In the End

"In the End"
Single by Linkin Park
from the album Hybrid Theory
B-side	"Step Up" "In the End"(Live BBC Radio One) "Points of Authority"(Live at Docklands Arena, London) "A Place for My Head"(Live at Docklands Arena, London)
Released	October 9, 2001
Format	CD DVD
Recorded	New Orleans, Louisiana in 2000
Genre	Nu metal rap rock alternative rock
Length	3:36
Label	Warner Bros.
Writer(s)	Linkin Park
Producer(s)	Don Gilmore
Certification	Gold (RIAA)
Linkin Park singles chronology
"Papercut" (2001) "In the End" (2001) "Pts.OF.Athrty" (2002)
Hybrid Theory track listing 12 tracks "Papercut" "One Step Closer" "With You" "Points of Authority" "Crawling" "Runaway" "By Myself" "In the End" "A Place for My Head" "Forgotten" "Cure For The Itch" "Pushing Me Away" Audio sample file info · help Hybrid Theory track listing "By Myself" (Track 7) "In the End" (Track 8) "A Place for My Head" (Track 9) Music video "In The End" on YouTube

"In the End" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park, from their debut album Hybrid Theory (2000). The song was released on October 9, 2001 as the album's fourth and final single. "In the End" is one of Linkin Park's most recognizable and signature songs. It is the second most played song in all of the band's live performances, after "One Step Closer".^[1]

"In the End" received positive reviews by music critics, with most reviewers complimenting the song's signature piano riff, as well as noting rapper Mike Shinoda's vocal prominence in the song. "In the End" also achieved mainstream popularity, and was a commercial success upon release. The song reached the top ten of numerous worldwide music charts and reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, the band's highest peak on the chart, as well as their first song that peaked within the Top 40. It also reached number one on the Z100 Top 100 songs of 2002 countdown. This song also ranked at #121 in Blender magazine's The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born.^[2] The song is Billboard's second most played rock song of the decade. It was also remixed on Reanimation as "Enth E ND". The music video of the song, directed by Nathan Cox and the band's turntablist Joe Hahn, featured the band in a fantasy setting.

Chester Bennington, the band's lead vocalist, initially disliked this song and didn't want it to be included on Hybrid Theory.^[3]

Critical reception

"In the End" received positive reviews by contemporary rock music critics. VH1 ranked it number 84 on its list of the 100 Greatest Songs of the '00s.^[4] The song was also ranked number 2 by Loudwire on its list of "Top 21st century Hard Rock songs".^[5] At Stylus magazine, it was highlighted as a "nu-metal classic".^[6] At Kerrang!, it was included as part of "The Ultimate Nu Metal Mixtape".^[7] NME, however, was more critical of the song, calling it "...another slab of gormless MTV rap-rock from the bottom of the food chain."^[8]

Music video

The music video for "In the End" was shot at various stops along the 2001 Ozzfest tour and was directed by Nathan "Karma" Cox and the band's DJ Joe Hahn, who would go on to direct many of Linkin Park's future videos (the two also directed the music video for "Papercut").^[9][10] Although the background for the "In the End" video was filmed in a California desert, the band itself performed on a studio stage in Los Angeles, with prominent CGI effects and compositing being used to create the finished version. Performing on a studio stage allowed Hahn and Cox to set off water pipes above the stage near the end and drench the band.^[10]

The music video takes place in a fantasy setting and uses massive CGI animation. The band performs atop a giant statue, which has a 'winged soldier' on top of it, which is similar-looking to the 'winged soldier' on the cover artwork of Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory album.

The portions where Mike Shinoda raps first take place in a wasteland with thorny vines sprouting out of the ground, surrounding him and shattering into dust, (first verse) and then grass and plants sprouting up around him (second verse). During the time Mike raps his verses, Chester stands atop a platform with gargoyles on the edges. This platform is in front of a door in the shape of a trapezoid. Near the end of the video, the skies turn dark and it begins to rain, and the band performs in the downpour until the end of the song, where the rain stops and the camera pans away from the tower, showing the wasteland where Shinoda had rapped in is now a lush Greenland. During the rain the statues on the tower begin to move.

The video was co-directed by Nathan "Karma" Cox and LP's turntablist Joe Hahn (who have also directed the videos for "Pts.Of.Athrty", "Papercut", "What I've Done", "Bleed It Out", "Shadow of the Day", and "Leave Out All the Rest").^[9] The production design was by Patrick Tatopoulos who helped design and oversee the production of the non-CGI set. It won the "Best Rock Video" at the 2002 MTV Awards.^[11]

A strange-looking whale can be seen flying around the large statue during most of the video, specifically at the end of the video. The whale in the video was Joe Hahn's idea. He has been quoted as saying, "It's not like I pulled it out of my ass; it made sense to me." The reasoning behind its inclusion is still unknown. The whale could be identified as a "space whale" which takes the concept that life (or time) is too short for one to absorb all its mass surroundings. The whale also makes a brief appearance in the music video for "Shadow of the Day".

