Somewhere I Belong
Encyclopedia
"Somewhere I Belong" is a song by American rock
band Linkin Park
. It was released as the first single from their second studio album Meteora
and entered the top ten on the majority of the charts
on which it appeared. In January 2011, "Somewhere I Belong" was released in a Linkin Park DLC
pack for Rock Band 3
.
, and the following week it debuted on the Hot 100
, the official U.S. chart. The song peaked at number thirty-two in its fifteenth week and remained on the chart until its twentieth week. The song entered the top ten on the majority of the Billboard charts on which it appeared. While it proved to be highly popular on modern rock
radio, it reached number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks
chart and on the Modern Rock Tracks
chart as well. It was listed at #24 in the alternative songs decade end chart.
In Canada "Somewhere I Belong" was officially released to radio in March 2003. The song reached the top five on the Canadian Singles Chart
where it peaked at #3. "Somewhere I Belong" is one of the highest charted Linkin Park
songs in Canada
.
The song was released in Australia
, Europe
and New Zealand
in May 2003. "Somewhere I Belong" peaked at number ten in the UK Singles Chart
. Although Linkin Park reached number one in New Zealand
and the top ten in the Ireland
, Japan
and Canada
, it was a moderate top twenty success in Germany
, Italy
, Austria
, Netherland
, Sweden
and Australia
. "Somewhere I Belong" reached the top thirty in France
and Belgium
in early 2003. The song was also featured in a profile video for Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt
at the 2008 Beijing
Olympics.
Conservative commentator Mark Levin's
son selected the song's instrumental as the bumper music for his father's radio talk show
.
During the video, on a dresser sits several props, most notably figures of Sazabi from Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
, Wing Zero Custom from Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
, and RX-78GP01-Fb Gundam Full Vernian "Zephyranthes" from Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
. At the last time they sing the chorus, the bed sets on fire, and forms the Hybrid Theory Soldier. Near the ending of the video, tall, long-legged, tusked creatures that were on a painting behind Chester's bed march past, even at one point the creature paintings seemed to move before stopping again. It was awarded as Best Rock Video at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards
, and was the first music video broadcast on Fuse TV
. MTV
's James Montgomery named the video as Linkin Park's fifth best, saying that while the video is "massive", he said "it's the minimal touches that make it one of their all-time best", and called the end result a "stirring, powerful piece".
10" vinyl
Production
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band Linkin Park
Linkin Park
Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries...
. It was released as the first single from their second studio album Meteora
Meteora (album)
Meteora is the second studio album by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released on March 25, 2003 through Warner Bros. Records, following Reanimation, a collaboration album which featured remixes of songs included on debut studio album Hybrid Theory...
and entered the top ten on the majority of the charts
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
on which it appeared. In January 2011, "Somewhere I Belong" was released in a Linkin Park DLC
Downloadable content
Downloadable content is official additional content for a video game distributed through the Internet. Downloadable content can be of several types, ranging from a single in-game outfit to an entirely new, extensive storyline, similarly to an expansion pack. As such, DLC may add new game modes,...
pack for Rock Band 3
Rock Band 3
Rock Band 3 is a music video game, developed by Harmonix Music Systems. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts, respectively, with Mad Catz taking over both roles a year later. It is the third main game in the Rock Band series...
.
Chart performance
"Somewhere I Belong" was officially released to U.S. radio on March 18, 2003. The song reached the top thirty on the Hot 100 AirplayHot 100 Airplay
The Hot 100 Airplay chart is a chart released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States. It measures radio airplay, and is one of the three component charts, along with the Hot Singles Sales and the Hot Digital Songs charts, that determine the chart positions of singles on the Billboard...
, and the following week it debuted on the Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, the official U.S. chart. The song peaked at number thirty-two in its fifteenth week and remained on the chart until its twentieth week. The song entered the top ten on the majority of the Billboard charts on which it appeared. While it proved to be highly popular on modern rock
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
radio, it reached number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks
Mainstream Rock Tracks
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue...
chart and on the Modern Rock Tracks
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
chart as well. It was listed at #24 in the alternative songs decade end chart.
In Canada "Somewhere I Belong" was officially released to radio in March 2003. The song reached the top five on the Canadian Singles Chart
Canadian Singles Chart
The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays....
where it peaked at #3. "Somewhere I Belong" is one of the highest charted Linkin Park
Linkin Park
Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries...
songs in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
The song was released in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
in May 2003. "Somewhere I Belong" peaked at number ten in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. Although Linkin Park reached number one in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and the top ten in the Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, it was a moderate top twenty success in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Netherland
Netherland
Netherland is a critically acclaimed novel by Joseph O'Neill. It concerns the life of a Dutchman living in New York in the wake of the September 11 attacks who takes up cricket and starts playing at the Staten Island Cricket Club.-Plot summary:...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. "Somewhere I Belong" reached the top thirty in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
in early 2003. The song was also featured in a profile video for Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt
The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. , is a Jamaican sprinter and a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and the 4×100 metres relay...
at the 2008 Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
Olympics.
