beat by Mike Shinoda. Every LP song in those days started with the hip hop beat as the foundation onto which everything else was built. 5:57 Who is Brad Delman? Brad Delson is the guitarist and stood in for bass during the recording of this track. 7:18 There's a lot more going on in that beat than just Rob's drums. Once again, there is a hip hop beat underlying the whole thing, built from synths and samples. These are heard much more clearly in demo versions of the track, because contrary to what you said at the start, the band were not free to m ake this album the way they wanted. Their label wanted to sell them to rock listeners even though they were primarily a hip hop group, so the final album is mixed to bring up the guitars and downplay the beats, very different from the demos the band mixed themselves.

[@RanterInShades]

Listening to this analysis is getting me to think back to my first time hearing the song as being one of those “You might not have noticed it, but your brain did” moments.

[@WageSlavery]

Can't fake it

[@JordanFlayer]

Every time you say "Delman" my heart hurts.

[@chromedomejunior]

it’s giving Dr Steve Brule

[@fabiomcmuffin]

The ascending eighth notes in the opening riff feels like a brief moment of hope and effort that makes the fall back down to despair even more tragic

[@Dogdrule]

I also think its cool that the second half of the riff forms an extended dies irae, almost like a record getting stuck skipping on the most tense note of that particular phrase for a few beats before resolving.

[@Kiaulen]

RIP Chester, my favorite singer of all time. Thanks Cory, for showing off just how incredibly deep this song is layered. I'd always heard the high guitar, piano, vocals, and scratches, but it's been hard for me to pick out the drums and bass. Fantastic analysis as always, this is my favorite of your videos.

[@Jackster743]

While I’ve never been a huge Linkin Park fan, I’ve always been a huge Half-Life fan. So this one song has been stuck deep in my mind for a very very long time now. Glad to see you finally go over it!

[@ThinkAboutVic]

shoutouts to r/halflifecirclejerk

[@LInkinPark4life]

half life no joke is how I discovered both linkin park and changed which are literally the two most different things you could name

[@SamusSelf-Destruct]

I was just talking about Chester and his influence on my own music. This was the song that hooked me on Linkin Park, both sonically and emotionally. Thanks for covering this, and addressing its emotional importance for those of us who were in high school at the turn of the millennium and feeling like it really might be the end of the world.

[@MannnisEi]

Wish you woulda talked about how cool it is that the bridge repeats the same lyrics twice, but because of the change in instrumentation, the melody itself and the final line, the same set of lyrics take on a whole different meaning the second time around

[@warpdrivefueledbyinsomnia8165]

This is one of the few songs my dad, who loves country music and 70s rock, and I have in common. In the wild-west days of the internet, I found a version of this song set to a bunch of clips from FFIX. It's so cringey to watch now, but Dad saw it as "the" music video to the song, even preferring it to the actual video by LP. He'd ask me to play it after he'd get in from work at 11pm while I was finishing up homework or goofing around with some S/NES games on an emulator - probably infecting Dad's computer with God knows what back then, but that was irrelevant. Thank you for breaking this song down. It means a lot to me.

[@cscott0108]

That's so funny.... I watched the same thing. I still have a few of them saved to my computer. I have one synced to ffix and one to cowboy bebop. Hahahah

[@WageSlavery]

This emotional imprint is something that money can't buy. This is what music is for! It's amazing to witness the impact of music on people's lives. One can only hope to make a difference this big with their music. Legendary

[@Zaffre_ENTMT]

I hope that all the people that were like "eh, just another band in the nu metal genre" in the beginning came back to listening to them a few years later, because these kinds of arrangements are pretty wild and genuinely awesome.

[@BrickNewton]

I was sort of that person. Heard them on the radio and thought they were good songs but never followed them. But later when my teenage boys started listening to them I started to appreciate them. My boys helped me hear them better.

