Victimized

Template:Song "Victimized" (stylized as "VICTIMIZED") is the seventh track off of Linkin Park's fifth studio album, Living Things.

Background

Chester Bennington cited "Victimized" as a prime example of what the band wants to do because it shows the band's many different faces. According to him "It starts with what sounds like folk... then rapidly dips into Hip-Hop, Punk Rock, Death Metal and back to Folk music." He says, in a way there's no real meaning to the song.

Explaining how the track was conceived, he said, "this is one of these songs that Mike came in with this kick-ass beat and I loved it, it was like, it by the way felt really heavy, it felt in your face, it felt like metal but it didn’t feel predictable. It was so cool. And we looked at each other and we know exactly what the song needs. And so I think I started yelling something like “Fuck” or something over it, and we were sort of laughing about how funny it would be if that was like the chorus, and then I think it was Mike or maybe Brad, but someone in the band was like, “Just pick like one word, that could be like one really good word,” and I think someone threw out “victimized” and I was like, “That’s great.” And I just ran in the studio and just kind of screamed “victimized” over it. And then kind of the most obvious line to come after screaming victimized is “never again.” And then that was it. It was pretty much that simple. I mean that song kind of was done at that point in terms of what I needed to contribute to the song. And I think the verses are some of Mike’s best. I think the rapping on this record for Mike is the best that he’s ever done. I mean, there’s a swagger to his whole vibe and a confidence that I don’t think I’ve seen from him before. So I think that also adds to the heaviness of the song, too, the vibe that Mike is sending out. And so, but it’s a pretty complex (Indiscernible) track, and I really like it, it’s one of my favorites."

Mike Shinoda stated the band's first instinct was to fill out the song to make it longer. The desicision to keep it as a short song was inspired by the punk rock bands he and Brad used to listen to in high school, like D.R.I. and Pennywise. He also talked about the conception of the song: "In my head when I just heard the song, I heard the remix. The jungle version, hardcore version. I think the music came first on that one and the music inspired the lyrics. There was a lot on that album about feelings of being taken advantage of and there is some angry stuff on that record. Also, some not angry stuff, but yeah, Victimized was definitely tapping into some of that, I don't know what to call it, anger."

The speech sample at the beginning of "Victimized" was that of a counterfeit merchandise seller in Jakarta, Indonesia which Mike had recorded on his phone in 2011 while touring for A Thousand Suns.

Mike Shinoda, during his listening party with the fanbase for Living Things, mentioned that Chester had recorded his vocals for "Lies Greed Misery" while sick. Chester also was shown on LPTV episodes for the album recording vocals while sick for both "Victimized" and "Until It Breaks."

Brad Delson has stated "Victimized" is his favorite guitar moment on the album and cited it as an example of the perfect guitar sound for a Linkin Park song. "Whether Mike's doing a guitar part or I am, we always want to do what's best for the song. A lot of times it's finding that interplay between an actual guitar and a sound that we've handcrafted, whether it's a sampled sound or an electronic sound. If you listen to Victimized, there's that [Electro-Harmonix] HOG octave-oscillating sound. There's also guitar-sample sounds that were made on machines that weren't physically played, but you don't know what's what. Even when I was at the mix with [mixer] Manny [Marroquin], you're not sure some of the time – 'Oh, maybe that's a distorted bass' or 'Maybe that's a guitar sample.'"

Shinoda has stated that "Victimized", along with "Lies Greed Misery", acts a precursor of sorts to the band's sixth album, The Hunting Party, noting that the similarities between the riffs of "Victimized" and "A Line In The Sand" weren't intentional.

In the June 2019 leak of Hybrid Party Of A Thousand Things, samples used to compose "Wretches And Kings" were included. "Rick 808" is the hi-hats from "Wretches And Kings" and the BPM matches with the song (Rick likely being Rick Rubin). "Rygar" is likely from when the band tracked the various processed guitar samples for the song. RYGAR4, RYGAR5, RYGAR30 and RYGAR32 were used on it, RYGAR21 on "Victimized" and RYGAR37 on "Bruiser." Other samples were used from "Rygar" for "Saa'iq" from the Medal Of Honor: Warfighter soundtrack in 2012 as well. On a June 18, 2020 stream when making a song out of Fort Minor and Linkin Park sounds, Mike mentioned that he named the sample bank of sounds "Rygar" after the Nintendo game.

