"Blackout" is a

promotional single A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band Linkin Park. It is the ninth track from their 2010 album, '' A Thousand Suns''. The song was written by the band and produced by co-lead vocalist

Mike Shinoda Michael Kenji Shinoda (; ja, 篠田賢治, Shinoda Kenji; born February 11, 1977) is an American musician, singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer. He co-founded the rock band Linkin Park in 1996 and was the band's collaborative vocal ...

and

Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is the co-founder (alongside Russell Simmons) of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popula ...

. Despite the lack of

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

elements, the song does contain significant amounts of screaming (the choruses comprise solely of it), making for one of the more coarse-sounding songs on ''A Thousand Suns.'' It also features

Chester Bennington Chester Charles Bennington (March 20, 1976 – July 20, 2017) was an American singer and songwriter who was best known as the lead vocalist of rock band Linkin Park. He was also the lead vocalist of the bands Grey Daze, Dead by Sunrise, ...

singing on most of the song with

singing near the end along with Bennington.

Promotion

On August 18, 2010, Linkin Park posted a "Linkin Park TV" episode showing

doing freestyle vocals over the song. The remix by

Renholdër Daniel Patrick “Danny” Lohner, frequently known as Renholdër, is an American musician. He worked with Trent Reznor on numerous occasions, both with Nine Inch Nails and on the now defunct Tapeworm project. He has also played for Methods of M ...

was also used in '' Underworld: Awakening''. A live version of the promotional single was used for the B-side of the single " Burning in the Skies" by the band in the same album. The song was debuted for the live, alongside the single "Burning in the Skies", in Australia in late 2010. It featured sampled vocals from Bennington, for the bridge. The song was played in many concerts for the

A Thousand Suns World Tour A Thousand Suns World Tour was the worldwide sixth concert tour by American rock band Linkin Park. The tour supported the band's fourth studio album '' A Thousand Suns''. The tour ranked 35th in Pollstar's "Top 50 Worldwide Tour (Mid-Year)", ea ...

and in some concerts for the promotion of '' Living Things''. The opening instrumental of the song was also performed as a segue into Papercut during The Hunting Party and the Carnivores Tour. "Blackout" was a part of the "Linkin Park Track Pack"

downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enabli ...

for the video game '' Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock''. The song was also used in

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

's '' FIFA 11''.

Personnel

– lead vocals,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

– keyboards, vocals,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, sampler * Brad Delson –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, percussion, synthesizer *

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, keyboard, backing vocals *

Joe Hahn Joseph Hahn (born March 15, 1977) is an American musician, DJ, director and visual artist best known as the DJ of the American rock band Linkin Park, doing the scratching, turntables, sampling, and programming for all seven of Linkin Park's ...

–

turntables A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, sampler, backing vocals, programming *

Rob Bourdon Robert Gregory Bourdon (born January 20, 1979) is an American musician, best known as the drummer and co-founding member of the American rock band Linkin Park. Early life Bourdon was born in Calabasas, California. He received classical piano l ...

– drums, percussion

Charts

Release history

References

{{authority control 2010 songs Linkin Park songs Song recordings produced by Rick Rubin Songs written by Mike Shinoda Industrial rock songs American hard rock songs Electronic rock songs