"Castle of Glass" is a song written by American rock band Linkin Park for their fifth studio album, '' Living Things''.Linkin Park - Castle of Glass
'' Linkin Park'' The song was 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 ...

. The song was released as a promotional single for

Danger Close Games Danger Close Games (formerly DreamWorks Interactive LLC and EA Los Angeles) was an American video game developer based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in March 1995 as joint venture between DreamWorks SKG and Microsoft (later moved to M ...

's 2012 release, '' Medal of Honor: Warfighter'', as with Linkin Park's previous contribution to the ''

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valo ...

'' series, " The Catalyst". The single was released on February 2, 2013, in physical format and on March 22, 2013, it was released as a digital single on iTunes. A Mike Shinoda remix is featured on Linkin Park's second remix album, '' Recharged''. The remix version is also featured in the video game ''

Need for Speed Rivals A need is dissatisfaction at a point of time and in a given context. Needs are distinguished from wants. In the case of a need, a deficiency causes a clear adverse outcome: a dysfunction or death. In other words, a need is something required for a ...

'' as part of the soundtrack.

Composition

"Castle of Glass" uses electronic elements from the band's previous studio album, '' A Thousand Suns''. '' Loudwire'' noted in their ''Living Things'' review that the song features "very different electronic elements and unique sounding samples that the band have added to their musical palette." Yet is one of the most direct that the band has done, with a traditional song structure and a melody reminiscent of

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

music.

Reception

"Castle of Glass" has received mixed to positive reviews from critics. '' Billboard'' wrote in their review of ''Living Things'', "A folk song with LP's muscle, "Castle of Glass" uses compelling songwriting, extended metaphors and a simple but radical (for Linkin Park) arrangement to offer one of the album's most intriguing tracks." A staff reviewer at Sputnikmusic wrote in their mixed review of ''Living Things'' that the song sounded too similar to " Powerless" and that the song "would have been better if it wasn’t inferior to the similar sounding final track." AltSounds described "Castle of Glass" in their album review as "a drawn-out filler track that keeps to a crawling pace, is strangely passive and doesn’t leave you feeling very inspired." The song was nominated for the "Best Song in a Game" award at the 2012

Spike Video Game Awards The Spike Video Game Awards (in short VGAs, known as the VGX for the final show) was an annual award show hosted by American television network Spike from 2003 to 2013 that recognized the best computer and video games of the year. Produced by ...

Music video

The music video for "Castle of Glass" was recorded on August 1, 2012, and it contains footage from the

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the p ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

'' Medal of Honor: Warfighter''. It was released on Linkin Park's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel, linkinparktv, on October 10, 2012. The music video shows a young boy being told that his father has been killed in action. He and his mother mourn the death as the fallen

SEAL Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

s teammates and their families try to comfort them. The band is shown playing in a storm where shattered pieces of glass circle the band. Towards the end the boy goes through his father's possessions, fast forwarding to him (played by

Marine Corps Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...

Scott Levy) becoming a SEAL, like his father before him. At the end of the video the man is seen telling a girl the heartbreaking news of her family member, as she too cries. The video hints at the boy and the woman being the family of Rabbit, who died in the previous game and the teammates being Mother and Preacher. True to the ''Medal of Honor'' philosophy, "Castle of Glass" highlights the emotional realities soldiers and their families face far from the battlefield. The video ends with a quote from

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

, shown in all-caps: The music video for "Castle of Glass" is also dedicated to the movie '' The Messenger'' as Bennington's favorite movie. The band's part of the music video was filmed entirely in front of a green screen, with the production being handled by Mothership and Digital Domain. Its post-production relied heavily on CGI animation and After-effects. Special effects have a prominent use in this music video, and also continues the motif of a world falling apart, as with the previous ''Living Things'' videos. One of these is an opening shot of Mike Shinoda, beginning with a shot under, moving progressively upwards until the walls around him start to crumble. The music video also picks up on suspended animation techniques, which sees objects in a fixed position in air, literally suspended, with a central subject being the one animate in this point of fixed time. As of February 2023, the music video for "Castle of Glass" has over 550 million views on YouTube.