Although there is a keyboard loop in this song, the video does not show Mike, who is a pianist in the group, or anyone else playing a keyboard in any scene of the video. However, Joe Hahn is shown using a MIDI pad to emulate the piano loop at the end.

Due to the numerous re-uploads by different users, the video has over 200,000,000 views overall in YouTube. The video was uploaded twice by Linkin Park's YouTube channel. The video was first uploaded on March 4, 2007 in 240p format. The video was later reuploaded on October 26, 2009 in 360p format. It was reuploaded on the same day that the Warner Bros. Records YouTube Channel uploaded the same video in 480p format. It was also used for Peyton Sawyer on One Tree Hill.^[12][13][14]

Release

The single CD was released as a "Part 1" single and a "Part 2" single. They differed in tracks and cover color: the "Part 1" cover is yellow and the "Part 2" cover is red. The "Part 1" cover is shown on the right. A DVD version of "In the End" was also released which includes an audio version of "In the End", "Crawling" music video and four 30 seconds interviews.

On March 27, 2002 the single was released in Japan as a 7-track CD called In the End: Live & Rare. It contains live tracks of "Papercut", "Points of Authority" and "A Place for My Head", "Step Up" (originally by the early Linkin Park precursor Hybrid Theory that appeared on Hybrid Theory EP), "My December" and "High Voltage".

"In the End" was released as downloadable content for the music video game Rock Band 3.

Chart performance

"In the End" is Linkin Park's highest charting single in the US, debuting at #78 and peaking at number 2 on the Hot 100 in March 2002 and being kept off the top spot by "Ain't It Funny" by Jennifer Lopez and Ja Rule. It left the Hot 100 after 38 weeks. It reached number 1 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart for five weeks, starting in December 2001, becoming their first hit on this chart. It has spent 44 weeks there, becoming their longest running on that chart and it also hit number three on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart spending 29 weeks on the chart, their 2nd longest after One Step Closer at 39 weeks. It also reached number one on the Pop Songs chart for five weeks also and it stayed on the chart for 27 weeks. "In the End" was the 7th best performing single on the Billboard Hot 100 during 2002, and was the 2nd best performing rock song and alternative song of the decade on the Alternative Songs chart and the Rock Songs chart only behind Trapt's "Headstrong" and Nickelback's "How You Remind Me" respectively. As of June 2014, the song has sold 2,555,000 copies in the US.^[15]

"In the End" reached the top five on the Canadian BDS Airplay chart and remained in the top five for another month. "In the End" debuted higher on the Canadian Singles Chart than it did in the U.S. and topped the chart three weeks later for two weeks, from October 13, 2005. It peaked higher in Canada than "Papercut".

The song was released in Australia, Europe and New Zealand on December 22, 2001. "One Step Closer", "Papercut" and "Crawling" reached the UK top twenty, while "In the End" reached the top ten. "In the End" continued the trend of higher-charting singles when it debuted and peaked at number eight.

"In the End" debuted at number forty four on December 2, 2001 on the Australian Charts. It steadily rose to peak at number four on February 10, 2002. It is currently the 2nd most successful song for the band in Australia, tied with "One Step Closer" and behind "New Divide".

"In the End" reached the top thirty in Switzerland and the top twenty in the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Belgium and New Zealand. It is also their first single to chart in France, peaking at only #40 and remaining in the chart for 17 weeks.

Remix

A remix of "In the End", entitled "Enth E ND", is included on their remix album Reanimation. The song features hip hop artists Motion Man and KutMasta Kurt. The song was released as a promotional single with "FRGT/10".

The music video was directed by Jason Goldwatch. It starts off in black and white with someone picking up headphones, interrupted by an image - Mike Shinoda in a car, a flashing image with the letters "LP" written on it, and a TV screen. KutMasta Kurt is shown DJing, then Motion Man is seen in a car, rapping. The camera goes to Mike Shinoda and the video is now in color. The video zooms out to a small screen, then the video becomes black and white again. Mike Shinoda is seen driving a car with KurtMasta Kurt and Motion Man. The video shows the screen again and Mike is seen in color, then becomes black and white again. Mike Shinoda and Motion Man are seen bouncing their heads on screen, then seen driving again. Images flash and Motion Man is seen rapping once again. Random clips are played and Mike Shinoda is once again seen driving, holding an unknown object.

Cover versions

In 2012, "In the End" has been performed by KZ Tandingan in top 10 performance of the first season of The X Factor Philippines.^[16]

Accolades

In 2015, the song was named as the best rock song in Kerrang!'s rock 100 list followed by the band's 2014 single Final Masquerade.^[17]

Track listing

Charts and certifications

Personnel

Linkin Park

• Chester Bennington – vocals
• Rob Bourdon – drums
• Brad Delson – guitar, bass
• Mr. Hahn – Sample keyboard, turntables
• Mike Shinoda – rapping

Production

• Produced by Don Gilmore
• Executive producer: Jeff Blue
• Mixed at Soundtrack, NYC

References

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics