Keys To The Kingdom

From Linkinpedia

Template:Infobox song

Background

"Keys To The Kingdom" starts off The Hunting Party with Chester's heavily effected screaming and weird electronics before giving way to Rob Bourdon's heavy drumming and Brad Delson's riffing. The drastic changes were an intentional decision, as revealed by Mike Shinoda in an interview with Rolling Stone, as he wanted the song to "just kind of fuck you up".[1] Shinoda later revealed on Twitter that the song's drastic sonic changes made it a prime candidate to open the album,[2] and that Chester Bennington's vocals in the chorus were "stream-of-consciousness", as in Bennington didn't write anything down. He simply sang what came to mind.[3]

Rob Bourdon said tracking went fairly quickly for "Keys To The Kingdom" and explained what they aim for as a band is to make something that sounds so unique that it's hard for someone with a trained ear to be able to tell exactly what the source is or if it's live or sampled. "There are a couple spots in that song where we did some sampling. We sampled my live drums and chopped them up in Pro Tools on the grid. There are some other sampled sounds added to the live snare so that it punches through even more. They’re all created from the snare drum used in the song."[4]

Initially, the interlude at the end of the song featured a little kid screaming "The cold never bothered me anyway!" a line from "Let It Go", a song in Disney's incredibly popular animated film, Frozen. However, the reference was cut after they couldn't clear the line being used.[5]

Remix

On December 24, 2014, several members from the Linkin Park Association community teamed up to release a remix album of The Hunting Party titled Viscera. The album was later released to the LP Underground on June 18, 2015 after the band received the full rights to distribute the album. The remix of "Keys To The Kingdom" was done by Confetti Parade and MKH. The instrumental version of the remix was released February 28, 2015.

Versions

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

Studio

Title Album Length Recorded Released Notes
Keys To The Kingdom The Hunting Party 3:38 2013-2014 June 13, 2014
Keys To The Kingdom The Hunting Party (Clean) 3:38 2013-2014 June 13, 2014
Keys To The Kingdom (Instrumental) The Hunting Party: Acapellas + Instrumentals 3:28 2013-2014 August 12, 2014
  • Official instrumental version.
Keys To The Kingdom (Acapella) The Hunting Party: Acapellas + Instrumentals 3:38 2013-2014 August 12, 2014
  • Official acapella version.

Remix

Title Album Length Recorded Released Notes
Keys To The Kingdom: Confetti Parade Viscera 3:28 2014 December 24, 2014
  • Remix by Confetti Parade and MKH.
  • Released on LPAssociation for free download on December 24, 2014 in AAC, MP3 and FLAC formats.
  • Released to LP Underground members for free download on June 18, 2015 in MP3 format.
  • The band obtained all the rights to the album.
Keys To The Kingdom: Confetti Parade (Instrumental) Viscera (Instrumentals) 3:28 2014 February 28, 2015
  • Remix by Confetti Parade and MKH.
  • Instrumental version.
  • Released on LPAssociation for free download on February 28, 2015 in AAC, MP3 and FLAC formats.

Live

Sometime before the European summer tour in 2014, "Keys To The Kingdom", along with the rest of The Hunting Party, was rehearsed. However, the band never ended up playing it. The song was also included in the list of songs submitted by the band to the Chinese government in preparation of their 2015 Chinese tour, meaning they were at least considering playing it,[6] but the song still ended up not being played. Mike Shinoda later said Linkin Park didn't end up rehearsing "Keys To The Kingdom" to play live.[7]

At the Manila show on Mike's solo tour, he rapped the second verse of the song over the extended bridge of "Sorry For Now" as part of a challenge given to him to represent every Linkin Park album in the set. This was the only time any part of a song from The Hunting Party was performed during the Post Traumatic tour.

Personnel

Linkin Park is

  • Chester Bennington
  • Rob Bourdon
  • Brad Delson
  • Phoenix
  • Joe Hahn
  • Mike Shinoda

Production

  • Produced by Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson
  • Lyrics & Vocals by Mike Shionda and Chester Bennington
  • Background Vocals by Brad Delson, Joe Hahn, Rob Bourdon, and Phoenix
  • Additional Lyrics by Brad Delson
  • Engineering by Ethan Mates and Mike Shinoda
  • Digital editing by Josh Newell
  • Assistant Engineer: Alejandro Baima
  • Additional Assistant Engineers: Brendan Dekora and Jennifer Langdon
  • Studio Electro Tech: Warren Willis
  • Studio Drum Tech: Jerry Johnson
  • Album Production Coordination: Ryan DeMarti
  • Recorded at Larrabee Sound Studios, North Hollywood, CA
  • Additional Recording at EastWest Studios and Glenwood Place Studios
  • Mixed by Andy Wallace
  • Pro Tools Engineered by Paul Suarez
  • Assisted by Del Bowers
  • Mastered by Emily Lazar at The Lodge
  • Assisted by Rich Morales

Lyrics

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NO CONTROL / NO SURPRISE
TOSSED THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM
DOWN THAT HOLE IN MY EYE
I'M MY OWN / CASUALTY
I FUCK UP EVERYTHING I SEE
FIGHTING IN FUTILITY
 
We start the final war
Tell me what's worth fighting for
When we know there's nothing more
We take the hand or fist
Just to sell ourselves for this
The path we least resist
 
NO CONTROL / NO SURPRISE
TOSSED THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM
DOWN THAT HOLE IN MY EYE
I'M MY OWN / CASUALTY
I FUCK UP EVERYTHING I SEE
FIGHTING IN FUTILITY
 
Uh, I give you what you came for / this is not the same though
Got a different method but I still can bring the pain so
Y'all locked in that same flow / I got that insane flow
High as y'all can get you're never really in my range though
Yes I'm half anglo / half fried panko
All prime-time rhymer / I'mma let the bass bang low
All you fucking lames go / aiming at my name, know
Careful what you shoot because you might hit what you aim for
Careful what you shoot because you might hit what you aim for
 
NO CONTROL / NO SURPRISE
TOSSED THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM
DOWN THAT HOLE IN MY EYE
I'M MY OWN / CASUALTY
I FUCK UP EVERYTHING I SEE
FIGHTING IN FUTILITY
 
Oh, woah, oh [x4]
 
NO CONTROL / NO SURPRISE (Oh, woah, oh)
TOSSED THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM (Oh, woah, oh)
DOWN THAT HOLE IN MY EYE (Oh, woah, oh)
I'M MY OWN / CASUALTY (Oh, woah, oh [x2])
I'M MY OWN
CASUALTY
 
Kid: I'm not allowed to say certain things! AUGHHHHH!
Mike: Try and do...try and do the other thing, real quick.

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External Links

References