"Rebellion" is a song 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 Wale ...

band

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...

. The song was originally recorded by the band for their sixth studio album, '' The Hunting Party'', where it appears as the eighth track on the album. The song features

Armenian-American Armenian Americans () are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. They form the second largest community of the Armenian diaspora after Armenians in Russia. The first major wave of Armenian immig ...

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as woodwind doubler, doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and mor ...

Daron Malakian Daron Malakian (; born July 18, 1975) is an Armenian-American musician. He is the guitarist, songwriter, and second vocalist of the metal band System of a Down, and the lead vocalist, lead guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter of Da ...

from heavy metal band System of a Down, who plays additional

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

on the track. The track was released as the fourth official single from ''The Hunting Party'' on June 4, 2014 and was later released on American rock radio on October 13, 2014.

Composition

In a preview for the album by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', it was stated that "'Rebellion' uses a speedy riff and a jackhammer-fast drum line that splits the difference between hardcore and disco that, together, charges toward a chorus with the message “Rebellion – we lost before we start.” . In another preview for the album by AltWire, it has been described as "sonically resembling a ''Toxicity''-era System of a Down track with Daron Malakian's signature guitar sound on full display, as he delivers a blisteringly fast sixteenth note guitar riff behind

Mike Shinoda Michael Kenji Shinoda ( ; born February 11, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and graphic designer. He co-founded the rock band Linkin Park in 1996 and is the band's co-lead vocalist, as well as rhythm guitarist, ...

's sung lead vocals, breaking only momentarily for the chorus where

Chester Bennington Chester Charles Bennington (March 20, 1976 – July 20, 2017) was an American singer who was the lead vocalist of the rock band Linkin Park. He was also the lead vocalist of Grey Daze, Dead by Sunrise, and Stone Temple Pilots at various po ...

takes over the microphone to sing “we are the fortunate ones, imitations of rebellion”."

Cancelled music video

Mike Shinoda said that they were collecting live footages to make a music video for Rebellion but no music video exists as of now. However, a

lyric video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to promote the sale of m ...

was released on June 3, 2014. The video, in the vein of the lyric video from their previous single "

Wastelands Wasteland or waste land may refer to: * Desert or barren area * an uncultivated area of land, whether wooded or not, whether common land or not Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * ''Wasteland'' (DC Comics), 1987–1989 anthology-style horro ...

", features simplistic and linear white on black text slides with occasional special effects added to the lyrics, such as the words shattering into pieces, like the word "Rebellion" in the video. In December 2015, Mike Shinoda stated that he would love to put together a music video for "Rebellion". However, he felt that it would simply cost too much money and take too much time, and he believed that the time has come to move on to the next album.

Live performances

"Rebellion" debuted at the

Carnivores Tour The Carnivores Tour was a co-headlining concert tour by American rock bands Linkin Park and Thirty Seconds to Mars. It was launched in support of Linkin Park's sixth studio album '' The Hunting Party'' (2014) and Thirty Seconds to Mars' fourth st ...

, co-headlined with

Thirty Seconds to Mars Thirty Seconds to Mars (commonly stylized as 30 Seconds to Mars) is an American Rock music, rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1998. The band consists of brothers Jared Leto (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards) and Shannon Let ...

, alongside " Final Masquerade", and is a major song throughout 2014. At two performances,

joined the band to play guitar. The song was removed from all setlists in 2015's North American Tour, but Linkin Park brought it back for their festival set in summer 2015. When played live at ''The Hunting Party'' cycle, "Rebellion" has a short extended intro where the album intro is looped twice, and Linkin Park guitarist

Brad Delson Bradford Philip Delson (born December 1, 1977) is an American musician. He is the lead guitarist and one of the founding members of the rock band Linkin Park.

always played the song differently compared to

. In 2017, the song returned at the Linkin Park and Friends: Celebrate Life in Honor of Chester Bennington memorial concert at

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appears once again to play guitar and sing

's parts. System of a Down bandmate

Shavo Odadjian Shavarsh "Shavo" Odadjian (; born April 22, 1974) is an Armenian-American musician, best known as the bassist of nu metal band System of a Down. He also plays bass in a Trap music, trap group called North Kingsley and in the metal band Seven Hou ...

played bass, and

Sum 41 Sum 41 was a Canadian rock band formed in Ajax, Ontario, in 1996. The band's final lineup consisted of Deryck Whibley (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), Dave Baksh (lead guitar, backing vocals), Jason McCaslin (bass, backing vocals), Tom T ...

Frank Zummo Franklin Charles Zummo (born July 2, 1978) is an American musician, best known as the drummer for rock bands Sum 41 and Street Drum Corps. Career Zummo is one of the founding members of Street Drum Corps. He has performed as the drummer for s ...

played drums.

Brad Delson Bradford Philip Delson (born December 1, 1977) is an American musician. He is the lead guitarist and one of the founding members of the rock band Linkin Park.

Dave Farrell David Michael Farrell (born February 8, 1977), also known by his stage name Phoenix, is an American musician, best known as the bassist of the rock band Linkin Park. He was also a member of Tasty Snax, a ska punk band. Early life Farrell wa ...

and

Rob Bourdon Robert Gregory Bourdon (born January 20, 1979) is an American musician, best known as a co-founding member and the former drummer of the rock band Linkin Park. He remained in the band until their hiatus in 2017; when the band members began work ...

, however, did not perform during the song.

Reception

In a track-by-track review by ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'', the song was given a positive response and explained as "After a chomping intro riff — maybe the gnarliest guitar part on the record — Linkin Park once again brandish their Euro-metal broadswords and get medieval on our asses...while the song speaks to the anger of being American and having nothing to really rebel against, the band plays with the urgency of insurgents." ''Sound and Motion Magazine'' cited the bridge as the song's highlight, and stated "With heavy guitar and drum line this track sounds similar to the sound that first brought Linkin Park into the limelight which should make many loyal fans ecstatic."

Track listing

Personnel

;Linkin Park *

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

Brad Delson Bradford Philip Delson (born December 1, 1977) is an American musician. He is the lead guitarist and one of the founding members of the rock band Linkin Park.

– guitar * Dave "Phoenix" Farrell –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

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

– sampling,

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

– vocals,

, keyboards ;Additional musicians *

– additional guitar

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2014 songs 2014 singles Linkin Park songs Songs written by Mike Shinoda Warner Records singles Song recordings produced by Mike Shinoda