Given Up

"Given Up" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. The song was released as the fourth single from their third studio album, Minutes to Midnight. It was released on February 17, 2008 in the UK as a digital download. The song was not as much of a success as what was expected in the US, although it did manage to chart high on the Alternative Songs music chart. The song is also unique because of Chester's ability to hold a note for 17 seconds (2:27-2:44)

"Given Up"
Single by Linkin Park
from the album Minutes to Midnight
B-side
ReleasedMarch 3, 2008
StudioThe Mansion, Los Angeles, California
Genre
Length3:09
LabelWarner Bros.
Songwriter(s)Linkin Park
Producer(s)
Linkin Park singles chronology
"Shadow of the Day"
(2007)		 "Given Up"
(2008)		 "We Made It"
(2008)
Music video
"Given Up" on YouTube

Background

"Given Up", along with "No More Sorrow" and the hit single "What I've Done", made its live debut on April 28, 2007 in Berlin, Germany. Live performances of these three songs at the AOL sessions were released on AOL on May 5, 2007. The performance of the song is available on the "Bleed It Out" single.

"Given Up" is the heaviest song on the album. It notably features a seventeen second long scream by Chester Bennington before the final chorus, as well as a steady guitar riff for the choruses of the song. The scream was often split into two 8 second long screams when performed live allowing Bennington to catch his breath, although he has completed the full scream in various live performances.

It starts with a distinctive jingle sound during the verses and intro, generated by the jingling of guitarist Brad Delson's ring of keys and a steady clapping beat by Mike Shinoda. It also contains the second most amount of profanity of any Linkin Park song (the most being "When They Come For Me," a song from the band's fourth album, A Thousand Suns) with the word "fuck" being featured in the chorus and the bridge. This would be the first time Chester Bennington used profanity on any studio material after "System" from the soundtrack to Queen of the Damned. The song was made available as a single on March 3, 2008. It is included as a master track in the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii versions of the music video game Rock Revolution, though this version is heavily censored. The song was also used in the trailer and commercials for the 2009 film Crank: High Voltage, in which Bennington makes a cameo.

Single release

In June 2007, the official Billboard website gave information stating that "Given Up" and "Shadow of the Day" would be the next two singles from Minutes to Midnight, following "What I've Done." This proved incorrect after "Bleed It Out" was promoted to single status, and by that time was released as a promo single between "What I've Done" and "Bleed It Out" mainly due to heavy airplay on alternative rock stations at the time. On January 24, 2008, it was announced that "Given Up" would be the band's next single after "Shadow of the Day," released on October 16, 2007. The single was released as digital download on February 17, 2008, along with a cover art.[2]

Music video
One of the random frames in the music video

On his official blog, Chester Bennington stated both when the video was shot and that it features live performance from the band. Bennington told the crowd at the MEN Arena and the O2 Arena during shows on January 27 and 29 that the performance of "Given Up" was recorded for use in the video, although cameras were also visible during the performance of the song at the concert on January 28 at the O2 Arena. Linkin Park had officially finished filming the video on February 6, according to Billboard Magazine. The video premiered on the band's official website on March 3, 2008 at 4pm Pacific Standard Time (Midnight UTC). The video was uploaded to the band's YouTube channel on March 4, 2008. The video was directed by Mark Fiore, the band's videographer, with additional directing credits to the band.

As of January 2021, the song has 85 million views on YouTube.

The video consists of live clips from the shows (stated above) and has been edited together in a sharp, rugged manner which contains short cut scenes with many special effects, mainly altering the coloring. Transitions between cut scenes are in a style of worn analog tape distortion giving the video an even more rugged, tough appearance. Bennington performs his seventeen-second scream perched on the guard rail, inches from the audience. Throughout the video, several flash scenes appear such as a cowboy, hippopotamus, and quotes from "Magical Thinking: True Stories" (the "Commercial Break" chapter), a book by Augusten Burroughs.[3][4][5]

iTunes

The music video for "Given Up" is available on iTunes, along with a live concert video of the band playing the song. The live video was taken from the Road to Revolution: Live at Milton Keynes DVD.

In other media

The song can be heard in the film Red 2.

Commercial performance

On the Billboard Hot 100, "Given Up" was the least successful single of Minutes to Midnight. The single charted on Billboard's Hot 100 and Pop 100 charts at numbers 99 and 78 respectively in May 2007, following Minutes to Midnight's release.

However, on the Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts, it peaked higher than its follow-up, "Leave Out All the Rest". Following the single's official release, the song debuted at number 34 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, peaking at number 5. It also debuted at number 32 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, peaking at number 4.

Track listings

All tracks are written by Linkin Park.

CD • 7" Picture disc • iTunes single
No.TitleLength
1."Given Up"3:09
Europe single
No.TitleLength
1."Given Up"3:11
2."Valentine's Day" (Live from Frankfurt Germany, Jan. 20 '08)3:23
Europe Premium single
No.TitleLength
1."Given Up"3:09
2."Given Up" (Video)3:12
iTunes EP
No.TitleLength
1."Given Up"3:09
2."Valentine's Day" (Live from Frankfurt Germany, Jan. 20 '08)3:24
3."In Between" (Live from London UK, Jan. 29 '08)3:25

Release history
Country Release Date
Malaysia January 2008 (2008-01)
United Kingdom February 17, 2008 (2008-02-17)
Worldwide March 3, 2008 (2008-03-03)

Charts
Chart (2008) Peak
position
US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks 4
US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 5
US Billboard Hot 100 99
US Billboard Pop 100 78
Billboard Canada Rock 25
Portugal Singles Chart[6] 12
German Singles Chart[7] 53
Czech Singles Chart 15
Polish Singles Chart[8] 31
UK Rock Chart 4
Venezuela Pop Rock (Record Report)[9] 4
Chart (2017) Peak
position
UK Rock and Metal (OCC)[10] 28

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[11] Gold 500,000

Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. Law, Sam (April 17, 2020). "The 20 Greatest Linkin Park Songs Ranked". Kerrang!. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
  2. 7Digital Sale Page for Given Up Archived 2008-02-16 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Given Up (Official Video on Youtube". From the Warner Bros. Records Youtube Channel
  4. "Given Up (Live at Milton Keynes) Amended Edit on Youtube". From the Warner Bros. Records Youtube Channel
  5. "Given Up (Live at Milton Keynes) Amended Edit on Youtube". From Linkin Park's Youtube Channel
  6. Portuguese Singles Chart
  7. German Singles Chart Archived 2008-06-10 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Polish Singles Chart |".
  9. "Pop Rock" (in Spanish). Record Report. 2008-05-24. Archived from the original on 2008-05-06.
  10. "Official Rock & Metal Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  11. "American single certifications – Linkin Park – Given Up". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved December 26, 2018. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 
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