Even among Linkin Park's murderer's row of all-time hits, there's something particularly special about "QWERTY." Long thought of as one of the band's heaviest non-LP tracks, the mythical, metal-edged rager is back on our minds, having just officially hit digital streaming platforms along with the rest of Linkin Park's new Papercuts (Singles Collection: 2000-2023).
If you hadn't caught it before, "QWERTY" is all Castrol-chugging fury, with the quintet weaponizing elastic-snap guitar damage and a fleet of heavy drum hits. Mike Shinoda starts off spitting bars about personal debts, while the chorus has Chester Bennington serving up fierce, if tuneful, vocal fry while contemplating folks wrapped up in a life of lies.
You can stream the re-released banger up above.
"QWERTY" first surfaced in the mid '00s, while the band was working with Rick Rubin on Minutes to Midnight. They premiered the tune onstage at a Japanese festival, before banking a studio version that popped up as an extra track on earlier EP releases. Now, it's been upgraded to "certified classic," with its inclusion on Papercuts.
As previously reported, Linkin Park's Papercuts (Singles Collection: 2000-2023) is out tomorrow (April 12th). It comes filled with some of the band's biggest hits, as well as "Friendly Fire," a song originally recorded in 2016 with Bennington, but more recently completed by the surviving members of Linkin Park.
