Breaking the Habit

"Breaking the Habit" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released as the fifth and final single from their second album, Meteora. It became the fifth consecutive single from Meteora to reach #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, a feat unmatched by any other artist in the history of that chart. It was also the third single from the album to reach #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The song was a hit, peaking at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Breaking the Habit" features a strong electronica-influenced opening, live strings and guitar. It is an exception from their previous nu metal/rap rock performances as no distorted guitar riffs are included nor are there any rapping vocals from Mike Shinoda, a style they would further explore on their later albums.

A common misconception about the song is that it was written by lead singer Chester Bennington due to his struggles with substance abuse. In fact, band member Mike Shinoda began writing the song before he met Bennington based on another close friend's drug addiction.

In the album notes, it was said that the song was originally going to be an instrumental track lasting a little over three and a half minutes, but Shinoda was convinced by the band to change it. The instrumental was later released on the Underground 9.0 Fan Club as a demo track entitled "Drawing".

Mike Shinoda had a lyrical idea of an emotion he had been trying to express for 5 to 6 years before the production of Meteora. To him, the lyrics had sounded wrong until listening to the Drawing demo one night and they fell together. He showed the lyrics he wrote to the singer Chester Bennington who read them and teared up, relating to the words to a point where he had difficulty performing the song live for almost a year after the release of Meteora.

"Breaking the Habit" was not initially performed in the tour for Meteora, until it received a full performance in November 2003. Since then, it has found itself in the majority of their concerts. An extended piano outro is often added at times where Bennington sings the chorus again. (wiki)