Numb detail

"Numb" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released as the third single from their second studio album, Meteora and is listed as the final track on the record. One of Linkin Park's most well known and popular tracks, "Numb" topped the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart for 12 weeks. The song spent six weeks at the top of the chart in 2003 and six weeks in 2004, making it the only song in history to be the most successful song of the year on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart for two years. The song also spent three weeks atop the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The song was later combined with Jay-Z's song "Encore" to create "Numb/Encore", a massive hit for both artists which was featured on the album Collision Course and earned them the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. A techno remix of "Numb" has received over 4 million views on YouTube. "Numb" was ranked #95 on Rhapsody's list of the Top 100 Tracks of the Decade.

Music video

Directed by Joe Hahn, the indoor scenes of the music video are set in a cathedral in Prague, Czech Republic as are the outdoor scenes. The school interiors, the classroom, the corridor and the outside playground are set in Johannes Kepler's High School in Prague. The bridge scenes were all shot on Prague's famed Charles Bridge.

The video follows the domestic and social problems faced during a day in the life of an unpopular outcast young female student (portrayed by Briana Barbie-Jane Evigan). The girl apparently spends much of her time drawing pictures (a reference to the song "Drawing," which was a demo for the song "Breaking The Habit," another song on the album), revealing that she probably has dreams of becoming an artist. She is largely shunned and ridiculed at school, considering that when she is told off by the teacher for drawing in class everybody laughs at her and teases her, when she trips on the stairs nobody stops to help her up, and that when she tries to join a group of girls at a lunch table they immediately get up and leave (referencing "Somewhere I Belong," another song on the album). Also, there is a scene where her mother is ridiculing her for not being the daughter she wanted (a reference to the song "Nobody's Listening," another song on the album). There are also self-inflicted cut marks on her arms, which actually say "NUMB" - the title of the song. In the end of the video, she is shown sitting in her room, as she ties up her hair with a paintbrush, and throws paint at a canvas in anger. At the end, she runs into the church that the band was playing in, almost as if she heard them.

MuchMusic's 100 Best Videos ranked it at #40.

The track became one of Linkin Park's most critically-acclaimed songs, as well as one of their most commercially successful, peaking at #11 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on February 24, 2004, and spending 3 weeks on top of the Mainstream Rock Tracks and 12 weeks on top of the Modern Rock Tracks. "Numb" was the 33rd best performing single on the Hot 100 during 2004. It was also successful in Oceania, peaking at #10 in Australia and #13 in New Zealand.

Background

Before Mike Shinoda joined Linkin Park in 2000, he was an experimental musician who enjoyed combining songs by Jay-Z with tracks recorded by Smashing Pumpkins amongst others. A couple of years later, Jay-Z had a similar idea after hearing similar mash-ups by Danger Mouse and Cheap Cologne. He contacted Shinoda's new band, Linkin Park, and suggested that they work on some material together. Linkin Park's first two albums - Hybrid Theory and Meteora had both been worldwide successes and Jay-Z felt he could work with the band. Shinoda produced three mash-ups based on Jay-Z's The Black Album before responding by email.

Shinoda and Jay-Z continued to respond by email but eventually met in person to discuss plans. Initially the idea was to create several mash-ups for a new show premiering on MTV called MTV Ultimate Mash-Ups in 2004. However, instead of simply reconfiguring the tracks, the two artists decided to enter the studio and re-record the raps on top of Shinoda's songs. Some of the musical elements were also altered to create an alterative sound. Both Linkin Park and Jay-Z found the session so rewarding that they believed the international audience deserved to hear the results. The songs were performed at Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood in July 2004.

"Numb/Encore" was released as a single in November that year. The song - one of six collaborations on the album - combined the Jay-Z song "Encore" (taken from his 2003 album The Black Album) and the Linkin Park song "Numb" (taken from their 2003 album Meteora). The released version also contained background vocals from Kanye West that were recorded for the original release.