Conservative commentator Mark Levin's
Mark Levin
Mark Reed Levin is a lawyer, author and the host of American syndicated radio show The Mark Levin Show. Levin served in the cabinet of President Ronald Reagan and was a chief of staff for Attorney General Edwin Meese...
son selected the song's instrumental as the bumper music for his father's radio talk show
The Mark Levin Show
The Mark Levin Show is a conservative talk radio show hosted by Mark Levin. It is currently the fourth most listened talk radio show. The radio show is a nationally broadcast program with over 8.5 million listeners.- Syndication :...
.
Music video
The video was directed by the band's turntablist, Joseph Hahn. It presents the band playing the song in front of a fire, with occasional shots of Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda in front of a waterfall with what appears to be monks around them. The doors in what is supposedly Bennington's room has the Chinese characters for fire and water, which possibly represent the waterfall and burning fire behind Shinoda while rapping.During the video, on a dresser sits several props, most notably figures of Sazabi from Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
is a 1988 anime film set in Gundam's Universal Century timeline of Gundam, specifically U.C. 0093.Making its theatrical debut on March 12, 1988, Char's Counterattack is the culmination of the original saga begun in Mobile Suit Gundam and continued through Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and Mobile Suit...
, Wing Zero Custom from Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, known in Japan as , is the sequel to Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, both of which are set in the After Colony timeline, an alternate universe to that of the original Gundam series...
, and RX-78GP01-Fb Gundam Full Vernian "Zephyranthes" from Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
is a 13-episode anime OVA series set in the Gundam universe. The first volume containing two 30-minute episodes was released in Japan on May 23, 1991. Subsequent volumes, containing one 30-minute episode each, followed every one or two months; the final volume went on sale on September 24, 1992...
. At the last time they sing the chorus, the bed sets on fire, and forms the Hybrid Theory Soldier. Near the ending of the video, tall, long-legged, tusked creatures that were on a painting behind Chester's bed march past, even at one point the creature paintings seemed to move before stopping again. It was awarded as Best Rock Video at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards
MTV Video Music Awards
An MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...
, and was the first music video broadcast on Fuse TV
Fuse TV
Fuse is an American national television network dedicated exclusively to music. It features original series and specials, exclusive interviews, live concerts and video blocks....
. MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's James Montgomery named the video as Linkin Park's fifth best, saying that while the video is "massive", he said "it's the minimal touches that make it one of their all-time best", and called the end result a "stirring, powerful piece".
Track listing
CD single10" vinyl
Personnel
Linkin Park- Chester BenningtonChester BenningtonChester Charles Bennington is an American musician, singer-songwriter and actor. He is best known as the lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Linkin Park....
- lead vocals - Rob Bourdon - drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Brad DelsonBrad DelsonBradford Phillip "Brad" Delson is an American guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist and one of the founding members of the Grammy Award winning rock band Linkin Park. He is also the A&R Representative for Machine Shop Recordings....
- lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure... - Dave Farrell - Bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Joe HahnJoe HahnJoseph "Joe" Hahn , better known by his stage name, Mr. Hahn, is an American turntablist and director best known as the DJ and sampler for the band Linkin Park.-Personal Biography:...
- turntablesTurntablismTurntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer.The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer...
, samplesSampling (music)In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically... - Mike ShinodaMike ShinodaMichael "Mike" Kenji Shinoda is an American musician, record producer, and artist. He is best known as the rapper, principal songwriter, keyboardist, vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Linkin Park, along with his co-frontman and lead singer Chester Bennington, and as a solo rapper in...
- vocals (rappingRappingRapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
and backup), rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
, keyboardKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
Production
- Don Gilmore - producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Chart positions
| Chart (2003) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia Singles Chart | 18 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 16 |
| Belgium Singles chart | 33 |
| Canadian Singles Chart Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays.... |
3 |
| Finnish Singles Chart | 14 |
| France Singles Chart | 32 |
| German Singles Chart | 12 |
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
4 |
| Italian Singles Chart | 14 |
| Japan Tokyo Hot 100 Chart | 3 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 16 |
| New Zealand Chart | 1 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 12 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 19 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 15 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
10 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 32 |
| U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock Tracks Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue... |
1 |
| U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs... |
1 |