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Minutes to Midnight is Linkin Park's third studio album that was released, depending on location, between May 9, 2007 and May 18, 2007. It has sold remarkably well and has been certified 2× Platinum in the United States. It is also their first studio album with a parental advisory label, besides Collision Course (the album featuring Jay-Z) which was a remix album.

The album debuted at #1 in the United States and in 15 other countries, including the UK and Canada, around the world. In the U.S. the album had the biggest first week sales of 2007 at the time with 625,000 albums sold (Kanye West and 50 Cent had bigger first week sales later that fall). The album was certified double platinum (One million albums sold) in the U.S. and shipped over 3.3 million albums worldwide in its first four weeks of release. This album was #25 on Rolling Stone's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007. As of May 25th 2008, the album has the most customer reviews on iTunes, with 8,055 reviews.

There are two versions of the album cover. Both feature all six members of the band in black clothing. On the slipcase, the band members are looking away from the camera and on some of the standard jewel case covers, most of the band members are looking at the camera. The order of the band (from left to right) is as follows: Chester Bennington, Phoenix, Joe Hahn, Brad Delson, Rob Bourdon, and Mike Shinoda.

The lead single from the album, "What I've Done", was digitally released on April 2 in the U.S. and April 3 in the UK. The CD single was released on April 30.

Release

Minutes to Midnight was delayed several times before its release. First scheduled for summer 2006, then fall 2006, then early 2007, the album's release date was finally set for May 15, 2007. In an interview in September 2006, Shinoda explained, "When songs are pouring out you don't ever want to stop that. We already have over 100 roughs for songs. We've narrowed it down since but we're not ready to commit to those yet."

From the late stages of the demo sessions, "QWERTY", which was rumored to be on Minutes to Midnight, has appeared on the Linkin Park Underground v6.0 CD on December 5, 2006 in both live and studio demo versions.

"This was a year-and-a-half long process of really hard work and experimentation in the studio that yielded about 150 rough songs," guitarist Brad Delson told Billboard.com. "Not only is this album incredibly diverse, but the depth of the material is really strong."

The first single, "What I've Done", was released April 2, 2007, and debuted at number one on the U.S. Modern Rock chart.

"Given Up", "What I've Done" and "No More Sorrow" made their live debut on April 28, 2007 in Berlin. Live performances of these three songs at the Sessions@AOL were released on AOL on May 5, 2007.

On May 12, 2007, Linkin Park played "Bleed It Out" on Saturday Night Live, along with "What I've Done". Also, on May 18, 2007, Linkin Park appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and again performed "What I've Done" and "Bleed It Out".

On December 20, 2007, "No More Sorrow" was released as a playable song for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. It is available in the Xbox Live Marketplace to buy for 500 Microsoft Points in a pack with two other songs. The song is also available for the Playstation 3 to buy in the Playstation Network.

On January 16, 2008, "Valentine's Day" finally made its live debut in Hannover, Germany.

CD/DVD special editions

A CD/DVD Special Edition of Minutes to Midnight is available. It is designed to look like a book and contains a 24-page art book featuring the lyrics and conceptual art by artists who are friends with the band, along with pictures of the recording process. The cover of the North American version is grey, but in all other areas is black.

The bonus DVD contains the following:

• Advanced Resolution PCM Stereo (48 kHz/24-bit) versions of all 12 tracks
• The Making of Minutes to Midnight Documentary
• The Making of "What I've Done"
• The "What I've Done" music video

The DVD-ROM features are:

• A PDF booklet with lyrics
• A flash widget and a fansite toolkit.
• One Instant Messenger Buddy icon
• Exclusive DVD links to the official Linkin Park website, only accessible through the DVD
• Screensavers
• Wallpapers

The band also released a Super Fan Edition of the album which is only available on their online store. The only difference to the Special Edition was the book (being of 68 pages rather than 24). The DVD contains the same content.

