In 2000 Linkin Park released their studio album debut Hybrid Theory and became one of the biggest bands in heavy music.
Hybrid Theory is a record beloved by people all around the globe, and for some, it’s a very intimate work of art that speaks to them; to this day, Hybrid Theory stands as an album that masterfully captures the frustrations and struggles of adolescence.
Containing several hit songs loved to this day, Hybrid Theory would go on to be certified 12x Platinum.
But while the record’s tracklist features a lot of incredible bangers, there is one song on the album that the late Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington hated.
During a past conversation with Kerrang!, Bennington spoke about the song on Hybrid Theory that he could not stand; he also shared that the band had made a decision to not perform the song live.
Per Bennington (the following quote was located on Linkinpedia):
“Yeah, we decided that we will no longer be playing ‘Runaway’ [from Hybrid Theory] live! In my opinion, it’s one of the worst songs we’ve written! People love it, but we have better ones.”
Over on YouTube, “Runaway” has been listened to 16 million times.
On Spotify, the track has been streamed over 120 million times (per the Hybrid Theory “Bonus Edition” upload).
Along with the comment he shared with Kerrang!, Bennington vocalized in 2003 how “Runaway” was a frustrating song to write. Speaking about that frustration, Bennington shared the following about “Runaway” (quote located on Linkinpedia):
“It’s kind of hard to say which song was most difficult to write/record- ‘Runaway’ took literally like 6 years to write and ‘Somewhere I Belong’ took the entire length of recording- it was the first thing written during Ozzfest and last one we finished in the studio. Those 2 songs made me want to kill myself because I knew they’d both be good but they took SO LONG”
How do you feel about “Runaway”? It is one of your favorite Linkin Park songs? Are you shocked to hear that Bennington was not a fan of the track?
This Was Chester Bennington's Favorite Linkin Park Song
