"Foreword" is the opening track on Linkin Park's sophomore album Meteora. It is a short track that doesn't feature anything except the sound of smashing a piece of metal. It transitions directly into "Don't Stay".

Background

"Foreword" was recorded at Mike Shinoda's house, after the rest of Meteora was finished and served as an intro for the album.

In March 2003, Mike did a track-by-track of Meteora for ShoutWeb. About "Foreword", he said, ""Foreword" is just an intro. If you know what Foley work is, it's my first attempt at Foley work. Basically, it's noises I made in the studio breaking things. We have this CD player and CD burner attached to my computer, which basically just ate shit during the writing process. It gave Chester and I such a hard time! Burning CDs which should have taken a minute were taking 20 minutes, 30 minutes, to an hour. I just got so frustrated with the thing, I put it to the side knowing that I was going to beat it with a baseball bat and that's what I did. I smashed it with a baseball bat on metal table."

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Studio

Title Album Length Recorded Released Notes Foreword Meteora 0:13 2002 March 25, 2003

Live

Live

"Foreword" has only been performed as an intro to "Don't Stay". Almost every performance of "Don't Stay" in the Meteora and Minutes To Midnight eras featured the song as an intro for "Don't Stay", the exception being the second half of 2004, where the "Gacela Intro" was added to as the intro for "Don't Stay", replacing "Foreword".

Personnel

Linkin Park

Chester Bennington: vocals

Rob Bourdon: drums, backing vocals

Brad Delson: guitars, bass, backing vocals

Joseph Hahn: records, sampling, backing vocals

Mike Shinoda: emcee, vocals, beats, sampling

Phoenix: bass

Production

Don Gilmore: producer

Andy Wallace: mixer