Waiting For The End

From Linkinpedia
Revision as of 01:19, 5 February 2017 by Lpliveusername (talk | contribs)

Template:Infobox single "Waiting For The End" is the eight track on A Thousand Suns and the second single from the album. It features a heavy use of electronic elements, primarily revolving around the synths that make up most of the instrumental. The song builds slowly with a reggae-influenced drum beat, ultimately climaxing with a guitar solo featuring heavy use of an octaver and a pitch splitter. The song charted relatively high on the charts, even hitting the number one spot on the US Billboard Alternative Chart, and number two on the US Billboard Rock Chart.

Background

Chester said that "Waiting For The End" and "Iridescent" were tied as his favorite song on the album, stating that he felt the two were very beautiful, and that he particular loved the summertime vibe in "Waiting For The End" and the lyrical content.[1] Discussing the song, Mike said that "Waiting For The End" was a very interesting song for people to hear on the record, as "people who are fans of our band haven’t heard a song that mixes these kinds of emotions and these kinds of lyrics. One minute it’s blazing loud, and the next minute it’s super dark and quiet and even a weird mix of hopeful and fearful. And to me, it’s a very three-dimensional song, and I think it became that kind of a song because of the insane writing experience on it." The track originally started as drums and rap and was pretty boring to him, but he thought it had potential. As he and Chester thought of the possible vocal lines for the song, the line "Waiting for the end to come" stood out to him and that line ended up helping them finish the rest of the track.[2]

In 2015, after Mike revived Fort Minor with "Welcome", he stated that "Waiting For The End" is one of the songs in Linkin Park's discography since the coming of the project that had elements of Fort Minor in them.[3]

Remix

Multiple remixes of the song were done. The Glitch Mob's remix of the song appeared on the song's single. An EP of different versions of the "Waiting For The End" remix by DJ Lynnwood & Dave Dresden was released, which included the extended, edited, and instrumental versions of the remix. KickDrums also did a remix of the song, which was uploaded to their official Soundcloud page.

Tracklist

CD Single

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1 Waiting For The End Linkin Park 3:51
2 Waiting For The End (Glitch Mob Remix) Linkin Park 4:54

Digital Single

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1 Waiting For The End Linkin Park 3:51
2 The Catalyst ("Guitarmagedon" DIOYY? Remix) Linkin Park 3:06

Music Video

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Studio

Title Album Length Recorded Released Notes
Waiting For The End A Thousand Suns

Waiting For The End

Schutzengel

3:51 November 2008-August 2010 September 8, 2010
Waiting For The End (Non Rap Version) Waiting For The End (Non Rap Version) 3:17 2010 2010
  • Radio edit.
  • Shorter intro.
  • Mike's first verse is missing.
Waiting For The End (Extended Version) 4:58 2010 2010
  • Extended intro.
  • Additional beats throughout the song.
  • Extended outro.
  • Music video found on a "Promo Only" DVD.

Remix

Title Album Length Recorded Released Notes
Waiting For The End (The Glitch Mob Remix) Waiting For The End 4:53 2010 October 1, 2010
  • Remix by The Glitch Mob.
Waiting For The End (DJ Lynnwood & Dave Dresden Remix) (Extended) Waiting For The End (DJ Lynnwood & Dave Dresden Remixes) 6:30 2010 June 8, 2011
Waiting For The End (DJ Lynnwood & Dave Dresden Remix) (Dubstrumental) Waiting For The End (DJ Lynnwood & Dave Dresden Remixes) 6:30 2010 June 8, 2011
Waiting For The End (DJ Lynnwood & Dave Dresden Remix) (Edit) Waiting For The End (DJ Lynnwood & Dave Dresden Remixes) 3:56 2010 June 8, 2011
Waiting For The End (DJ Lynnwood & Dave Dresden Remix) (DJ Friendly Edit) Waiting For The End (DJ Lynnwood & Dave Dresden Remixes) 5:13 2010 June 8, 2011
Waiting For The End (KickDrums Remix) 3:10 2010 April 30, 2012

Live

Title Album Length Recorded Released Notes
Waiting For The End (Live In Madrid) A Thousand Suns: Puerta De Alcalá 4:04 November 07, 2010 January 25, 2011
Waiting For The End Live In Madrid 3:52 November 07, 2010 April 1, 2011
Waiting For The End (Live) iTunes Festival: London 2011 - EP 4:10 July 04, 2011 July 8, 2011
Waiting For The End Live In Red Square 4:05 June 23, 2011 July 21, 2011
  • Released as a prize for the "Iridescent" "Super-Fun Trading Fun-Cards" game. After all six cards were collected, the person could enter the codes of each card at linkinpark.com to get a free download of the full show.
Waiting For The End (Live From Berlin, 2010) A Thousand Suns - Live Around The World 3:56 October 20, 2010 June 12, 2012
Waiting For The End Live At Admiralspalast Berlin, Germany June 05, 2012 March 29, 2013

