On March 6, 2007, Warner Brothers announced that Linkin Park’s third album (not including the Remix albums Reanimation and Collision Course or the live album Live In Texas), titled Minutes to Midnight, would be released Monday May 14 in all countries except the United States, which would receive the album on Tuesday May 15. The first single was released April 2, and is titled “What I've Done”.
“We have put more into the new album than anything we have ever done before”, says bassist Dave “Phoenix“ Farrell. The band spent over 14 months in the studio and wrote more than 101 song demos in the making of Minutes to Midnight, an album which vocalist Mike Shinoda sees as, “a breakthrough in the development of the band's sound”.[22]
"This was a year-and-a-half long process of really hard work and experimentation in the studio that yielded about 150 rough songs", guitarist Brad Delson told Billboard.com. The band recorded 17 tracks and is now whittling down which ones will make the final cut. “Not only is this album incredibly diverse, but the depth of the material is really strong”, Delson says.[23]
The title is a reference to the Doomsday Clock,[24] and lead singer Chester Bennington said that the band is writing about "things they wouldn't have touched a few years back."
Mike Shinoda explained that Minutes to Midnight is composed of sounds made by a practically Arcade Fire-esque array of instruments including banjos, marimbas and vintage guitars and amps. “People have always tried to lump us in with the whole rap/rock stereotype, but we don’t intentionally want to be part of that scene. We’ve always had our own personality and I think it really shows on this record.”[citation needed]
While there are no special artists featured on the album, Shinoda shares a co-producing credit with the Grammy award-winning producer Rick Rubin, “I was raised on his music and to now be working with him, to be mentored by him, is such a huge thing.”[citation needed]
Linkin Park recently performed six songs for AOL Sessions, which will be available on AOL starting Friday, May 4th. The live set will consist of three new songs, as well as three older songs."What I've Done",which was performed on the AOL music sessions, was released on April 16th.
The video for “What I've Done” premiered on MTV and Fuse, the week of April 2.[25] What I've Done made a huge, "Hot Shot" debut on the Billboard Hot 100, where it debuted at #7 for the chart week of 04-21, making it by far the band's highest debut for a single on the chart. "What I've Done" also debuted at #1 on Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart, only the third song ever to do so, following What's The Frequency, Kenneth? by R.E.M., and Dani California by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The song also hit the top of the iTunes Music Store, along with the music video.
Linkin Park was featured in the MTV Battle Of The Videos facing Evanescence and Lil Mama. After two weeks went by, the voting ended, with Linkin Park's video for "What I've Done" winning the battle, after taking 56% of the votes. On April 19, What I've Done was presented as the winner, and the video was shown.
They will be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, on May 12th.
