“Crawling” by Linkin Park

"Crawling" came off Hybrid Theory, Linkin Park's 2000 debut, as its second single, and it's the album's rawest nerve. Chester Bennington drew the lyrics from his own fight with substance abuse, and the song circles around self-control and the war going on inside your own head. Mike Shinoda shares the vocal credit, but it's Bennington's raw, straining voice that makes it, the sound of a man trying to claw his way out of his own skin.

This is nu metal built with real care. Brad Delson's guitar grinds and Rob Bourdon's drums hit like a hammer, but the song leaves plenty of air around the voice. All five members, including Joe Hahn, share the writing credit. Don Gilmore produced and recorded it, Andy Wallace mixed it, and Jeff Blue was executive producer.

The Brothers Strause directed the video, which follows a young woman trapped with an abusive partner and earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination. The song reached the top ten in several countries, Canada and Austria among them, and in 2002 it won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.