Breaking the Habit
Encyclopedia
"Breaking the Habit" is a song by American rock
band Linkin Park
. It was released as the sixth and final single from their second album, Meteora
. It became the fifth consecutive single from Meteora to reach #1 on the Billboard
Modern Rock Tracks
chart, a feat unmatched by any other artist in the history of that chart. It was also the third single from the album to reach #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks
chart. The song was a hit, peaking at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100
.
performances as no distorted guitar riffs are included nor are there any rapping vocals from Mike Shinoda, a style they would further explore on their later albums.
A common misconception about "Breaking the Habit" song is that it was written by lead singer Chester Bennington
, when in fact, band member Mike Shinoda
was the original writer. The song was based on a close friend's drug addiction. It is a common idea that it was written about Bennington due to his extended drug abuse issues, although Shinoda began writing the song before he met Bennington. The rumor has its roots in Bennington's reluctance to play the song at early live shows, because he was able to relate to it so closely.
In the album notes, it was said that the song was originally going to be an instrumental track lasting a little over three and a half minutes, but Shinoda was convinced by the band to change it. The instrumental was later released on the Underground 9.0 Fan Club as a demo track entitled "Drawing".
Mike Shinoda
had a lyrical idea of an emotion he had been trying to express for 5 to 6 years before the production of Meteora
. To him, the lyrics had sounded wrong until listening to the Drawing demo one night and they fell together. He showed the lyrics he wrote to the singer Chester Bennington
who read them and teared up, relating to the words to a point where he had difficulty performing the song live for almost a year after the release of Meteora. Contrary to popular belief and since Mike Shinoda wrote the lyrics, the song is not originally about Chester's problems or drug abuse. Though, it demonstrates the style of Meteora which is conveying pure emotion and letting the listener reflect their stories onto themselves.
Breaking the Habit was a new unexpected sound to the band when they discovered it, revealing at the end of the cycle of Meteora that the band wanted to explore song styles like it while they go into the studio to write their third album Minutes to Midnight
.
for "Breaking the Habit" was animated by Studio Gonzo, it was directed by Joe Hahn and co-produced by Eric Calderon. It uses an anime
-stylization which was supervised by Kazuto Nakazawa
, who had previously directed the animated segment of Quentin Tarantino
's Kill Bill Vol. 1 among other things. The video was shot of the band performing the song and was later rotoscope
d. The video has gone on to be a favorite amongst MTV
viewers, going as far as winning the 2004 MTV VMA Viewer's Choice Award.
As the video begins, a deceased man is shown lying on a car's roof. The surrounding area has been taped off and is littered with investigating police officers as well as onlookers. The video cuts to other characters, many shown to be depressed or frustrated with their lives. Noteworthy is a girl who breaks a mirror, then writes "I'm nothing" onto a sheet of paper. She then picks up a shard of broken glass, clenches it in her hand, then smears her blood on the note. Throughout the different scenes, a wisp of smoke meanders around the characters as their stories play out, and the ghostly face of Chester Bennington flashes various times. At a point, the ubiquitous smoke drifts over the deceased man's body and enters his mouth, and the video begins to seemingly rewind itself, revealing more about the characters and their situations. Suddenly, the body of the deceased man begins to rise, falling in reverse, towards the roof of a tall building. It is revealed that the body is that of Chester, who had apparently fallen to his death. Upon landing on the roof, he joins with the rest of the band in performing the remainder of the song.
There is also a second music video, entitled "Breaking the Habit (5.28.04 3:37 PM)", showing the band in their studio performing the song. The video was directed by Kimo Proudfoot
and is available on the Breaking the Habit DVD.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band Linkin Park
Linkin Park
Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries...
. It was released as the sixth and final single from their second album, Meteora
Meteora (album)
Meteora is the second studio album by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released on March 25, 2003 through Warner Bros. Records, following Reanimation, a collaboration album which featured remixes of songs included on debut studio album Hybrid Theory...
. It became the fifth consecutive single from Meteora to reach #1 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Modern Rock Tracks
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
chart, a feat unmatched by any other artist in the history of that chart. It was also the third single from the album to reach #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks
Mainstream Rock Tracks
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue...
chart. The song was a hit, peaking at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
.
Background
"Breaking the Habit" features a strong electronica-influenced opening, live strings and guitar. It is an exception from their previous nu metalNu metal
Nu metal is a subgenre of heavy metal. It is a fusion genre which combines elements of heavy metal with other genres, including grunge and hip hop...
performances as no distorted guitar riffs are included nor are there any rapping vocals from Mike Shinoda, a style they would further explore on their later albums.
A common misconception about "Breaking the Habit" song is that it was written by lead singer Chester Bennington
Chester Bennington
Chester Charles Bennington is an American musician, singer-songwriter and actor. He is best known as the lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Linkin Park....
, when in fact, band member Mike Shinoda
Mike Shinoda
Michael "Mike" Kenji Shinoda is an American musician, record producer, and artist. He is best known as the rapper, principal songwriter, keyboardist, vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Linkin Park, along with his co-frontman and lead singer Chester Bennington, and as a solo rapper in...
was the original writer. The song was based on a close friend's drug addiction. It is a common idea that it was written about Bennington due to his extended drug abuse issues, although Shinoda began writing the song before he met Bennington. The rumor has its roots in Bennington's reluctance to play the song at early live shows, because he was able to relate to it so closely.
In the album notes, it was said that the song was originally going to be an instrumental track lasting a little over three and a half minutes, but Shinoda was convinced by the band to change it. The instrumental was later released on the Underground 9.0 Fan Club as a demo track entitled "Drawing".