There have been a number of problems with the DVD. Users have experienced problems accessing the DVD-ROM features, as certain computers may not be able to access the enhanced portion of this disc. In Canada, Warner Records recalled the CD/DVD Edition due to the faulty DVD. The final release date for the repaired discs is yet to be known. As such orders are no longer available from the website BandMerch.com, nor is it available in stores. It is still available at some local Wal-Marts, yet the DVD is still faulty.

Clean editions

There were non-Parental Advisory releases of both the regular CD and the special edition CD. The songs "Given Up", "Bleed It Out", and "Hands Held High" were slightly edited, by the removal of profanities all together. In Malaysia, clean version for the album is available in gatefold cardboard cover while the explicit version available for the Tour Edition which features white slipcase cardboard cover and a standard jewel case.

Anniversary Covers

After a year of the release of Minutes To Midnight, Linkin Park released a number of different covers that they had considered for the final cover, and making them available for fans to use as the album art on iTunes. There are 10 available.

"To all the fans who have supported Minutes To Midnight since its release one year ago, my bandmates and I would like to give you a gift – http://linkinpark.com/m2m." - Mike Shinoda.

Sound

Template:Sound sample box align right Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end Overall Minutes to Midnight is Linkin Park's softest studio album, focusing more in layers and textures of the music, thus creating a more melodic, approachable sound. In an interview with Chester Bennington it is explained that the new album is a mix of punk, classic rock, and hip-hop beats. "Rick has brought more of a stripped down, classic-rock and hip-hop kind of feel."

In another interview with Chester, he stated "This time around, Mike Shinoda is singing a lot more. It may seem like he's not on the record, but he's doing a lot of the harmonies. He also sings a couple of songs alone. We're presenting ourselves in a different way."

"We were looking back at the things that we had done in the past… and I think we just figured that we had exhausted that sound. It was easy for us to replicate, it was easy for other bands to replicate, and we just needed to move on," said Mike Shinoda.

This is their first album to contain guitar solos (particularly on "In Pieces" and "The Little Things Give You Away"). Unlike the two previous studio albums, Minutes to Midnight contains profanity and politically-charged lyrics.

Mike Shinoda performs his rapping vocals on only two tracks, "Bleed It Out" and "Hands Held High". This is a significant decrease compared to the amount of rapping on previous albums. The rap vocals on the album are much closer styled to Mike Shinoda's side project Fort Minor than his traditional Linkin Park verses. Despite a decrease of Mike Shinoda as rapper, he has two solo lead songs on the record. He raps on "Hands Held High", which features background vocals from the entire band (the "men's choir" singing "Amen" is actually each member of the band) and he sings on In Between. He also sings solo on the bonus track "No Roads Left" in a much more aggressive rock style than on "In Between" with no backing vocals from Bennington.

All scratching elements by Joe Hahn that existed in the previous two studio albums are largely absent, except on the songs "What I've Done", "Valentine's Day", and "In Pieces". Hahn contributes more with programming, electronica, and other elements to many of the songs.

Guitarist Brad Delson experimented with an E-Bow when the band was piecing together "The Little Things Give You Away". The band decided not to use the effect for the solo in that song and instead ended up creating "No More Sorrow" out of the effect (Brad shakes his finger on the strings of his guitar creating the long reverb effect similar to the sound of an E-Bow). In "Given Up" you can hear him jingling his keys while Mike Shinoda claps.

Reception

The album has polarized critics and fans. Many critics have compared the album to U2's style of music. In a two out of five stars review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of All Music Guide described the album's sound as "passé" and summed the band's effort up as "opting to create a muddled, colorless murk." In the UK, NME magazine's Dan Silver awarded it 2/10, calling it the "sound of a band trying and failing to forge a new identity", and referring to the song "Hands Held High," a song about terrorist attacks and war in Iraq, as "far and away the funniest thing you will hear all year."

However Rolling Stone magazine gave the album 4/5, as well IGN said "This is definitely a step in the right direction and a stepping stone for things to come". Bill Lamb of About.com considered Minutes to Midnight "an impressive achievement" and went on to say "Linkin Park handles their explorations of a direction forward with impressive grace here".

The album received mixed reviews overall on Metacritic, with an average vote of 56/100, below the 62/100 score of their previous album, Meteora.

