"Crawling" 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 Wales ...

band

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. The band's current lineup comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn and drummer ...

. It is the second single from their debut album, ''

Hybrid Theory ''Hybrid Theory'' is the debut studio album by American Rock music, rock band Linkin Park, released on October 24, 2000, through Warner Bros. Records. Recorded at NRG Recording Studios, NRG Recordings in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, North Holl ...

'', and is the fifth track on the album. It was released on March 1, 2001, as their second single and won a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

for

Best Hard Rock Performance The Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance was an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards until 2011. The academy recognized hard rock music artists for the first time at the 31st Grammy Awards (1989). The category was ori ...

in 2002. In January 2011, "Crawling" was released in a Linkin Park DLC pack for ''

Rock Band 3 ''Rock Band 3'' is a 2010 music video game developed by Harmonix. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts, respectively, in late October 2010. Mad Catz took over both roles and re-released the title on N ...

''.

Background

"Crawling" is one of the few songs on ''Hybrid Theory'' that do not prominently feature

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 vocali ...

's rap sung lyrics. The intro to "Crawling" has been remixed in live versions over the years. Since 2008's Projekt Revolution, Mike Shinoda has rapped the first verse of "Hands Held High" over the intro to '' Reanimation'' version of "Crawling", titled "Krwlng" (featuring

Staind Staind ( ) is an American rock band from Springfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The original lineup consisted of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Aaron Lewis, lead guitarist Mike Mushok, bassist and backing vocalist Johnny April, and dr ...

frontman

Aaron Lewis Aaron Lewis (born April 13, 1972) is an American musician who is best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and founding member of the nu metal band Staind, with whom he released seven studio albums. Since 2010, he has pursued a solo ca ...

). In 2009, Shinoda rapped two verses of "Hands Held High" over the intro of "Crawling", which first verse started with an

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

or a bassline before the ''Reanimation'' intro started, in which Shinoda raps the second verse. Singer

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, a ...

remarked that "Crawling" was the most difficult Linkin Park song to sing live, stating "Crawling has caused me the most trouble live more than any other song." Bennington also commented on the meaning of "Crawling" by stating it was inspired by his own battles with substance abuse. "Crawling is about feeling like I had no control over myself in terms of drugs and alcohol, hence the line "These wounds they will not heal...". The song is recorded in the key of C# minor. A live version of "Crawling" was included as a B-side to " Breaking the Habit".

Music video

The video was directed by the

Brothers Strause Greg and Colin Strause, known professionally as The Brothers Strause, are American film directors, producers and special effects artists. They are known for directing the 2007 film '' Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem'' and the 2010 film ''Skyline.'' ...

. It portrays a young woman's inner conflict dealing with an abusive relationship. The woman (portrayed by Katelyn Rosaasen) closes off to the rest of the world, represented with the

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wor ...

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...

s forming around her. By the end, the crystals recede. This video was supposed to have a "darker" ending to it when the first synopsis was written, being a take on ''

Species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

'' where a psycho fan kills the band, but Warner Bros. rejected the idea, and the final ending was written in its place. "Crawling" was the first music video with

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

in the band. Phoenix returned to Linkin Park just before they began work on this video. As of December 2022, the music video for "Crawling" has over 370 million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, 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 ...

. The video was nominated for Best Rock video on MTV's

Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

. It lost to Limp Bizkit's "

Rollin Rollin or Rollin' may refer to: Music Albums * ''Rollin (Bay City Rollers album), 1974 * ''Rollin (Freddie Hubbard album), 1982 * ''Rollin (Texas Hippie Coalition album) or the title song, 2010 * ''Rollin (B1A4 EP) or the title song, 2017 * ' ...

Bonus content

The bonus feature on the CD is the same footage that is a hidden

easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...

on ''

Frat Party at the Pankake Festival ''Frat Party at the Pankake Festival'' is the first documentary DVD by Linkin Park, released on November 20, 2001 through Warner Bros. Records and Warner Reprise Video. The DVD was produced by Bill Berg-Hillinger, Joe Hahn, David May and Angela ...

''. However, the footage here is uncensored, while the footage on "Frat Party" is censored. A "Strictly Limited Numbered Edition" DVD single was also released which includes a live version of "Crawling" that was performed at the Dragon Festival, though the audio is dubbed with the studio version of the song. The video has a multiple camera angle feature which allows viewers to see different camera angles of the performance with the use of the DVD remote control. The DVD also has four 30-second live snippets of "One Step Closer", "By Myself", "With You", and "A Place for My Head". The live video of "Crawling" is available on

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

channel, which was uploaded on February 9, 2010. The video is also available as a DVD extra to "Frat Party at the Pankake Festival".