Live performances

The song made its live debut at the 2012

on December 7, 2012. Chester, Mike, Brad and Phoenix all sang during the last chorus. On the next day, the song was performed at the 23rd Annual

KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas Almost Acoustic Christmas is an annual concert run by the Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM. The first show was held in December 1989, though then it was simply called the KROQ Xmas Bash. In 1990 the show became bigger and attracted increasingl ...

Festival. Afterwards, the song became a regular spot on tour setlists, and while it has been aborted on a few occasions, it hasn't been dropped consistently from setlists. Starting from the touring cycle for ''The Hunting Party'' in 2014 and continuing into 2017's One More Light World Tour, the band debuted an "Experience Version", which combines the studio version's first verse and chorus with the bridge and ending of the Mike Shinoda remix from ''Recharged''. Throughout the tours, the band also added elements from other songs, such as '' A Thousand Sunss "The Radiance", " It's Goin' Down", etc. During the One More Light World Tour, the Experience Version received a new ending, in which Mike would usually rap with a random verse. When Mike Shinoda briefly brought

Fort Minor Fort Minor was a hip hop side project by American musician Mike Shinoda, who is better known as the rhythm guitarist, keyboardist, producer, and rapper of the rock band Linkin Park. The project's only album, '' The Rising Tied'', was released ...

back from hiatus in 2015, "Castle of Glass" was placed on the band's setlist, in which he uses a remix of the ''Recharged'' remix mashed up with ''

The Rising Tied ''The Rising Tied'' is the only studio album by Fort Minor, the hip hop side project by Linkin Park rapper Mike Shinoda. The album was released on November 22, 2005, through Warner Bros. Records and Shinoda's label Machine Shop Recordings. S ...

s "Kenji". At the Linkin Park and Friends: Celebrate Life in Honor of Chester Bennington tribute concert, the studio version of the song was played for the first time after the Living Things World Tour, with

Adrian Young Adrian Samuel Young (born August 26, 1969) is an American drummer and member of the rock bands No Doubt and Dreamcar. Biography When not performing, in the studio or touring, Young likes to spend his time out on the golf course, as he is an a ...

Tom Dumont Thomas Martin Dumont (born January 11, 1968) is an American guitarist and producer. Dumont is a member of third wave ska band No Doubt, and during the band's hiatus, he began Invincible Overlord as a side project and produced Matt Costa's ''So ...

and

Tony Kanal Tony Ashwin Kanal (born 27 August 1970) is a British-American musician, record producer, songwriter, and animal rights activist. Kanal is the bassist and co-writer for the American rock bands No Doubt and Dreamcar. His musical work outside of t ...

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. For most of their career, the band has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Since the mid-1990s, the ...

alongside Alanis Morissette as guests. The song was played one step higher than normal to accommodate Morissette's vocal range. Mike Shinoda also played "Castle of Glass" consistently during his solo tour in support of ''

Post Traumatic ''Post Traumatic'' is the debut solo studio album by Linkin Park vocalist Mike Shinoda. Released on June 15, 2018 under Shinoda's own name instead of his Fort Minor moniker, it is his second solo studio album after Fort Minor's ''The Rising Ti ...

''. The song was performed with him playing piano and was arranged two and a half steps higher.

Personnel

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, ...

– vocals *

– lead vocals,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

, strings,

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

, piano * Brad Delson – acoustic guitar, backing vocals, sampler * Dave "Phoenix" Farrell –

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 ...

, backing vocals *

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 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 ...

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 ...

– synthesizers, sampling, programming

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control Linkin Park songs 2013 singles Song recordings produced by Rick Rubin Songs written by Mike Shinoda Warner Records singles Video game theme songs Medal of Honor (video game series) Rock ballads 2012 songs 2012 singles Electronic rock songs Folk rock songs