Fuse

"Fuse"
Song by Xero
from the album Xero (Demo Cassette Tape)
Recorded:	1996
Released:	1997
Format:	Cassette
Length:	3:19
Samples:	Laura Olsher - The Very Long Fuse
Writer:	Mike Shinoda, Mark Wakefield
Xero (Demo Cassette Tape) tracklist
Rhinestone Reading My Eyes Fuse Stick N Move

"Fuse" is the third track on the Xero 1997 cassette tape.

Background

"Fuse" was created by Mike Shinoda and Mark Wakefield when Linkin Park was still called "Xero" and had Mark on vocals. When questioned if anything was ever done to the song, Mike answered, "Yes, I'll tell you what happened to it... it stayed in a hard drive. It leaked, I think it leaked, Fuse leaked right? You guys found Fuse, right? It was on like old demos and stuff. No, it didn't? Yes, it did? Ok it's a very unknown and unusual track. But yeah it was one of my favorites back in the day, a little rappy-style thing." Joe Hahn said the reason "Fuse" was never released anywhere after the tape might have been due to a sample clearance issue.

The speech heard at the beginning of the track is a sample of "The Very Long Fuse", a story narrated by Laura Olsher on Disneyland Records' 1964 album Chilling, Thrilling Sounds Of The Haunted House. Hip hop artists like N.W.A., Ice Cube and Jedi Mind Tricks have also used samples from this same album in their music.

Mike went by Kenji back in the day when he rapped with Styles Of Beyond members under the name Junkyard Scientific, hence the "Yo, it’s the junkyard, crooked letter-C-I-EN-tific" lyric.

The band, at some point, went by the name "Xero 818" because there were other bands named "Xero". 818 is one of the area codes for the San Fernando Valley area, which is where the band is from. That's also the origin of the line "testing the 818th battalion".

In January 2016, Derek Oswald of Linkin Park Association received the correct lyrics for the Xero tape from Mike. The liner notes on the cassette actually have incorrect lyrics on "Reading My Eyes" included.

"Fuse" is the only Xero song from the primary 4 track Xero demo cassette tape that did not end up getting released on the Hybrid Theory (20th Anniversary Edition) box set in 2020, possibly because of its Disney sample in the beginning of the track.

On Linkin Park's album From Zero, the band intentionally hid a teaser of "Fuse" at the end of the song "Overflow" after a sample of the Xero tape being flipped. About the transition at the end of the song, Mike said, "One thing you'll notice on this album is that there isn't any wasted space. All of the transitions from one to another are very snappy and short, and they really, for the most part, just fly right into the next thing with chaotic little... all of the transitional pieces that are not actually in the song are chopped up into bits and gritted out into the song in a way where they almost trip and fall into the next song. The exceptions are going into 'Overflow,' which is in the middle of the record, and going into 'Good Things Go,' which is at the end of the record. Those are the two because you need at those moments, something to almost like hit the ground and stop the pace."

Versions

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

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Fuse	Xero	3:19	1996	1997	Samples Laura Olsher's "The Very Long Fuse" from Walt Disney Studios' Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House.

Live

During a VyRT chat on April 20, 2015, Brad Delson said "Fuse" was played live before. It's unknown when exactly or how many times the song was played.

Personnel

• Mike Shinoda
• Mark Wakefield
• Brad Delson
• Rob Bourdon
• Dave Farrell
• Joe Hahn

Lyrics

Album Version

(Of course, you know what a fuse is. It is a long piece of cord, impregnated with gun powder. When you strike a match, and light it, it burns fitfully sputteringly to its end, at which there is a little surprise)

From the planet of Krypton
Ensuring super-emcees you’ll be ripped on
You fell off, and it’s my lyric sheets you slipped on
Get gone, spit on mics made in Hong Kong
Rock on, sing songs more mightier than King Kong
Or Donkey Kong
You think you want me, or want this? You want some?
Hold your reputation for ransom
With these here handsomely-crafted tactics
To break a snake emcee like a cheap prophylactic
Galactic, spaced-out gabbing grabs attention
Got heads nodding like a Pez Candy convention
Briar patch raps gash tracks in sections
Kid says this and need witness protection

Trying to say what I / can't be saying
I'll be here
Trying to say what I / can't be saying
I'll be here

Yo, dig this
Yo, it’s the junkyard, crooked letter-C-I-EN-tific
Duck us, the ruckus I’ll bring stings your eardrum
Hear one line I let loose, find me fearsome
Opposing troops on my home front shall be gone
Testing the eight hundred-eighteenth battalion
Shall I go on? Crews run like rebels
Enola Gay rhymes kick the notch up a level in intensity
Send back attacks that you sent to me
Blow up your spot with grenades that were meant for me
Empty three verses on 33 emcees
Swiss cheese your gear, putting shrapnel in the breeze
Bleed emcees of enemy companies
With my hand full of lyrics, talking ‘bout, you want these?
Please, don’t even speak the name of Ken
On some go-go-Gadget mic shit
Put it down like pens for my friends and my fam
Better Dodge, or I’ll Ram this mic shaft through the back of an emcee’s hand
With the strength of He-Man, a Cringer don’t want that
Close-bodies fill fields in hand-to-hand combat
Battle cats in cypher sessions of speech
Warfare of words flashing that cordless heat
Compete for an edge, lyrical shots get lit
Don’t question my intention when your bucket gets kicked

Trying to say what I / can't be saying
I'll be here
(Teflon metallic, syllaballic attacks)
Trying to say what I / can't be saying
I'll be here
(Haunt emcees with these lyrical back smacks)

Should’ve told you so

Why wait / I shouldn't have told you so
Why wait / I shouldn't have told you so
Why wait / I shouldn't have told you so
Why wait / I shouldn't have told you so
Why wait / I shouldn't have told you so
Why wait / I shouldn't have told you so
Why wait / I shouldn't have told you so
Why wait / I shouldn't have told you so

Trying to say what I / can't be saying
I'll be here
(Teflon metallic, syllaballic attacks)
Trying to say what I / can't be saying
I'll be here
(Haunt emcees with these lyrical back smacks)