Cure For The Itch

"Cure For The Itch"
Song by Linkin Park
from the album Hybrid Theory
Working title:	Mr. Hahn / The Cure / The Cure For Mr. Hahn's Itch / Mr. Hahn's Itch
Recorded:	2000
Length:	02:37
Time signature:	4/4
Tempo:	100
Key:	C Minor
Samples:	Skull Snaps - It's A New Day Beside - Change The Beat (Female Version)
Live debut:	Unknown
Last performed:	June 14, 2014
Writer:	Brad Delson, Chester Bennington, Joe Hahn, Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon
Producer:	Don Gilmore
Label:	Warner Bros.
Hybrid Theory tracklist
Papercut One Step Closer With You Points Of Authority Crawling Runaway By Myself In The End A Place For My Head Forgotten Cure For The Itch Pushing Me Away

"Cure For The Itch" is the eleventh song on the album Hybrid Theory. It is entirely instrumental, focussing on Joe Hahn's scratching and sampling abilities. The title is a joke referencing it's composition; the cure for an itch would be a scratch, which is what the song is made up of.

Background

"Cure For The Itch" was a song created by Mr. Hahn and Mike Shinoda. Its original working title was "Mr. Hahn". Mike Shinoda said, "cure for the itch was my attempt at doing a song without words. i was trying to do something that would fit into a movie"

Speaking to Rock Rage in October 2000, Mike explained how the song came together: "That particular song is something that our DJ, Mr. Hahn, and I came up with. It came from a beat that he did with the drums that he did and the strings that I arranged. From there we just kind of went off in an electronic direction that I thought was cool. And I think it turned out really well. We’re totally happy with that. The band was totally stoked about it." Joe created his own vinyl with original sounds titled Tasty Gas Station Breaks From The Orient for the live tour. This vinyl was used for the scratches on "Cure For The Itch".

In the same month, Mike was questioned by ShoutWeb if he was the person talking at the beginning of "Cure For The Itch", to which he answered: "No. It's not me! That's someone else. Go ahead. I'll give you a good name. I will tell you it's Remy. Some day you'll figure out what that means." During an interview with Dynamic Rock earlier that year, Mike had said "Mr. Hahn has a split personality named Remy. Remy is a dangerous man. He keeps the rest of us on our toes." Joe later went on to say "'Remy' is a lie. Some idiot made that up." He calls it a "fan rumor".

At the beginning of the song, it is indeed Joe who says, "folks, we have a very special guest for you tonight, I'd like to introduce..." During the first breakdown, it is Mike who says, "now, for a lesson in rhythm management" and "alright now, wasn't that fun? let's try something else."

The strings at the end of the song are featured at the beginning of the "High Voltage (Mike Shinoda Remix)." Mike was asked about this in July 2020 on Twitch, where he said, "So I had this rack mounted keyboard unit and I forget what it was, it was a Roland keyboard unit with these certain string sounds and I used those on a few songs at the time. I forget which ones I used it on. I used it on those two, I think I used them on "By Myself." I used them a couple of times, so that's why that sound popped up, because I liked that sound and I used it on a few things."

For the Hybrid Theory 20 box set release, Joe Hahn gave an inside look into the creation of the song, saying, "So, I remember Mike made that string section as part of just a general beat that he made along with a ton of other beats, and that's really liking the orchestral nature of it, the suspenseful nature of it. And we put a beat to it and then it was like, "Okay, how do we integrate scratching, and glitching, and messing with the beats, in a cool way?" So we just built the track, basically starting from the strings, and then built the rest. And I think the way it played on the record was just the perfect break away from everything else that you were hearing."

Demo

The version of "Cure For The Itch" on the Studio Finals CD from May 2000 features different scratching and voice effects. Heavy effects were put on the intro vocals.

The original "Cure For The Itch" intro sample from the Studio Finals disc is from the 1980 movie Raging Bull. The sample was also used for live performances.

Remix

Linkin Park released a remix of "Cure For The Itch" on Reanimation in July 2002 titled "Kyur4 Th Ich". The track was remixed by Joe, where he is credited as "Chairman Hahn." This remix samples "Step Up" and "Points Of Authority" by Linkin Park as well as "Name Of The Game" by The Crystal Method.

Music Video

A minute long music video for "Cure For The Itch" was created and released on Frat Party At The Pankake Festival in 2001. The video was directed by Brian Won and Joe Hahn with animation by Brian Won.

Versions

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

Studio

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Cure For The Itch	Hybrid Theory	2:37	2000	October 24, 2000	Samples Skull Snaps' "It's A New Day" and Beside's "Change The Beat (Female Version)".
The Cure	Studio Finals 5/7/00	2:35	2000		The CD dates from May 7, 2000. Differences within the scratching and voice effects. Released on LPLive for free download on April 9, 2011.

