Foreword

Album: Meteora (2003)
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Songfacts®:

  • The "glass" noise you hear at the end is in fact a CD-R being smashed by Mike Shinoda. If you turn the volume up just before the smash you hear a gasp. The reason he smashed it was because the data on it had corrupt. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Dean - Chalfont, England
  • The Meteora album was recorded in four places: In the band's tour bus; at Mike Shinoda's house; at NRG Studios, CA; and at Soundtrack Studios, NY. This intro was recorded at Mike's house, after the rest of the album was finished. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Nick - Paramus, NJ
  • Mike Shinoda explained: "'Foreword' is just an intro. If you know what Foley work is, it's my first attempt at Foley work. Basically, it's noises I made in the studio breaking things. We have this CD player and CD burner attached to my computer, which basically just ate s--t during the writing process. It gave Chester and I such a hard time! Burning CDs which should have taken a minute were taking 20 minutes, 30 minutes, to an hour. I just got so frustrated with the thing, I put it to the side knowing that I was going to beat it with a baseball bat and that's what I did. I smashed it with a baseball bat on metal table." >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Tim - PGH, PA
  • For Meteora, their second studio album, the band reunited with their Hybrid Theory producer, Don Gilmore. Gilmore had also produced albums for Good Charlotte, Eve 6, and Lit. In a 2017 Billboard interview, Gilmore noted a deeper level of trust from the band on their sessions for the second album. "There was a trust element that was there on Meteora that maybe wasn't quite there [before] - at times it was a bit contentious during the Hybrid Theory sessions. But on the Meteora sessions, not so much, because if I asked them to do stuff that was outside of their comfort zone, they were fine with going there and trying to find those special moments. And they did it again on that one too."

Comments: 6

  • James from Hollis, Nhi hace actually gone as far as to listen to a couple of versions i found of this song (original, off CD, etc) and i think that some versions have the right sound quality etc. to hear the gasp, i heard it when i played the CD.
  • Mike R from Methuen, MaI heard the gasp,its at 9 sec its very short
  • Kayla from Rancho Cucamonga, Caive never heard the gasp.... hhhmmm *rawr* i love the power in this "song" even tho its so short
  • Kelly from Hybridgirl_kelly, Lai've never heard the gasp either. and i've listen to it with the volume all the way up.
  • Scott Baddwin from Edmonton, EnglandI think this intro is funny.First u hear thunder,than Mike smashing a CD-R then a gasp then Glass Beraking,then Softly goes on tho the next song.
  • Rabi from Zionsville, InI have listened to this song with high quality headphones ridiculously loudly, but have never heard the gasp.
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