Live

"Waiting For The End" was debuted at the KROQ Kevin and Bean Breakfast Show, before the A Thousand Suns tour officially started. Once the tour officially started in New York City, "Waiting For The End" was always played after "Jornada Del Muerto" at ever full show for the rest of the cycle, with the only exception being the band's show in Madrid, 2010, where it was played after "When They Come For Me". The song was frequently played for radio and TV performances, including Saturday Night Live, and even the A Thousand Horizons event, though the song wasn't technically performed by the band at this show. Instead, both the studio version and the Glitch Mob Remix were played over the speakers. "Waiting For The End" was the only A Thousand Suns song to be played at every show of the cycle.

"Waiting For The End" was one of the few songs to survive past the A Thousand Suns cycle. Starting with the Living Things cycle, "Waiting For The End" was given a new intro with Mike rapping the third verse of "Until It Breaks" over a modified version of the verse beat, and a new outro dubbed the "Wall of Noise Outro", which featured Chester singing the final refrain over a steadily building instrumental. This version of "Waiting For The End" was played at every show throughout 2012 and 2013 except for the KROQ Dressing Room rehearsal, where the outro wasn't played, and the Rio+ Social, where the studio version was played for the only time during the Living Things cycle. Both sets of the 2012 European tour had "Waiting For The End" after "Points Of Authority". The song opened the Sirius XM's Town Hall performance. Once the band kicked off the Honda Civic Tour, three new sets debuted, two of which stuck around until the end of 2013. Both Sets A and B initially had "Waiting For The End" after "Points Of Authority", and later "Lies Greed Misery". Set C had "Waiting For The End" after "When They Come For Me". A shortened version of "Waiting For The End" was performed for the first, and only, time at the iHeart Radio show, dropping the first chorus and second verse. The one-off setlist for KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas 2012 had "Waiting For The End" after "Lies Greed Misery". The sets for 2013 featured mostly the same setlists as 2012, and "Waiting For The End" didn't move positions.

2014 featured "Waiting For The End" in the same form as the Living Things tour. The three shows in January all featured "Waiting For The End", the first and last having the song after "New Divide", and the headlining set having it after "When They Come For Me". The new, experimental start to The Hunting Party touring cycle had "Waiting For The End" in a new position, after "Burn It Down". It was played in this position every time the song was played until Set B debuted during the Carnivores Tour, where the song was after "Numb". The mostly cancelled 2015 North American Tour featured almost identical sets to the ones at the end of 2014, and the position of the song didn't change. However, starting with the summer shows in 2015, "Waiting For The End" was played in new positions. The festival sets had the song after "Faint", and the headlining setlist featured the song in the encore for the first time, after "Crawling". Starting with the 2015 Chinese tour, "Waiting For The End" opened the encore for the first time, since "Crawling" was dropped, which is the first time the song opened the encore. It opened the encore for every show of both the 2015 Chinese tour and the 2015 European tour except for the final show in Roma, Italy, where the song was played after "A Place For My Head" due to it being played by fan request. The song was originally on the setlist for the band's show at BlizzCon, but was dropped last minutes due to time constraints, making the band's show at Monster Mash the last time the song was performed on the touring cycle.

After Mike brought Fort Minor back after nearly nine years of inactivity, he played a one man show in Los Angeles. At this show, "Waiting For The End" was performed as a mashup with "Hands Held High". The first verse of "Waiting For The End" was performed normally before Mike started rapping the first verse and sung the chorus of "Hands Held High" over a modified version of the intro synth. After that, he rapped the second verse of "Hands Held High" over a modified form of the verse beat, rapping the line "When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die" five times to close the song instead of finishing the verse.

Variations

Linkin Park

Last Updated: December 25, 2015

Type Description First Played Last Played
Intro Apaches Intro w/ "Until It Breaks" Verse 3 May 4, 2012 November 1, 2015
Outro Wall Of Noise Outro May 4, 2012 November 1, 2015
Outro Short Wall Of Noise Outro December 13, 2014 December 13, 2014
Alternative Shortened (No First Verse or Second Chorus) September 22, 2012 September 22, 2012

Fort Minor

Last Updated: December 25, 2015

Type Description First Played Last Played
Mashup Waiting For The End/Hands Held High June 29, 2015 September 8, 2015

Live Guests

Last Updated: December 26, 2015

  • Benjamin Chandler (replacing Brad Delson)
  • Warren Willis (replacing Joe Hahn)

Promotion

Awards and Nominations

Year Award Category Status
2011 Billboard Music Awards Top Alternative Song Nominated
2011 MTV Video Music Awards Best Special Effects Nominated
2011 Teen Choice Awards Choice Rock Track Nominated

Personnel

Lyrics

Template:Collapse top

Yeah
Yo
 
This is not the end, this is not the beginning
Just a voice like a riot rocking every revision
But you listen through the tone and the violent rhythm and
Though the words sound steady, something empty's within 'em
We say yeah / with fists flying up in the air
Like we're holding onto something that's invisible there
'Cause we're living at the mercy of the pain and fear
Until we dead it / forget it / let it all disappear
Yeah
 
Waiting for the end to come / wishing I had strength to stand
This was not what I had planned
It's out of my control
Flying at the speed of light / thoughts were spinning in my head
So many things were left unsaid
It's hard to let you go
 
I know what it takes to move on (Oh, woah, oh)
I know how it feels to lie (Oh, woah, oh)
All I want to do is trade this life for something new (Oh, oh)
Holding on to what I haven't got (Oh)
 
Sitting in an empty room / Trying to forget the past
This was never meant to last
I wish it wasn't so
 
I know what it takes to move on (Oh, woah, oh)
I know how it feels to lie (Oh, woah, oh)
All I want to do is trade this life for something new (Oh, oh)
Holding on to what I haven't got (Oh)
 
Yeah, yeah
What was left when that fire was gone
I thought it felt right but that right was wrong
All caught up in the eye of the storm
And trying to figure out what it's like moving on
And I don't even know what kind of things I said
My mouth kept moving and my mind went dead so I'm
Picking up the pieces now where to begin
The hardest part of ending is starting again
 
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, woah
All I want to do is trade this life for something new
Holding on to what I haven't got (Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, woah)
 
This is not the end, this is not the beginning
Just a voice like a riot rocking every revision
(I'm holding on to what I haven't got)
But you listen through the tone and the violent rhythm and
Though the words sound steady, something empty's within 'em
We say yeah / with fists flying up in the air
Like we're holding onto something that's invisible there
(Holding on to what I haven't got)
Cause we're living at the mercy of the pain and fear
Until we dead it / forget it / let it all disappear

Template:Collapse bottom Template:Collapse top

Waiting for the end to come / wishing I had strength to stand
This was not what I had planned
It's out of my control
Flying at the speed of light / thoughts were spinning in my head
So many things were left unsaid
It's hard to let you go
 
I know what it takes to move on (Oh, woah, oh)
I know how it feels to lie (Oh, woah, oh)
All I want to do is trade this life for something new (Oh, oh)
Holding on to what I haven't got (Oh)
 
Sitting in an empty room / Trying to forget the past
This was never meant to last
I wish it wasn't so
 
I know what it takes to move on (Oh, woah, oh)
I know how it feels to lie (Oh, woah, oh)
All I want to do is trade this life for something new (Oh, oh)
Holding on to what I haven't got (Oh)
 
Yeah, yeah
What was left when that fire was gone
I thought it felt right but that right was wrong
All caught up in the eye of the storm
And trying to figure out what it's like moving on
And I don't even know what kind of things I said
My mouth kept moving and my mind went dead so I'm
Picking up the pieces now where to begin
The hardest part of ending is starting again
 
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, woah
All I want to do is trade this life for something new
Holding on to what I haven't got (Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, woah)
 
This is not the end, this is not the beginning
Just a voice like a riot rocking every revision
(I'm holding on to what I haven't got)
But you listen through the tone and the violent rhythm and
Though the words sound steady, something empty's within 'em
We say yeah / with fists flying up in the air
Like we're holding onto something that's invisible there
(Holding on to what I haven't got)
Cause we're living at the mercy of the pain and fear
Until we dead it / forget it / let it all disappear

Template:Collapse bottom

Gallery

In Other Media

  • "Waiting For The End" is featured in the 4th episode of Season 11 of the TV series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, titled "Sqweegel".
  • "Waiting For The End" was released in 2010 as part of a DLC for the 2010 videogame Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock.
  • "Waiting For The End" was released in 2011 as part of a DLC for the 2010 videogame Rock Band 3.
  • "Waiting For The End" is featured in the 2012 film Schutzengel and was included in its soundtrack album.

External Links

  • Waiting For The End (Music Video): LPTV | WMG | MTV | VK
  • Waiting For The End (Lyric Video): LPTV
  • Waiting For The End (Pop Up Video): MTV
  • Waiting For The End (A Thousand Suns Tour 2011) - LPTV
  • Waiting For The End (Rio+Social 2012) - The Live Room
  • Waiting For The End (Telekom Street Gigs 2012) - WMT

References

  1. MTVSeptember 17, 2010
  2. NoiseCreepSeptember 20, 2010
  3. Billboard InterviewJune 25, 2016