[@icarusgaming6269]

Having performed to this track, I can tell you in spite of its extreme dissonance, the lead guitar drone is absolutely vital to tracking the 1. Everything else, like you said, is pointing you towards the downbeat, so that ringing ostinato is the only thing that can cut through the noise and remind you where the next measure even starts. Even the keyboard begins on an accidental! Rather than having dissonance that fights against the rhythmic chord progression like in a traditional metal song, Linkin Park makes dissonance and noise a *core* part of the beat, the bleeding heart of the song that cannot be expunged

[@petermiddo]

I was an adult in the early 2000's (28) and I was still struggling. All my friends had their 💩 together, settling down, having kids, top end jobs, and I was flat-lining. I remember when I first heard 'In The End' on the radio and fell in love in an instant. Fast forward all these years and I was diagnosed, at age 44, with Autism. I still loved the song but now it really meant something, as did the whole album. Devastated doesn't begin to describe my emotions when I heard the news that mr Bennington had died. I really didn't think I could love the song anymore, until I listened to this. Now it drops down a gear and plants it's foot on the gas..... thank you!

[@RedddShirt]

2:00 "Let's add some syncopation" reanimation intensifies

[@JorgeR2912]

I swear I was gonna comment this. Sneaky 12tone move!

[@easternhills1329]

" ... and songs like this were an important outlet for kids who just wanted the world to be better when it seemed to keep getting worse." As an adult now, can't say I want anything different.

[@WageSlavery]

The mission continues 💪🏽

[@dantreadwell7421]

Its Chester. He could hold a note for about as long as he wanted to. The scream in Given Up comes to mind. All 17 seconds of it.

[@JayTemple]

Well before Linkin Park, people were lamenting the death of songwriting. "In the End" was so well-arranged that it made me realize that arranging was become a lost art as well.

[@thedoomofred5174]

I remember in college sadly late one night singing this song with my class studying for a grasses and grass like plants test. All because an anonymous tip said the class cheated and the only time we could retake it was 5 the next morning.

[@GizzyDillespee]

The grass prof was bamboozled

[@BrokensoulRider]

You could have put in an inquiry. I hate anonymity when it comes to being reported like this.

[@thedoomofred5174]

@@BrokensoulRider, I don’t think it was so anonymous to our professor, she just didn’t tell us for their own sake.

[@mateusbez2669]

Ending a song in a 9th is pretty bold move. The tone and delivery of Chester vocals here is astonishing. Like most of his vocals, tbh

[@WageSlavery]

Just a little extra push in case you missed the rest of the show ;)

[@krourou2]

You know, things like pointing out the strings in the intro and really directing my attention to the bass, giving all these things more context, is why I adore this channel. These videos take songs and help find new details I'd missed or didn't think much of, new things to love and deepen my appreciation for the song.

[@moniquetroth]

And this is where Gen Xers like myself began to have hope that Millennials & Zoomers would find solutions to the problems left to us by previous generations. There weren't/aren't enough of us to solve things, but we could help point out the problems and hope like hell that the younger and larger generations would have enough folks throwing out solutions that maybe something would/will work. (We're over here throwing out what we can, but we're a rather small group and easily drowned out by the crowd of "everything's fine" from our elders.) My spouse & I both absolutely loved LP and could completely relate to "we just wanted someone else to recognise that things were broken" (which is probably the unofficial Gen X motto at this point).

[@IceSpoon]

13:22 I won't lie, I felt a thing when I heard Chester acapella in there. You shall live forever, friend.

[@ruckly1241]

Hybrid Theory was one of the few albums I ever owned, and one of the fewer that I would listen to, front to back, on repeat for hours. It was an outlet for the existential angst that didn't have anywhere else to go. Great stuff.

[@justinkey4895]

This song is a masterpiece of the era. It's over two decades old and still feels fresh. I was a young adult when it came out. There were a lot of things happening that made it feel like the world was coming apart at the seams. I don't think any of the problems ever really got solved though.

