Linkin Park recently released the career-spanning greatest hits album Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000-2023). As part of that release, the band made one of the heaviest tracks of their career, the Minutes To Midnight-era belter QWERTY available to streaming services for the first time.
The choice to include the much sought-after QWERTY in the collection has been welcomed by Linkin Park fans, however despite what the band themselves and media outlets such as this one think not Linkin Park fans believe QWERTY belongs in the conversation of 'heaviest Linkin Park song'. As result a rather heated debate has broken out online with fans arguing steadfastly for the songs they consider to be the heaviest in the Linkin Park catalogue.
At Maniacs we're not ones to pass up the chance to engage in some healthy debate, so we thought we'd combine this with one of our other favourite pastimes, making lists and create a playlist of what we believe are the five heaviest Linkin Park songs of all time, and yes, for what it's worth QWERTY made the grade.
The 5 Heaviest Linkin Park Songs
Given Up
Blackout
QWERTY
Hit The Floor
Points of Authority
Linkin Park teased Papercuts with the never-before-released track Friendly Fire. Recorded during the 2017 sessions for their seventh album One More Light, it features a powerhouse vocal performance from the late Chester Bennington. Cinematic keys and a delicate beat underline emotionally charged verses as humming guitar uplifts the introspective chorus, “We’re pulling apart for no reason, we’re pulling a trigger in a useless war…what are we fighting for.” It embodies the style, soul, and spirit of classic LP. The song arrived accompanied by an official video, directed and edited by long-time collaborator Mark Fiore which features never-before-seen studio and live footage.
Speaking about Friendly Fire guitarist Brad Delson added, “‘Friendly Fire’ was always one of our favourite songs from the One More Light sessions. Something about it wasn’t quite right so as close as it got to the finish line, we chose to set it aside for later. When we started looking for an unreleased track to include on our greatest hits collection, I was blown away by the power of the song, the power of the storytelling, the power of the vocal, and the sonic landscape and I actually thought that it was closer than maybe we had realized at the time. We got together to work on it and connect some of the missing pieces that for whatever reason hadn’t revealed themselves during the recording of One More Light. I can’t wait for people to hear it. It’s such a beautiful, compelling, heartbreaking, hopeful story and it really resonates with me today.”
Buy Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000-2023)
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