Linkin Park Share Early Demo Version Of In The End

Linkin Park have unveiled the early demo version of their iconic Hybrid Theory single In The End – and it's an absolutely fascinating listen.

Ahead of the release of their new Hybrid Theory 20th anniversary box set this month, the band are giving fans a taste of what to expect from this huge new retrospective, shining the spotlight on In The End first.

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What's most immediately evident in terms of how this demo differs from the finished thing are Mike Shinoda's verses; instead of the lines we all know and belt along – 'One thing, I don't know why / It doesn't even matter how hard you try…' – he instead begins rapping: 'One, then multiplies ’til you can taste the sun / And burned by the sky you try to take it from / But if it falls, there's no place to run…' (You get the idea – just listen to it all below.)

In an interview with Linkin Park Web, Mike previously explained of how In The End was written: “…I came up with the piano and the chorus music and chorus lyrics. Then Brad [Delson, guitar] came up with the guitar in the verse and we worked on the bassline and composition. From there, I think everybody in the band began chipping in and adding their parts and critiquing each other’s parts. And right before we went into the studio to record it, we scrapped the beat I had originally written for the verse, and had Rob [Bourdon, drums] do a new one, which is the one that we recorded.”

Linkin Park are releasing their new Hybrid Theory 20th anniversary box set this month – get yours now at linkinpark.com/hybridtheory20, and listen to In The End (Demo) below:

Read the lyrics in full below:

It starts with one…

One, then multiplies ’til you can taste the sun
And burned by the sky you try to take it from
But if it falls, there's no place to run
Crumbling down, it's so unreal
They're dealing you in to determine your end
And sending you back again, to places you've been
And bending your will ’til it breaks you, within
And still, they fill their eyes
With the twilight through the skylight
And the highlights on a frame of steel
See the brightness of your likeness
As I write this on a pad with the way I feel
Hear the screaming in my dreaming
As it's seeming that you've played your part
Like you're heartless, take apart this
In the darkness, but I know that I've tried so hard

I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end, it doesn't even matter

I've looked down the line
And what's there is not what ought to be
Held back by the battles they fought for me
Calling me to be part of their property
And now, I see that I get no chance
I get no break
Fakes and snakes quickly lead to mistakes
And as the tightrope within slowly starts to thin
I can only hope that they close their eyes
To the twilight through the skylight
And the highlights on a frame of steel
See the brightness of your likeness
As I write this on a pad to the way I feel
Hear the screaming in my dreaming
As it's seeming that you've played your part
Like you're heartless, take apart this
In the darkness, but I know that I tried so hard

I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end, it doesn't even matter

I've put my trust in you, pushed as far as I can go
For all this, there's only one thing you should know
I've put my trust in you, pushed as far as I can go
For all this, there's only one thing you should know
I've put my trust in you, pushed as far as I can go
For all this, there's only one thing you should know

I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end, it doesn't even matter

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