Mike Shinoda
Mike Shinoda
Michael "Mike" Kenji Shinoda is an American musician, record producer, and artist. He is best known as the rapper, principal songwriter, keyboardist, vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Linkin Park, along with his co-frontman and lead singer Chester Bennington, and as a solo rapper in...
had a lyrical idea of an emotion he had been trying to express for 5 to 6 years before the production of Meteora
Meteora (album)
Meteora is the second studio album by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released on March 25, 2003 through Warner Bros. Records, following Reanimation, a collaboration album which featured remixes of songs included on debut studio album Hybrid Theory...
. To him, the lyrics had sounded wrong until listening to the Drawing demo one night and they fell together. He showed the lyrics he wrote to the singer Chester Bennington
Chester Bennington
Chester Charles Bennington is an American musician, singer-songwriter and actor. He is best known as the lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Linkin Park....
who read them and teared up, relating to the words to a point where he had difficulty performing the song live for almost a year after the release of Meteora. Contrary to popular belief and since Mike Shinoda wrote the lyrics, the song is not originally about Chester's problems or drug abuse. Though, it demonstrates the style of Meteora which is conveying pure emotion and letting the listener reflect their stories onto themselves.
Breaking the Habit was a new unexpected sound to the band when they discovered it, revealing at the end of the cycle of Meteora that the band wanted to explore song styles like it while they go into the studio to write their third album Minutes to Midnight
Minutes to Midnight (album)
Minutes to Midnight is the third studio album by American rock band Linkin Park. Released on May 14, 2007, through Warner Bros. Records, the album debuted at number one in the United States and in 15 other countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada. The album was produced by Mike Shinoda...
.
Music video
The music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for "Breaking the Habit" was animated by Studio Gonzo, it was directed by Joe Hahn and co-produced by Eric Calderon. It uses an anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
-stylization which was supervised by Kazuto Nakazawa
Kazuto Nakazawa
is a Japanese character designer and director of numerous anime series and video games who also goes by the pseudonym . His directorial work includes Parasite Dolls, the anime sequence in Kill Bill volume 1, and the Moondrive segment of Genius Party Beyond...
, who had previously directed the animated segment of Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
's Kill Bill Vol. 1 among other things. The video was shot of the band performing the song and was later rotoscope
Rotoscope
Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films. Originally, recorded live-action film images were projected onto a frosted glass panel and re-drawn by an animator...
d. The video has gone on to be a favorite amongst MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
viewers, going as far as winning the 2004 MTV VMA Viewer's Choice Award.
As the video begins, a deceased man is shown lying on a car's roof. The surrounding area has been taped off and is littered with investigating police officers as well as onlookers. The video cuts to other characters, many shown to be depressed or frustrated with their lives. Noteworthy is a girl who breaks a mirror, then writes "I'm nothing" onto a sheet of paper. She then picks up a shard of broken glass, clenches it in her hand, then smears her blood on the note. Throughout the different scenes, a wisp of smoke meanders around the characters as their stories play out, and the ghostly face of Chester Bennington flashes various times. At a point, the ubiquitous smoke drifts over the deceased man's body and enters his mouth, and the video begins to seemingly rewind itself, revealing more about the characters and their situations. Suddenly, the body of the deceased man begins to rise, falling in reverse, towards the roof of a tall building. It is revealed that the body is that of Chester, who had apparently fallen to his death. Upon landing on the roof, he joins with the rest of the band in performing the remainder of the song.
There is also a second music video, entitled "Breaking the Habit (5.28.04 3:37 PM)", showing the band in their studio performing the song. The video was directed by Kimo Proudfoot
Kimo Proudfoot
Kimo Proudfoot is an American director of music videos and concert films.Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Proudfoot has directed videos for several artists & groups such as Fort Minor , Soulfly , No Warning , and Jay-Z & Linkin Park...
and is available on the Breaking the Habit DVD.
Live performances
"Breaking the Habit" was not initially performed in the tour for Meteora, until it received a full performance in November 2003. Since then, it has found itself in the majority of their concerts. An extended piano outro is often added at times where Bennington sings the chorus again.Track listing
Chart positions
| Chart (2004) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart | 23 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 43 |
| Dutch Top 40 Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting... |
19 |
| France Singles Chart | 27 |
| German Singles Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
25 |
| Ireland Singles Chart | 46 |
| New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart | 27 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 56 |
| UK Singles Chart | 39 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 20 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay Hot 100 Airplay The Hot 100 Airplay chart is a chart released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States. It measures radio airplay, and is one of the three component charts, along with the Hot Singles Sales and the Hot Digital Songs charts, that determine the chart positions of singles on the Billboard... |
20 |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream | 15 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks Adult Top 40 is a variation on the United States Billboard charts... |
25 |
| U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock Tracks Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue... |
1 |
| U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs... |
1 |
| U.S. Billboard Year-End | 79 |
Personnel
Linkin Park- Chester BenningtonChester BenningtonChester Charles Bennington is an American musician, singer-songwriter and actor. He is best known as the lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Linkin Park....
– vocals - Rob Bourdon – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Brad DelsonBrad DelsonBradford Phillip "Brad" Delson is an American guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist and one of the founding members of the Grammy Award winning rock band Linkin Park. He is also the A&R Representative for Machine Shop Recordings....
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Dave "Phoenix" Farrell – bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Joe HahnJoe HahnJoseph "Joe" Hahn , better known by his stage name, Mr. Hahn, is an American turntablist and director best known as the DJ and sampler for the band Linkin Park.-Personal Biography:...
– turntables, samplingSampling (music)In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically... - Mike ShinodaMike ShinodaMichael "Mike" Kenji Shinoda is an American musician, record producer, and artist. He is best known as the rapper, principal songwriter, keyboardist, vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Linkin Park, along with his co-frontman and lead singer Chester Bennington, and as a solo rapper in...
– KeyboardKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...