[@asetto15]

I remember this song from my childhood like it was yesterday. I would ride the bus to school, my violin case held down between my knees. I was crammed in with two other kids in a seat not at all made to fit three. As a bright spot, the bus driver let us listen to the radio every morning. As it was a long ride, and this was part of the normal radio rotation, this song would likely come on. While its dissonance washed over everyone, I remember feeling OK for a bit, like warm relief, but then cold again afterward. It mirrors how your analysis highlights unanswered, unresolved angst as the main theme. It just feels good to get the feelings out there, even unresolved. Thanks for bringing this (now classic...) song to your channel.

[@weissraben4476]

I think the major section might have also another undertone to it: Bennington tries pulling it into a better, happier direction... but none of that matters at all, because nothing around him changes, and so all he is left with is anger at that untouchable inertia.

[@WageSlavery]

He tried. He did. You heard it. But in the end...lmao. That's so heavy!

[@samanthacamberos]

These videos must take forever to edit and make. You're so awesome for that. I love how much the music community on KZbin has grown.

[@napalmstix]

They syncopated the piano on the remix album ReAnimation and it immediately gives the song a different feel. The original feels like I'm having a story told to me, where the remix feels like I'm being invited in to participate. Both great takes, but two very different feelings.

[@WageSlavery]

Wouldn't you just love to hear every version professionally. So much potential to cram into one song!

[@luthientinuviel9942]

I've been an LP megafan since Hybrid Theory dropped. Dont think it left my CD player for about 6 months at one time. Id listen to it in the car, at school, front to back at least once before going to sleep at night. Mike Shinoda often corrects people who say their music is depressing, by saying no, its meant to be uplifting. Mental illness hit me hard at a fairly early age (I was 11 in the year 2000), and i had no words to describe what was happening to me. LP gave me a voice, and the catharsis of knowing I was not alone. I've never shed a tear at a music theory analysis before, but the way you treated this song with such respect made me tear up. (The Andalite drawing was a big throwback too, lol.) Thanks so much for what you did here.

[@cdifreakguy]

Another thing about this song: I've always heard the chorus in Db major over a chord progression in Eb minor. And now analyzing the melody, I see why; it emphasizes the F and Db notes. So in addition to all these musical devices it implements, you could say it's a rare example of polytonality in pop music.

[@haistavittumenepois]

Completely agree! Or you could argue it changes key to Db mixolydian, but I think I like your explanation of polytonality better, it fits with the bittersweet theme. Might be hard to rationalize analytically, but the way the melody hits the third in the Db major just makes it impossible for me to not hear that as the home key.

[@samuelwinnie5464]

Linkin Park was the first band I ever saw live when I was 11, their minutes to midnight tour, and I will always remember and cherish it. ❤

[@WageSlavery]

Your conclusion about the emotional impact was so beautiful! Those words could be used to describe the entire heavy music scene, basically. That's what people find repulsive, "hard to listen to" when they think of heavy music. Everybody loves a good storyline, with beginning, middle, and end. But when you take away the final destination...you're left with a certain discomfort, and not the resolution you've become addicted to. But, imo, that's the way the world works. Random events, no limits on how much good or how much bad. Life isn't some chopped up, glamorous storyline, it's much more like this song is: raw, uncaged, unafraid of the pain. And THAT'S what the people love about heavy music, the simple fact that they're not alone in their suffering! Community becomes something that's more valuable than success. And there you have it...that's why I cry every time I hear this song!

[@davidcassidy602]

Can we take a second to analyze the art in the Patreon callout at the end? I’m not a rhetorical expert, but there were some pauses at critical locations, which brings out the feeling of appreciation for his subscribers. Then the framing around the mandatory YT call to action, providing an interesting contrast to the sincerity, and a fade-out instead of a hard cut at the very end, allowing us to linger on the fan favorite gummy bears. This one hit different.