Remix

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Kyur4 Th Ich	Reanimation	2:32	2001	July 30, 2002	Remix by Joe Hahn (credited as Chairman Hahn). Samples Hybrid Theory's "Step Up", Linkin Park's "Points Of Authority", and The Crystal Method's "Name Of The Game".

Live

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Cure For The Itch (Live From Perth, 2007)	Hybrid Theory - Live Around The World	1:43	October 18, 2007	May 31, 2012	Remix.
Cure For The Itch (Live At Download Festival 2014)	Hybrid Theory - Live At Download Festival 2014	2:50	June 14, 2014	August 12, 2014	The Hunting Party pre-order bonus album through linkinpark.com.

Live

"Cure For The Itch" was often used as an opener for Linkin Park shows in 2000. Throughout the first half of the year, Joe would perform an abbreviated version of the song, which would then be followed normally by "Papercut". The song was dropped midway through the Kottonmouth Kings' "Ridin' High" Tour, where "A Place For My Head" took the reigns as the opening song. The song returned for the very first shows of 2001 on the Hybrid Theory European Promo Tour, where a more complete version of the song was played than 2000, yet still not the full song. After that mini tour, the song was dropped and only appeared once more in 2001, in the encore of the band's show in London, England. When questioned about the song, Mike said, "we don't do cure for the itch right now, because it kinda would break up the momentum of the show."

The song did not return to Linkin Park setlists for six years, in 2007 on the Projekt Revolution tour during the Minutes To Midnight touring cycle. A brand new remixed version of the song appeared as the opener of the encore in Set B. At the very end of the tour, when the band began performing a hybrid setlist known as Set D, the song was moved to the second slot in the encore, as "The Little Things Give You Away" became the new encore opener. This carried over to Set B on the following Minutes To Midnight Asian Tour, as well. The song returned mid-way through 2008, on the second Minutes To Midnight European Tour of the year, in Set Z, where the remixed version of it yet again opened the encore. The song was performed on Projekt Revoltuion 2008, in that tour's iteration of Set Z, where it opened the first encore. The song was eventually added to Set Y as well, replacing "We Made It" after Busta Rhymes was forced to leave the tour due to his record label, where the song opened the second encore. Eventually, in Set Z, the song was moved up to open the second encore, as well. The intro of this remix was taken from the Studio Finals version of the song. Mike put heavy effects on those vocals.

"Cure For The Itch" made a brief appearance on the A Thousand Suns tour, where the Minutes To Midnight tour remix version opened two shows; in Las Vegas, Nevada and a Music For Relief Benefit.

Part of the song was performed on The Hunting Party World Tour, where it was featured in Joe's solo. When the band performed Hybrid Theory in its entirety at the Download Festival, "Cure For The Itch" was performed in full for the first time. This version of the song was a remix by Mike and featured, along with the Studio Finals intro of the song (effected Joe vocals instead of clean Joe vocals), a new recording of Mike's vocal part from the first breakdown in place of his original one. That was made specifically for this performance.

While the song was only performed at Download in 2014, a shortened version of "Cure For The Itch" was considered in the first draft of the 2014 set.

Variations

Last Updated: September 27, 2015

Type	Description	First Played	Last Played
Alternative	2000 Abbreviated Version	July 24, 2000*	October 6, 2000*
Alternative	2001 Abbreviated Version	January 10, 2001*	June 4, 2001
Alternative	Minutes To Midnight Tour Version	July 29, 2007	August 31, 2011
Alternative	w/ Mike Vocal Samples	June 14, 2014	June 14, 2014

Dates marked with an asterisk (*) indicates first known appearance of the variation. The date may not be the exact debut or final performance of the variation.

Personnel

Linkin Park

• Chester Bennington: vocals
• Rob Bourdon: drums, backing vocals
• Brad Delson: guitars, bass, backing vocals
• Joseph Hahn: records, sampling, backing vocals
• Mike Shinoda: emcee, vocals, beats, sampling

Production

• Don Gilmore: producer
• Jeff Blue: executive producer
• Andy Wallace: mixer

Lyrics

Album Version

Folks, we have a very special guest for you tonight.
I'd like to introduce
MR. HAHN
 
Let's hear it for the great Mr. Hahn!
 
And now, for a lesson in rhythm management.
Let's begin.
 
Alright now, wasn't that fun?
Let's try something else.

In Other Media

• "Cure For The Itch" is featured in the 2004 film Riding Giants.

Other Uses

• The title of the Bring Me The Horizon song "Itch For The Cure (When Will We Be Free?)" from their Post Human: Survival Horror EP is a reference to "Cure For The Itch".

External Links

• Cure For The Itch: LPTV
• Cure For The Itch (Music Video): LPTV