Shadow of the Day

"Shadow of the Day"
Song

"Shadow of the Day" is the third single from Linkin Park's third studio album, Minutes to Midnight. It was released on October 16, 2007.

It was first played live during the Projekt Revolution tour in Auburn, Washington on July 25, 2007.

Song structure and background information

The band experimented with several different versions of the keyboard loop, before deciding on the one used in the final version. Chester explained that they used over 60 different beats for this song until they found the suitable one. They also used different types of instruments like banjos at first, just experimenting on different styles until they came up with something that could fit the track

Like some of their other songs such as "Breaking the Habit" and "Faint", this song uses samples of live string ensemble recordings. The samples come in before the second verse starts. Distorted guitar elements are only played after the second chorus. The lead is an 8-bar phrase which is later raised an octave. The song is written in the key of B Major, the first major key the band has ever used. The end of the album version of the song, which is an instrumental piece, crossfades into the start of "What I've Done". It is the second-longest track on the album and features no vocals from Mike Shinoda.

During the Projekt Revolution tour, Chester was playing the guitar while also singing the lyrics. These occasions are very rare for the band, since Brad Delson is the lead guitarist, and Mike usually plays the second guitar part. However, this is not the first song on which Bennington plays guitar, since "It's Goin' Down" was also performed with Bennington playing the guitar during Linkin Park and Fort Minor live performances.

Many fans and critics have noted the similarities between the song's tempo and beat, and U2's "With or Without You".

When asked about the track, Mike Shinoda called it one of the most important tracks on the record, saying the following: "...There's always songs that stand out, and you kind of know those songs especially. You know they're going to make the record. And this song "Shadow of the Day" was one of them."

Music video

File:Shadow of the day screenshot.png

Chester Bennington in the music video.

The music video was directed by Joe Hahn. It takes place during a large scale civil unrest in what appears to be the United States. The video was shot in Los Angeles.

The music video was released to the internet on October 15. The video shows Chester Bennington waking up. His alarm clock reads 11:55, the current Doomsday Clock time, referencing the album title Minutes to Midnight and the song which is the 5th song on the album. The video is over four minutes long, meaning that the time at the end would be 11:59 PM, or one minute to midnight. Chester then watches the news, washes up, gets dressed, and goes outside. We then see that the video takes place in a war-torn world, where mass chaos is ensuing on the streets of the city. There is a lot of violence going on with many police and gunshots. Plumes of smoke can be seen in the sky. Soldiers and riot police can be seen forcefully detaining civilians. Near the end of the video, a car is set on fire and bursts into flames as several people taking place in the riot throw molotov cocktails at police resulting in the Police Riot Control and SWAT teams opening fire and advancing while the mob of people retreat. Chester then stands in front of the burning car, while looking hopelessly at the carnage that surrounds him. He then turns towards the flames, and the video fades to black. If listened to carefully towards the middle of the video, the mob is shouting 'we want freedom', telling us the reason why people are fighting.

This is the only video so far with only Chester appearing, as Brad, Rob, Mike, Joe and Phoenix are absent in it. The video isn't completely dubbed by the song, meaning sound effects taking place in the video can be heard. It is also interesting to note when the music video was released on the Internet, during the scene where a person sets a car on fire, the sound effects of the glass bottle he threw shattering on the car and igniting on fire is out of sync with the video. However, this problem was fixed on the band's official YouTube page.

The video has similarities to "From the Inside"; another riot-based video by the band. There is also a painting of a whale in the video; this is a reference to the "In the End" music video.

There are also three different edits of the video, presumably due to censorship:

• A director's cut which is availabe at Joe Hahn's section of the Linkin Park website. In this version, near the ending, blue prints and monitors of the destruction are found in Chester's home. It seems to allude that he is the mastermind behind all of the riots and mayhem.

• An alternate ending to the video, which shows Chester begin to walk away from the flames. The police open fire, and the video ends with a shot of Chester's bag falling to the ground. What actually happens to Chester is not revealed, but it can be assumed that either he was shot and killed or he threw his bag away and joined the riot. The alternate ending is only shown on MTV Europe music channels.

• MTV Overdrive contains a version which scenes with gunfire and bottle smashing are cut and replaced with different riot scences.

Track listings

CD 1

1. "Shadow of the Day" - 4:16
2. "Bleed It Out" (Live From Projekt Revolution, Holmdel NJ, Aug. 29 '07) - 6:07

CD 2

1. "Shadow of the Day"
2. "Bleed It Out" (Live From Projekt Revolution, Holmdel NJ, Aug. 29 '07)
3. "No More Sorrow" (Third Encore Session) - 3:45

7" Picture disc format

1. "Shadow of the Day"
2. "No More Sorrow" (Third Encore Session)

DVD
A promotional DVD was also released containing the music video.

Chart performance

The song charted before its release on the Polish Singles Chart, and the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart. It debuted on the U.S. Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart at #18, which is equivalent to #118. Two weeks later it debuted on the Hot 100 at #89, and has so far reached #15, becoming the band's second top twenty hit on the chart from Minutes to Midnight. It has also so far reached #2 on the Modern Rock Chart (held off the top spot by Foo Fighters hit "Long Road to Ruin"), and #6 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. The week "Shadow of the Day" jumped to the top twenty of the Modern Rock Chart, it made Linkin Park one of only three acts to simultaneously have three songs in the top twenty of the chart, since "Bleed It Out" was at #2, and "What I've Done" was at #13. U2 and R.E.M. are the other two bands to accomplish this feat. U2 did so in 1988 and 1992 and R.E.M. did so in 1988. On the Pop 100, the song has become one of Linkin Park's only top ten hits along with "What I've Done" and "In The End", where it has peaked at #9. "Shadow of the Day" has also become a success on the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart, where it has reached the top ten at #6, becoming the first Linkin Park song to do so on that chart.

"Shadow of the Day" has also been highly successful in many other parts of the world. It has reached the top twenty in over 15 countries, including in Australia (at #15), Canada (at #12), France (at #20), Germany (at #12), New Zealand (at #13), Portugal (at #18), Sweden (at #20), and Switzerland (at #11) among others. In Israel, the song debuted at #24, then one week later the song surprisingly jumped to #4 and later climbed to #3. The song has reached #1 in Singapore. It has also achieved top ten success in Latvia and Poland at #5, as well as in Austria and Taiwan at #6. However the song has fared poorly in the UK, where it has so far peaked at #46, the band's lowest charting single to date there. It is the band's second top ten single from Minutes to Midnight on the United World Chart.

Chart 2008	Peak position
Australia ARIA Singles Chart	15
Austria Singles Top 75	6
Billboard Hot 100	15
Billboard Pop 100	9
Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks	2
Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	6
Billboard Adult Top 40	6
Billboard Hot Digital Songs	16
Brazilian Hot 100	31
Canadian Hot 100	12
Czech Republic	14
Ecuador Airplay Chart	1
French Singles Chart	20
German Singles Chart	12
Israeli Singles Chart	3
Latvia Singles Chart Top 40	5
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	13
Polish Singles Top 50	5
Portugal Singles Top 50	18
Singapore Top 20 Chart	1
Swedish Singles Chart	20
Swiss Singles Chart	11
UK Singles Chart	46
United World Chart	7

External links

• Shadow of the Day lyrics