[@WageSlavery]

You, my friend, are overanalyzing. Lmaooo

[@WageSlavery]

But true

[@JRMcCarroll]

My senior year of college, I was in a math class called Integrated Review. It was designed for mathematics seniors (of which there were two of us) and was supposed to look at various things we'd learned over the last four years and put them all together in some sort of cohesive fashion. We consistently felt like what it was actually teaching us was that we'd forgotten everything we were supposed to know. We found some website that played this song (this was before KZbin was a thing) and listened to it a lot during study sessions that year. At some point we played it for the professor and he said we were morbid.

[@Algo1]

I knew that last piano note didn't resolve the progression. I got my resolution, thank you.

[@WageSlavery]

\m/

[@echoingvistas]

I feel like this analysis just validated my pre-teen angst. Yes, everything does feel world shattering when you're that age and it's really not that bad, but it's okay to feel that way. And that you're not alone. God, this song is so good. I know it's a tiny bit of a meme these days, but it's just so impactful. RIP Chester. Wished we had listened more to you instead of just hearing.

[@MxLexi]

This song defined me growing up. It was my first ever "favourite song", and it's still my all-time favourite Linkin Park song, with Linkin Park possibly still being my all-time favourite band. I'm so happy to finally see this masterpiece be broken down here, thank you

[@mlggamingpro2578]

one thing I haven’t heard people talk about is how glitchy mikes verses are and how it syncs with the music video where it lags

[@WageSlavery]

How you do that?

[@WageSlavery]

Spooky

[@hanna-liminal]

I'm like 2/3 minutes in and I'm having a "Re_Animation Is In My Top 3 LP Albums" moment, because that syncopated version of the opening piano is EXACTLY what the band themself do in that album! It's such a fascinating thing to see a band rework their art so shortly after releasing the original, and in such experimental ways too.

[@hunterG60k]

Thank you for covering this song, I hope you do some more LP in the future. A seriously underrated band. RIP Chester 💔

[@brunocosta6849]

In this genre, more.often than not, musicians lean on what sounds good together, not as much as actively thinking about the theoretical nuances of their compositions, at least from what commonly see. I'm not trying to criticize here, as instead, commending the musicians intuition and unconscious decisions when conveying emotions and intentions into their music. This being said, I love how the theory study of music is itself, a great exercise to the listener rather than the band itself. I love your videos, keep them coming!

[@Zwarno]

Did not expect that little Animorphs reference with the Andalite drawing at 14:47 - I loved that book series back when In the End came out. Thanks for the travel down memory lane!

[@Tomoka51]

Oh boy my favorite music youtuber talking about my favorite song from my favorite band, lets goooo

[@amandalane9595]

This song and the music video blew my middle school mind. Linkin Park was a Nu Metal band, but also so much more. Every lyric and note crafted together an amazing experience that made it impossible not to sing along.

[@laexploradoraaaXD]

I had the pleasure of seeing LP live a few times before Chester passed, the audience just went bananas whenever he'd hold a note forever. Truly a one of a kind vocalist. Knowing the band lets the audience sing Chester's lines makes hearing his isolated vocals here much more poignant.

[@LadyArtemis2012]

I loved this video and I love this song! The one thing I'm always left wondering from these kind of breakdowns is...how much of it is intentional? Like, when it comes to things like picking keys or doing unexpected things with progression...do all of these guys have master's in music theory or are they just doing "what sounds good"? I mean, some of it is clearly intentional. Shinoda's use of "fall apart" to signify the breakdown of the rhyme scheme is obviously a deliberate creative choice. But when looking at the notes being used, and why those are chosen over others...how deliberate is that?

[@emilyrln]

I wonder this, too! To find out, you'd probably need to ask the artist, but even then, they'd only be able to tell you what they did deliberately. I know when I write music, I'm mainly going with what sounds good and not thinking about specific theory.

[@WageSlavery]

In reference to this song, I think Chester just felt this key shift inside of him. He probably went through many takes to figure out the actual notes he was trying to sing. Maybe he did write it down and then execute, but to me, it just feels too raw to be planned. Like he's bursting through the seams, as opposed to creeping up to a higher key to achieve this effect. In other words, I think the egg came first ;)

[@wiesorix]

This is one of these songs that I've sung(screamed) along with a bunch of people so many times that I basically know all the lyrics. But I've never paid much attention to all other little details. Until now. Thanks for making this video!

