During the course of the year, I've really come to appreciate "The Catalyst" in the context of the rest of the album - to me, the whole album builds up to it and all its themes kind of culminate with that song. And, as everyone said when we first got to hear the album, it's a very clear example of what "A Thousand Suns" represents for the band, both sonically and lyrically.
It has indeed gone fast. I remember around this time last year. I was excited as hell. Failing at trying to figure out the puzzles myself, whilst also watching the great minds of the Linkin Park Association community figure them out. Then, the announcement, the exact time of debut, approximately 4am in the morning in my local time. Come 4am, on the morning of August 3rd, I awoke, and the fucking awesomeness began. Sitting. Waiting. Interview. Then came, THE CATALYST. It was awesome. New Linkin Park had arrived.
How time flys! I remember when I first heard the song I instantly became pumped for the new album and what it would offer. It's actully one of the few Linkin Park singles I haven't grown tired of and I still play at least once or twice a day.
It's funny how I still know exactly where I was when listening to the song the first time. I remember that it was my grandpas birthday and we were in a hotel, my family was outside in a restaurant waiting for me while I had to wait a whole god damn hour to be able to download and listen to the song the first time, due to the rather crappy hotel internet. When I finally listened to it I wasn't really sure what to think about it, and it's still one of my less favorite tracks of the record. It's just not growing on me. I really like how it makes me remember a specific situation though, it's still special.
Happy birthday to our cute little baby Catalyst! It will one day grow up and become a legendary song .. oh wait it is already legendary song..
I still fucking love this song. The Catalyst is one of my favourite songs ever. I remember hearing so many different snippets of this song in TC fan remixes and the Medal Of Honor trailers, all of that made me kind of frustrated as I just wanted to hear the full song already. I heard it first on the Zane Lowe show...then we all crashed LPA, haha. Good times!
I remember how my face change with the song At first, I was like "what?.." Then...ok... and then heyy.... and after that....best day ever. It was a very special moment for myself. Even my Bro who thought The Catalyst was crap, after he had a dream about LP while listening to TC and got obsessed with it. Not many song could do that to him
Awesome! I rememeber where I was too. And then I made a 3 track CD of that song and played it in my car since I was waiting on parts to fix my Ipod. lol
For old times sake I decided to look back at all the clips and news posts building up to the release of The Catalyst. If you were here over a year ago there are some fond memories, haha. Check out the timeline below: The Catalyst Remix Contest Now Live at LP MySpace! - 07/09/2010 The Catalyst Indaba Music Contest goes live, revealing the first stems of The Catalyst. The first time anyone heard anything from the song. New Snippet of "The Catalyst" - 07/22/2010 A very tiny clip posted to linkinpark.com, linked by Mike. The very first time we heard the actual song. New The Catalyst Preview on YouTube - 07/27/2010 The 30 second preview of the song itself is released to Linkin Park's YouTube. Longer The Catalyst Clip - 07/27/2010 A different variation of the YouTube clip which is only about 3 seconds longer. However, if you click the news link now in this thread, it leads to a later edited clip identical to the one KROQ posted. (Seen below) The Catalyst: KROQ Clip - 07/27/2010 A clip of the transition into Mike singing "Lift me up, let me go". Ultimately bringing context to the very tiny clip Mike linked us to at linkinpark.com on July 22nd. X Games Catalyst Clip - 07/29/2010 Exlcusive rip by the LPA. Features the climactic instrumental to the end of the song. Featured during Linkin Park month on ESPN. German The Catalyst Clip - 07/31/2010 Exclusive rip by the LPA. Featured during a promotional video for Sat1's Liger Cup coverage. Features the epic ending to the song. The first time we heard Chester singing the "Lift me up, let me go" at the end of the song. Medal of Honor/The Catalyst Trailer Released - 08/01/2010 The Medal of Honor trailer is released. Giving us the shortened version of the song for the first time ever. Radio 1 Catalyst & Chester Interview Audio - 08/02/2010 The Catalyst premieres worldwide for the first time ever as Zane Lowe's Hottest Record on Radio 1 in the UK. The Catalyst Out Now! - 08/02/2010 The Catalyst is released to iTunes and sent out to anyone who pre-ordered an ATS package at linkinpark.com.
I still think it's "just ok". To be honest I've probably listened to the Pendulum cover more than I have the original.
Great fucking song. I'd say it's tied with When They Come For Me for Linkin Park's best song period. I'll always remember when it was on radio 1 and my player decided to crash on me in the middle of the song
Guys, seriously click through the links in Joe's post. Some of the snippets of "The Catalyst" sound different than how they are on the album. The Exclusive First Listen from KROQ removes the effects from Chester's voice and shortens the transition. It's awesome. I'd also like to say that I think "The Catalyst" is the best song off of A Thousand Suns, and arguably the best song of their entire discography. As someone said earlier, the song is beautifully integrated into the album, and serves as a pretty incredible climax to the album. The song itself just has an incredible build, and I think the second half of the song ("Lift me up, let me go") is really Linkin Park's best musical moment ever. I love this song, and I think that it's a song that will be looked back upon and really respected after Linkin Park has released another few albums.
Thanks for the links Joe! Some of my comments back then were cringe worthy though, haha. And I lol'd that one of those posts was "via Shinoda194." Haha, that was me.