Songfacts®:

• This is the lead single from American rock band 30 Seconds To Mars' third studio album, This Is War.
• Frontman Jared Leto told Billboard magazine that he was excited by this song as soon as he wrote it. He said: "I had written a verse right as we were going to the airport-I literally almost missed the flight because I picked up the guitar and this song came out. You have that moment of discovery that's exciting."
• The epic video was filmed over the course of several nights in and around some of Los Angeles' most iconic landmarks. Frontman Jared Leto explained to MTV News: "Our rule as a band is, when we do videos - which, I don't often think of them as videos, more as short films - let's make sure the experience is amazing. We've been to China in the past. We've been to the Arctic, so really, to do this video, in one way, was much simpler... but it's also been more of a challenge. It's still equally huge in its own way."
  
  He added: "It's been an incredible adventure, but it's also been really difficult, because there are so many people, and we're shutting down streets of Los Angeles. Downtown, bridges, some tunnels, Hollywood Boulevard, Santa Monica Pier, we'll be up on Mulholland [Drive], overlooking the city. But the idea, the night rides, I just had some friends that were doing Critical Mass and Crank Mob and People's Ride in L.A. And it's that sort of serendipitous thing, where people started talking to me about it in my life, and then my friend got a fixed gear, and then another friend of mine got a fixed gear. I thought the world was really interesting, and I thought it would be a really beautiful backdrop for the video."
• The video was directed by Leto under the alias of Bartholomew Cubbins. Guitarist Tomo Milicevic said to MTV News: "This video was actually a lot of fun to make... it was really hard work, but we got to be home, and we showed a part of Los Angeles most people don't get to see. And, as a director, Jared knows how to make things look really beautiful. He's got a good eye for it."
• Leto told MusicRadar about the song: "In many ways, a cornerstone for this record. Half of (the song) was written in America and the other half was written in South Africa, which has proved to be a very lucky and magical place for the band. I wrote the first verse just as I was headed out the door for South Africa, and the minute I touched down I finished the rest of it. I took that as a good omen.
  
  Musically, it was a bit of a beast in that it was originally eight minutes long, so we had to do some trimming. I decided to change the chord structure of the bridge and just let the pieces fall where they may. (Producer) Steve Lillywhite really helped out with that, figuring out what made sense."
• When Leto was writing the lyrics to this song after he arrived in South Africa, he found inspiration in a book that was on his coffee table, which contained the line "the forgotten kings of Africa."