[@yoavshati]

I always love the little drawings like 7:03 that take some relatively obscure knowledge to get This one was quite popular on math related channels, but it's still pretty obscure

[@AnimeSunglasses]

Another thing about that 8th note in the opening measure is... It feels like barely catching your breath, really emphasizing the feeling of the quarter notes as exhausted marching.

[@gogozipray]

honestly watching this video when i havnt heard the song in a while felt like i was getting edged. Half way through i had to pause and go listen to it.

[@brothertaddeus]

I don't think I've ever clicked a video so fast as this one.

[@demowotv]

SAME

[@benjaminbaron3209]

That was great. I mean it always is, but Linkin Park holds a special place in people's hearts. Makes me wish that this kind of analysis could make its way into music classes in school.

[@WageSlavery]

Along with taxes, mental health, and workplace professionalism. The war is coming 💪🏽

[@WoodturningWithJohnMarro]

I have no clue when it comes to music theory, but I thoroughly enjoy your content. Thanks for sharing!

[@rickwoods5274]

10:45 -- I never noticed that when the guitar harmonics and piano are both playing that they're trading off playing the 2, so that it's practically constantly being played by something 13:30 -- Wait, "watch you go" passes through the _root_? The whole thing is so tense, it feels impossible that the root is present here, and even if I sing it myself and hang on "you", it doesn't feel like the root until I really think about it for a bit 24:07 -- ... man.

[@WageSlavery]

That's heavy

[@rapidthunder31]

Youll probably gonna get alot of flack for this but the Guitarist is Brad Delson, and the Bassist is Dave "Phoenix" Farrell

[@AnthonyStatenMusic]

Phoenix wasn't in the band when Hybrid Theory recorded. Brad and a couple session players handled the bass parts.

[@pinheadgringo]

Yup, though it looks like Brad (+ 2 other guys) filled in on bass for Hybrid Theory. I think Dave was touring with another band at the time.

[@MykaGhostt]

I can't imagine how long it takes to edit these types of videos. Bravo!

[@bc1284]

When hearing the whole idea of ways to “fix” and “correct” “in the end” I’m reminded about how when sideways watched endgame he heard a heavily altered “in the end” in the portal scene.

[@thisguy8106]

I will forever believe that In The End wouldn't be *the* song that it is if it *didn't* have the glitchy drum track at the beginning. It adds so much to the song.

[@avedic]

Linkin Park is a weird one for me..... I'm 40. Turned 40 this year. I remember in 2001...I started my freshman year of college and was in this odd introductory "class" where I was asked "What's your favorite band?" I said....Linkin Park, based entirely off this album. 6 months earlier I'd never heard it. 6 months later I heard Sigur Ros and went down an entirely new rabbit hole. But this album DEEPLY resonated with me for a solid year when I was 18 or so. Then, for a LONG time I kinda entirely forgot about it. Until recently...listening back to it, is it my favorite album ever? Nah. But...I get what I heard back then. There's a harmonic sophistication throughout that entire album I clearly picked up on. In later years I found it all quite sterile...but now, in retrospect, it sounds crackling and alive and very confident across the entire album. I don't think I'll ever be a full on LP fan...but I was for one year in 2001...and I've come to understand what I heard and felt back then. They were definitely more than just another numetal-ish band with a guy scratching on turntables. Something else was going on too....

[@stormierbody8419]

I hope to one day have a song that gets analyzed like this only for me to see it then not know wtf I was even doing while making it

[@CoreyOgburn]

I'm new around here. How or where do you get the individual instruments of the audio track? Or do you recreate them?

[@ispilloil]

I find it interesting that in the 5th measure on the piano, they change it up slightly by making the Bflat staccato

[@michaelirwin7258]

First song I heard from them when it released and immediately loved it. Loved just about everything did after too. I miss Chester.