Demo and working titles

• "Wake" - "WAKE Album Intro Idea"
• "Given Up" - "21 Stitches" and "Fire in the City"
• "Leave Out All The Rest" - "Fear" and "When My Time Comes"
• "Bleed It Out" - "Accident"
• "Shadow Of The Day" - "Saint"
• "What I've Done" - "Regrets"
• "Hands Held High" - "Song Q"
• "No More Sorrow" - "EBow Idea"
• "Valentine's Day" - "Love and Sadness"
• "In Between" - "Apologies"
• "In Pieces" - "Pictures"
• "The Little Things Give You Away" - "Drum Song"
• "No Roads Left" - "Patients" and "No Roads Left But One"

Leak

The album was leaked onto the music site thebillbored.com just under two weeks before the actual album release, which Mike Shinoda responded to:

It couldn't be more exciting to give you all new music, especially after all the hard work we put into it. This album was almost a year and a half of experiments, mistakes, inspiration, and careful craftsmanship. We put everything we had into these songs, and want you to hear every second of it. I can't wait for you to absorb all the levels of meaning in the songs, and the layers of music, eventually forming your own ideas about what the songs mean to you.

At the same time, a leak leaves out some very important parts of this piece of work. We put months of creative energy into the ART of the record, in the booklet, special edition, and big book … almost as long as it took to record Hybrid Theory . The album has amazing photos, lyrics, and notes about how the songs came together — it's the visual half of the record. On the other hand, the super-special-edition book is packed with exclusive images, stories of the making of the songs, gorgeous art, the CD and a DVD that tells the story, showing the actual moments of inspiration caught on camera. For me, it's almost hard to imagine anyone really experiencing this album without that part of it.

Even the song sequence alone is very important. It's WAY different to hear the songs in a random order than to listen to this record from beginning to end. At the very least, if you've already downloaded the songs, do us a huge favor and listen to them in the right order … it'll be way more rewarding.

Track listing

All songs were written by Linkin Park.

1. "Wake" – 1:41
2. "Given Up" – 3:09
3. "Leave Out All the Rest" – 3:29
4. "Bleed It Out" – 2:44
5. "Shadow of the Day" – 4:50
6. "What I've Done" – 3:25
7. "Hands Held High" – 3:53
8. "No More Sorrow" – 3:42
9. "Valentine's Day" – 3:17
10. "In Between" – 3:17
11. "In Pieces" – 3:38
12. "The Little Things Give You Away" – 6:24

• Only Available on the Tour Edition as Bonus Tracks.

1. "No Roads Left" - 3:52
2. "What I've Done"(Distorted Remix) - 3:50
3. "Given Up"(Third Encore Session) - 3:09

• Only Available on the Japanese Minutes to Midnight.

1. "Faint" (Live)

• iTunes Bonus and Pre-order Bonus Content

1. "What I've Done"(Live) - 3:29 (Album Only Bonus)
2. "No Roads Left" - 3:52 (Pre-order Only)

Exclusive live downloadable content

• Asian Tour Edition (Live from Shanghai, China, 18th November 2007):

1. "One Step Closer"
2. "Lying from You"
3. "Somewhere I Belong"
4. "No More Sorrow"
5. "Papercut"

• European Tour Edition (Live from O2 Arena, London, 29th January 2008):

1. "What I've Done"
2. "One Step Closer"
3. "Faint"

Personnel

• Chester Bennington — vocals, backing vocals, rhythm guitar (live shows only)
• Rob Bourdon — drums
• Brad Delson — lead guitar
• Dave "Phoenix" Farrell - bass guitar
• Joseph Hahn — turntables, sampling, programming
• Mike Shinoda — vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboard, backing vocals

Other contributors

• Rick Rubin - Music producer

Charts and sales

Singles

"Minutes to Midnight" has yielded four successful singles as of March 2008. Linkin Park's debut single "What I've Done", their second single "Bleed It Out", their third single "Shadow of the Day" and their fourth single "Given Up " have charted on the Billboard Modern Rock Charts at 1, 2, 2 and 5 respectively. Other tracks from "Minutes to Midnight" have also been seen on the Billboard charts even though they were not released as singles such as "Given Up","Leave Out All the Rest"(before their announcing as singles), Hands Held High and No More Sorrow. Mike Shinoda confirmed Leave Out All The Rest is their last single from Minutes to Midnight.

Notes: Although "Given Up" and "Leave Out All the Rest" had not been released as singles until early March 2008. "Given Up" has already charted on Billboard's Hot 100 and Pop 100 charts at numbers 99 and 78 respectively in 2007, and "Leave Out All the Rest" has already charted on Billboard's Pop 100 chart at number 98 in 2007.

References

1. "Billbord.com-discography-Linkin Park-Bleed it out". Retrieved 2007-06-29.
2. Global Track Chart
3. RIAA Certification - RIAA Awards - RIAA News
4. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do
5. . /news/minutes-to-midnight-a-worldwide-success/ "Minutes To Midnight A Worldwide Success". {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
6. http://www.minutes2 . /
7. UK Music
8. ROBERT CHRISTGAU, DAVID FRICKE, CHRISTIAN HOARD, ROB SHEFFIELD (December 17, 2007). "The Top 50 Albums of 2007" Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-20
9. Linkin Park: Minutes to Midnight
10. "Timbaland Soars to No. 1 After Sales Explosion". Billboard. April 12 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. 'What I've Done' (AOL Sessions)' Video - Linkin Park - AOL Music
12. "Minutes to Midnight" Special Edition CD/DVD
13. cna.co.za: Browser Not Valid
14. Folhateen Article. April 3, 2007.
15. "Linkin Park Say Nu-Metal Sound Is 'Completely Gone' On Next LP". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
16. Mike Shinoda (May 15 2007). Minutes to Midnight (Special Edition) (Music Documentary). {{cite AV media}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
17. http://www.coffee-bytes.com/node/554 Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight
18. Linkin Park / Band Biography
19. Music Of XIII: Linkin Park - Minutes To Midnight [2007]
20. "Linkin Park: Minutes to Midnight". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
21. "Linkin Park: Minutes to Midnight". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
22. "Minutes to Midnight Leaked". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
23. Argentinian Album Chart
24. Australian Top 50 ARIA Album Chart
25. Austrian Album Chart
26. Belgium Flanders Album Chart
27. Belgium Wallonian Album Chart
28. Brazilian Album Chart
29. Canadian Album Chart
30. Nielsen Music 2007 - Music Industry Report
31. Chile Top 10
32. Croatian International Album Chart
33. Cyprus International Album Chart
34. Czech Album Chart
35. Danish Album Chart
37. Estonian Album Chart
38. European Top 100 Albums Chart
39. Finnish Albums Chart
40. French Album Chart
41. German Album Chart
42. Greek Album Chart
43. Hungarian Album Chart
44. Irish Album Chart
45. Israeli Album Chart
46. Italian Album Chart
47. Japan Album Chart
48. Korean Album Chart
49. Mexico Top 100l Album Chart
50. Mexican Gold Certification
51. Netherlands Albums Chart
52. New Zealand Album Charts
53. Norwegian Albums Chart
54. Polish Album Chart
55. Portugal Album Chart
56. Spain Album Chart
57. Swedish Album Chart
58. Swiss Album Chart
59. "5-Music Top 20".Taiwan 5-Music Chart..
60. Taiwan G-Music Western Chart
61. Taiwanese Album Chart
62. UK Album Chart
63. Albums Chart
64. Venezuelan Album Char
65. ^ Billboard Albums Retrieved May 24 2007 Cite error: The named reference "Billboard albums" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
66. United World Chart Year End 2007 list
67. Billboard.com - Linkin Park artist chart history

External links

• Linkin Park's official website
• Minutes to Midnight at MetaCritic
• Minutes to Midnight official lyrics page

• Pages with empty short description
• Linkin Park albums
• Enhanced CDs
• Warner Bros. Records albums
• Albums produced by Rick Rubin
• 2007 albums
• Albums produced by Mike Shinoda