Released September 28, 2000 Recorded 2000 Genre Nu metal | Format CD
7" Studio NRG Studios | |
B-side "My December"
"High Voltage" | ||
"One Step Closer" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released as the first single and second track of their debut album, Hybrid Theory. The song was featured in the 2008 music video games Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades, and the soundtrack to the 2000 film Dracula 2000 in the end credits.
Contents
A supposed demo version of "One Step Closer," known as "Plaster," found its way to the internet in 2008. A remixed version of the song entitled "1Stp Klosr" was featured on Linkin Park's remix album, Reanimation.
Live performances
Until 2007, Linkin Park has closed every concert to date with "One Step Closer", excluding Live 8, and their live performances at Summer Sonic. In 2007, Linkin Park played "One Step Closer" toward the beginning of their live performances and sometimes at the end. The song is always played in Drop C#. In 2008, they ended some of their shows with either "One Step Closer" or "Bleed It Out". In 2009, every show they played was ended with "One Step Closer", excluding the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen premiere.
During the 2001 MTV VMA performance of the song, the band had The X-Ecutioners do an extended break before the bridge. This part was somewhat similar to the atmosphere on the remix, with synth parts and faint vocal parts being scratched.
From 2003 to 2006, performances of the song include a verse originally sung by Korn frontman Jonathan Davis in the Reanimation remix of the song before the "Shut up when I'm talking to you!" bridge, which can be heard on LP Underground 4.0. At the end of the verse, Bennington then repeats the line "Blood is pouring" while the song builds up to the bridge. During their Projekt Revolution tour in 2004, the band actually got Jonathan Davis himself to sing his part on the song before Chester starts screaming his part.
On occasion, Shinoda sings "Blood is pouring" under Bennington's screaming during this part, as is done by Jonathan Davis on the remix. This is half-done on the performance at 2004's Rock am Ring (in that Mike Shinoda only sings the part during the second half of the bridge) and fully done during a performance during 2003's Projekt Revolution tour, which was completely recorded and included as a B-side on the "Faint" single and is available as a bonus track for Reanimation when purchased on iTunes. On the single cover, it is called "One Step Closer" (Reanimated Live)". It can also be heard on the Live from Nottingham Rock City 2003 Live from Nottingham record. During the 2006 live performances in Japan, the Reanimation bridge was played with the main riff of the song.
During the band's 2007 tour, "One Step Closer" became the opening song of Linkin Park's performances, and the Reanimation verse was removed. It also featured a new, extended intro featuring Shinoda on rhythm guitar. In 2008, it had a new extended outro, and sometimes it was performed as the last song.
For the 2010 A Thousand Suns World Tour, the song was used as the final song of the main Europe/North America set, with an extended outro featuring a guitar solo by Shinoda while Brad Delson plays an extended rhythm section during the solo. In the main Australia set list, as well as many random sets, the song was the final song of the concerts.
It remains the most played song in the band's history.
Music video
Joe Hahn of Linkin Park came up with the concept for the video. The original version of the video was supposedly meant to be live footage of the band with fans (similar to their music video for "Faint").
The actual video was directed by Gregory Dark and shot in Los Angeles, sixty-three feet underground in an abandoned LA Subway tunnel, that is adjacent to an abandoned V.A. hospital. The video starts out with a group of teenage friends hanging out around a dark alley. Two of them (the male is played by local LA artist Tony Acosta who goes by the moniker "TonyMech") follow a strange man wearing a black hooded robe into a door which leads them to a dark, misty room where the band is playing. Monk-like men are performing martial arts moves throughout the video. Midway through the song, they knock over a crate, drawing the attention of the monk-like men, causing them to flee the tunnel. Eventually the strange man appears at the end of the video. While Bennington screams the songs bridge, he is also upside-down as if gravity is inverted for him.
Stand-in bassist Scott Koziol can be seen in several shots in the video.
"One Step Closer" is the only Linkin Park music video to be filmed with SD cameras, which can be seen in 480p and is available in the US exclusively on the Warner Bros. Records YouTube channel.