Remix

"Victimized" received one official remix, done by band member Mike Shinoda. The remix was released on the band's second remix album, Recharged. Joe Hahn has stated that Mike's remix is one of his favorites on the album, and Shinoda has said that he was heavily inspired by techno music he listened to in college, stating "VICTIMIZED was a pretty simple approach—it’s based on the jungle and gabber techno I listened to when I was in college. A good friend of mine was a DJ who introduced me to those artists, and I wanted to do a modern take on that style with the VICTIMIZED remix."

Versions

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

Studio

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Victimized	Living Things	1:46	2012	June 20, 2012
Victimized (Instrumental)	Living Things (Acapellas and Instrumentals)	1:48	2012	September 11, 2012	Official instrumental version.
Victimized (Acapella)	Living Things (Acapellas and Instrumentals)	1:14	2012	September 11, 2012	Official acapella version.

Remix

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Victimized (M. Shinoda Remix)	Recharged	3:00	2012	October 24, 2013	Remix by Mike Shinoda.
Victimized Remix		0:34	2012		Remix by Mike Shinoda. Instrumental demo. Released on LPLive for free download on August 5, 2019.

Live

While "Victimized" has never been played live by itself, it was played as a mashup with "QWERTY". This mashup debuted at the private production rehearsal at Bristow. "Victimized" was played after "New Divide" in Set A and Set B at first. As the tour went on, Set B was reorganized a lot, and "Victimized" was moved to after "When They Come For Me" at Alpharetta, after "With You" at Tinley Park, and finally after "In My Remains" at Woodlands. Set C had "Victimized" after "Given Up". 2013 kept the sets relatively similar, except "Victimized" was dropped from Set B to fit time constraints, as well as festival Set A at Osaka.

"Victimized" wasn't played after the Living Things touring cycle ended, but part of the remix was played during "Joe Solo Medley" starting at KFMA Day 2014 and through the rest of The Hunting Party touring cycle.

A rehearsal recording of the track in 2012 was used by Ghost Town Media in the creation of the concert visuals for the track. The recording was mixed by Ken "Pooch" Van Druten" and uploaded by Ghost Town Media to Vimeo.

Variations

Last Updated: December 25, 2015

Type	Description	First Played	Last Played
Mashup	w/ QWERTY	August 10, 2012	August 19, 2013

Lyrics

Album Version

[Indonesian speaker]
 
No regret for the confidence betrayed
No more hiding in shadow
'Cause I won't wait for the debt to be repaid
Time has come for you
 

VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
NEVER AGAIN
VICTIMIZED
 
They're acting like they want a riot / it's a riot I'll give 'em
As the siren climbs higher on this violent rhythm
For you snakes in the grass / supplying the venom
I ain't scared of your teeth / I admire what's in 'em
You been waiting in the shadows there, thinking you're hidden
But the truth is you don't have the stomach to get 'em
Go on already, hit 'em / yeah you gotta be kidding
Wanna talk about a victim / I'mma put you there with 'em
 
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
NEVER AGAIN

VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
NEVER AGAIN
VICTIMIZED
NO

M. Shinoda Remix

VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
NEVER AGAIN
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
NEVER AGAIN
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
NEVER AGAIN
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
NEVER AGAIN
VICTIMIZED

They're acting like they want a riot / it's a riot I'll give 'em
As the siren climbs higher on this violent rhythm
For you snakes in the grass / supplying the venom
I ain't scared of your teeth / I admire what's in 'em
You been waiting in the shadows there, thinking you're hidden
But the truth is you don't have the stomach to get 'em
Go on already, hit 'em / yeah you gotta be kidding
Wanna talk about a victim / I'mma put you there with 'em

VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
NEVER AGAIN
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
NEVER AGAIN
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
NEVER AGAIN
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
NEVER AGAIN
VICTIMIZED


They're acting like they want a riot / it's a riot I'll give 'em
They're acting like they want a riot / it's a riot I'll give 'em
They're acting like they want a riot / it's a riot I'll give 'em
They're acting like they want a riot / it's a riot, riot, riot, riot

No
No
No regret for the confidence betrayed
No more hiding in shadow
'Cause I won't wait for the debt to be repaid
Time has come for you

VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
NEVER AGAIN
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
NEVER AGAIN
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
NEVER AGAIN
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
VICTIMIZED
NEVER AGAIN
VICTIMIZED