Cover versions

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...

frontman

Chris Martin Christopher Anthony John Martin (born 2 March 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist, pianist, rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Coldplay. Born in Exeter, Devon, he went to Univ ...

performed a solo piano rendition of "Crawling" live in early August 2017. The performance was a tribute to Chester Bennington, who died on July 20, 2017, from suicide. The song was performed by the band along with

Bring Me the Horizon Bring Me the Horizon (often abbreviated as BMTH) are a British rock band formed in Sheffield in 2004. The group consists of lead vocalist Oliver Sykes, guitarist Lee Malia, bassist Matt Kean, drummer Matt Nicholls and keyboardist Jordan Fis ...

vocalist

Oliver Sykes Oliver Scott Sykes (born 20 November 1986) is a British singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Bring Me the Horizon. He also founded the apparel company Drop Dead Clothing, and created a graphic novel. Early l ...

filling in for Chester's vocals and DJ and record producer

Zedd Anton Zaslavski (russian: Антон Заславский; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a Russian-born German disc jockey, DJ, record producer, and songwriter. Zedd grew up and began his musical journey in Kaise ...

on drums during the Linkin Park and Friends: Celebrate Life in Honor of Chester Bennington show at the

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018. The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...

on October 27, 2017.

frontman

performed a tribute version of "Crawling" live on stage on August 10, 2017, at

Look Park The Frank Newhall Look Memorial Park, commonly referred to as Look Park, is a privately run non-profit park in the village of Florence in Northampton, Massachusetts in Hampshire County. The park is open year-round. History Look Park, consis ...

Florence, Massachusetts Florence is a village in the northwestern portion of the city of Northampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. During the 19th century, Florence was a thriving manufacturing village shaped by progressive ideas on religion, abolitionism, and edu ...

Jared Leto Jared Joseph Leto ( ; born December 26, 1971) is an American actor and musician. Known for his method acting in a variety of roles, he has received numerous accolades over a career spanning three decades, including an Academy Award and a Golde ...

of 30 Seconds to Mars included Crawling in a mashup tribute to Bennington. American

band New Years Day performed a cover version on their 2018 EP ''Diary of a Creep''. A cover version by

Dream State Dream State are a Welsh rock band from South Wales formed in 2014. They signed to Australian record label UNFD in 2017 and have released two EPs (their debut ''Consequences'' in 2015 and ''Recovery'' in 2018) as well as a studio album '' Primro ...

is featured on the 2018 compilation album ''

Songs That Saved My Life ''Songs That Saved My Life'' is a compilation album by American record label Hopeless Records, in partnership with Sub City Records, released on November 9, 2018. The album contains various studio covers from post-hardcore, pop punk, and altern ...

''. American heavy metal band

Bad Wolves Bad Wolves is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in 2017. Initially finding fame from their first single, a cover of the Cranberries' 1994 hit "Zombie (The Cranberries song)#Bad Wolves cover, Zombie", the band proceeded to fi ...

performed a cover version on their

Patreon Patreon (, ) is a membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. It helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers. Patreon charges a co ...

account in May 2020.

In other media

At the

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

and

Sinead Kerr Sinead Houston Kerr (born 30 August 1978) is a Scottish former competitive ice dancer who represented Great Britain. She teamed up with her brother John Kerr in 2000. They are two-time (2009, 2011) European bronze medalists and the 2004–201 ...

representing

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

performed the ''Reanimation'' version of "Krwling" in the

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

ice dance Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...

final.

Commercial performance

The song has seen a success in many countries. In the United Kingdom, the song debuted and peaked at number 16 and stayed on the chart for eight weeks. It reached the top ten in Canada and Austria. It reached the top thirty and top forty in many countries, it was more successful than "One Step Closer". However, it peaked only at number 79 in the United States, becoming their lowest charting single until they released "Given Up", which peaked at number 99, although it managed to peak at number five on the Modern Rock Track Chart and number three on the Mainstream Rock Track Chart. Despite the low peak, the song remained for 20 weeks at the bottom of the chart, which is longer than the 18 weeks spent by "One Step Closer".

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic for original release only. Linkin Park *

– vocals *

– rap vocals, keyboards, programming, samples, rhythm guitar, artwork and production *

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

– guitars, bass guitar *

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 ...

, samples, synthesizers, artwork *

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 le ...

– 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. Exc ...

Production * Don Gilmore – producer,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

* Steve Sisco – Engineering * John Ewing Jr. – Additional engineering,

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

* Matt Griffin – Engineering assistance * Andy Wallace – mixing *

Brian Gardner Brian Knapp Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner, is an American mastering engineer. He has worked on a number of recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk and dance- ...

–

Audio mastering Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via met ...

, digital editing *

Jeff Blue Jeffrey Blue (born November 21, 1967) is a Artists and repertoire, A&R executive, record-producer, and songwriter who is currently an A&R consultant for Atlantic Records. He has worked as the Senior Vice President of A&R and staff producer for Wa ...

– executive producer Artwork *Frank Maddocks –

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

*James Minchin III – photography

References

External links

"Crawling" official music video
{{authority control 2000 songs 2001 singles Linkin Park songs Songs based on actual events Songs about drugs Songs about alcohol Songs written by Mike Shinoda Warner Records singles Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance