"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 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 ...

. 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 ( hy, ամերիկահայեր, ''amerikahayer'') 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 ...

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where ...

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

from heavy metal band

System of a Down System of a Down (also known as SoaD or simply System) is an Armenian-American heavy metal band formed in Glendale, California, in 1994. Since 1997, the band has consisted of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards); Daron Malakian (guitar, voc ...

, who plays additional

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 stri ...

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, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', it was stated that "'Rebellion' uses a speedy riff and a jackhammer-fast drum line that splits the difference between that together charges towards a chorus with a message. 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 (; 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 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 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 ...

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 of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music 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 ...

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

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

, alongside "

Final Masquerade "Final Masquerade" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. The song was originally recorded by the band for their sixth studio album, '' The Hunting Party'', where it appears as the eleventh track on the album and serves as the fifth and fin ...

", and is a major song throughout 2014. At two performances, Daron Malakian 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 always played the song differently compared to Daron Malakian. In 2017, the song returned at the Linkin Park and Friends: Celebrate Life in Honor of Chester Bennington memorial concert at

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 ...

. Daron Malakian appears once again to play guitar and sing

's parts.

bandmate

Shavo Odadjian Shavarsh "Shavo" Odadjian ( hy, Շավարշ "Շավո" Օդաջյան; born April 22, 1974) is an Armenian-American musician, best known as the bassist of heavy metal band System of a Down. He also plays bass in a trap group called North Kingsl ...

played bass, and

Sum 41 Sum 41 is a Canadian rock band from Ajax, Ontario. Originally called Kaspir, the band was formed in 1996 and currently consists of Deryck Whibley (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), Dave Baksh (lead guitar, backing vocals), Jason "Cone" McCas ...

Frank Zummo Frank C. Zummo 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. Zummo has performed as the drummer for several other bands, bot ...

played drums. Brad Delson,

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 ...

and

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 ...

, 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 advertise ...

'', 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 act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

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 ...

* Brad Delson – guitar * 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 ...

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 ...

– sampling, programming *

– vocals,

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

;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