“One Step Closer” by Linkin Park

"One Step Closer" was the first thing most people heard from Linkin Park: the debut single from their 2000 debut album Hybrid Theory, released on Warner Bros., and a nu metal calling card that didn't waste a second. Brad Delson's guitars chug in tight, downtuned bursts, Rob Bourdon hammers the beat flat, Joe Hahn scratches around the edges on the turntables, and Mike Shinoda's keyboards and samples add a cold, programmed sheen to the din.

At the center is Chester Bennington, who sings the verses with his teeth gritted and then lets the pressure blow in a full-throated scream that sounds like a kid finally losing it in the principal's office. Shinoda adds his own voice to the mix, and the band wrote it as a unit. Don Gilmore produced and recorded it, with Scott Koziol sitting in on bass, and Andy Wallace mixed it to hit like a slammed door.

The song kept mutating long after its release. It turned up on the remix album Reanimation as "1Stp Klosr" with Korn frontman Jonathan Davis, got spliced with "Points of Authority" and Jay-Z's "99 Problems" on the Collision Course EP, and was handed to the electronic duo 100 gecs for a new remix in 2021.

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