“Shadow of the Day” by Linkin Park

"Shadow of the Day" was the third single from Minutes to Midnight, Linkin Park's third album, released in 2007, and it's the band at its most hushed and melancholy: a slow, rain-streaked ballad built on a hypnotic keyboard loop, with a string section of violins, violas and cellos swelling underneath. Chester Bennington sings it with real ache and also plays rhythm guitar on the track.

Rick Rubin and Mike Shinoda produced, and getting the groove right took some doing. The band tried out several versions of that keyboard loop and ran through more than 60 beats before one stuck, even toying with banjos along the way. They first played it live on the Projekt Revolution tour in Auburn, Washington, on July 25, 2007, and in 2012 it turned up as downloadable content for Rock Band 3.

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