Hit The Floor

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Background

In March 2003, Mike Shinoda did a track-by-track of Meteora for ShoutWeb. About "Hit The Floor", he said:

""Hit The Floor" is interesting because it's got this hip-hop style beat. For all the technical musicians out there, there is one thing that you'll notice right off the bat in the song. When you're writing a big rock chorus, you come in on the one count, on the downbeat, and you're just blaring music. The interesting thing about this song is that it comes on the "and" after the one. It's a syncopated start almost. For the technical musicians out there, you'll notice that it was definitely a chance that we took, that ended up working out. It was a difficult thing to make work and I think we feel pretty proud of it.

Just as a side note, and this leads us into the next song, is what I think makes great writing. It's like being a great athlete. It's when you can do something that's very difficult in a way that seems easy or even natural. You notice a great athlete, doing something that is just impossible for the average person to do but they make it seem so easy. And in that song, that's one element of it. In "Hit The Floor", that's one thing that is really working in that song.

"Hit The Floor" is kind of about people who look down on other people. It's basically about people stepping on other people to get to the top and acting like they're invincible when everybody knows that you can't be that person forever. You can't step on other people to get to wherever you want to get to. It just ends up coming back and biting you. And even in that song there is definitely more to it than that."

On the Meteora booklet, the band wrote, "The band wanted to make a heavy song with a hip hop bounce - this is what came out. Mike and Chester tried numerous singing-style choruses, but when Chester brought the screaming hook into the studio, everyone knew it was going to work. the hardest work in creating this song was in the minor details. Tightening the lyrics and capturing the performances took days to finish."

A scratch primarily based on a sped-up clip of a Chester scream from "By Myself" was used in both verses of "Hit The Floor".

In early 2003, the Linkin Park Street Team received promo stickers for Meteora without "Hit The Floor" listed as a track. This has led fans to believe that the song originally wasn't going to be on the album.

Versions

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

Title Album Length Recorded Released Notes
Hit The Floor Meteora 2:44 2002 March 25, 2003
Hit The Floor Meteora - Instrumentals 2:46 2002
  • Official instrumental version.

Live

"Hit The Floor" had a very short run in Linkin Park's setlists. It was among the first tracks from Meteora to debut live, appearing alongside eight other songs from the album at the first show in 2003. Throughout its tenure live, "Hit The Floor" was a fairly straight forward song, with no extensions and the only additional vocal effect applied was an SPX990 being used on Mike's vocals in the chorus. After Projekt Revolution 2003 ended, both "Hit The Floor" and "Easier To Run" were dropped from the sets, and haven't been played since.

Personnel

Linkin Park

  • Chester Bennington: vocals
  • Rob Bourdon: drums
  • Brad Delson: guitar
  • Joseph Hahn: records, sampling
  • Phoenix: bass
  • Mike Shinoda: emcee, vocals, sampling

Production

  • Don Gilmore: producer
  • Andy Wallace: mixer

Lyrics

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There are just too many
Times that people
Have tried to look inside of me
Wondering what I think of you
When I protect you out of courtesy
Too many times that I've
Held on when I needed to push away
Afraid to say what was on my mind
Afraid to say what I need to say
Too many
Things that you've said about me
When I'm not around
You think having the upper hand
Means you've got to keep putting me down
But I've had too many stand-offs with you
It's about as much as I can stand
So I'm waiting until the upper hand
Is mine

One minute you're on top
The next you're not
Watch it drop
Making your heart stop
Just before you hit the floor
One minute you're on top
The next you're not
Missed your shot
Making your heart stop
You think you won
And then it's all gone

So many people like me
Put so much trust in all your lies
So concerned with what you think
To just say what we feel inside
So many people like me
Walk on eggshells all day long
All I know is that all I want
Is to feel like I'm not stepped on
There are so many things you say
That make me feel like you've crossed the line
What goes up will surely fall
And I'm counting down the time
‘Cause I've had so many stand-offs with you
It's about as much as I can stand
So I'm waiting until the upper hand
Is mine

One minute you're on top
The next you're not
Watch it drop
Making your heart stop
Just before you hit the floor
One minute you're on top
The next you're not
Missed your shot
Making your heart stop
You think you won
And then it's all gone
And then it's all gone
And then it's all gone
And then it's all gone
Now it's all gone

I know I'll never trust a single thing you say
You knew your lies would divide us
But you lied anyway
And all the lies have got you floating
Up above us all
But what goes up has got to fall

One minute you're on top
The next you're not
Watch it drop
Making your heart stop
Just before you hit the floor
One minute you're on top
The next you're not
Missed your shot
Making your heart stop
You think you won
And then it's all gone
And then it's all gone
And then it's all gone
And then it's all gone
Now it's all gone

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External Links

References