[@Captain_Flynt]

The syncopation you did at the beginning is actually almost exactly how their remixed version Enth E Nd starts

[@PetroPoo]

Aside from the artistic cleverness here, you really remind us what a damn fine singer Chester Bennington was. God Damn, what a voice.

[@siarhian10]

I feel like the riff has this sort of "limping" feel. To me it feels like going on a walk at night be yourself when you're all emotional

[@FingerPuppetSarcasm]

This all sounds so deliberate. I wonder how much of it was just them going “yeah that sounds good.”

[@OnlyARide]

I love that high semitone dissonance. AAnother great example of a song that utilizes it is Night Terror by Blotted Science. Truly an homage to Linkin Park 😋

[@logarhythmic6859]

Growing up I also really loved the remix album of Hybrid Theory, "Reanimations". For your first example of using eighth notes to change up the rhythm, I'm not sure if you realized, but you used almost the EXACT rhythm that the Kutmasta Kurt remix uses.

[@robertprueter3292]

Man, this one is right in the childhood. 10/10 lad, as usual

[@novapariah8135]

'It's a pretty quiet section, at least relatively speaking" Not when I play it

[@BlazinLow305]

Just for the record, I'd love to see some more metal stuff on this channel! For instance, I'd really love to see you analyze some Death songs!

[@RobotDCLXVI]

The first and only album I learned every lyric to. I don't think there is a more representative album for our generation.

[@cholten99]

Another excellent analysis but, again, it's the graphic touches I love most. The Einstein Tile for "interesting pattern" was mind blowing but the Prisoner penny farthing for "resigned" was just *chef's kiss*.

[@Teirusu155]

Brad DELSON's part is guitar. David Michael "Phoenix" Farrell is the bassist.

[@Skradgee]

Wow, I never really noticed all the little inflections and subtleties of tone in both the tapping and the singing!

[@bentoth9555]

"Kids who wanted the world to get better when it just kept getting worse." Yeah, that describes me in my LP phase back then. Along with the phrase "angry white boy."

[@dommguard]

Hybrid theory was my gateway to metal when I was 14-15 and gotta say, I teared up a little...

[@noterix1164]

Linkin Park has to be my favorite band. it was the first band I ever really got into-- at about nine years old. I grew up listening to them. their music helped me through so so much as a kid and teen and still does now as an adult. I will always always be grateful for every song they put out. I am absolutely THRILLED to see you go over this song on your channel. love your videos, love this song, two of my favorite things combined :)

[@gabeisawesome879]

Interesting note from someone who's probably heard this song 40,000 times. The harmonics on the guitar in the high range are foreshadowing for the notes sang in the second half of the bridge. Specifically, the "one thing you SHOULD KNOW" (with those last two syllables being the main callback)

[@WageSlavery]

Fxck I knew there was something special about it. Really holds a sense of closure, doesn't it

[@WageSlavery]

I think what's so amazing to me is how effortlessly they throw around the theory. Doesn't matter which instrument, what dynamics, that main melody never stops. Between the vocals and the bass and the harmonics and the vocals....a well-oiled machine

[@kartavianmacrath7219]

Love the breakdowns! Every time I watch one of your videos, I find myself opening Musescore to work on my video game music and almost scrapping everything because I got inspired by the excellence of the artists you cover. You way of breaking the songs down brings a new respect and love for songs that I already loved but did not understand why. Plus, Cb and B are the same :P

[@AGenericMoron]

WAIT. I just noticed something that seems like something I should have noticed a looong time ago. When 12-tone writes "valuable thing" and "pendulum swings" at 11:58 or so, he writes right-to-left. As in, writing the characters from last to first. And now I've seen it I can't unsee it, even when writing the individual syllables of the rhyme scheme.

[@AlexiDragomir]

"Changes shape with each phrase" -> Draws an ANDALITE. I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE. BASED.