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Linkin Park share furiously intense performance of One Step Closer from Conan O'Brien in 2001

Watch Linkin Park's explosive appearance on Late Night With Conan O'Brien 20 years ago.

Linkin Park share furiously intense performance of One Step Closer from Conan O'Brien in 2001
Words:
Emily Carter

Linkin Park marked the 20th anniversary of their appearance on Late Night With Conan O'Brien by uploading their furious and grippingly intense performance of One Step Closer on YouTube.

The nu-metal kings were guests on the show on January 16, 2001, celebrating the release of debut album Hybrid Theory just a few months prior. And from the dyed hair to the band's collective nu-metal bounce during Chester Bennington's iconic 'Shut up when I'm talking to you!' screams, everything about this absolutely rules.

Read this: Every song on Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory, ranked from worst to best

Reflecting on One Step Closer last year with Kerrang!, Mike Shinoda explained of the band’s influences and how they played into the music: “I always told people, ‘Don’t try to put the nu-metal flag in my hands, because I won’t hold it.’ Our intention going into the record wasn’t to be part of a scene. We didn’t know any of those other bands; we liked some of it, and we hated some of it. We were just trying to mash up a lot of really disparate elements that we personally loved as a group. So when people asked, ‘What bands do you listen to?’, the stock answer would be The Roots, Portishead, Aphex Twin and Deftones. But if you search deeper you get Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Public Enemy, Rage Against The Machine, DJ Shadow…”

Watch Linkin Park performing One Step Closer on Late Night With Conan O'Brien below:

In One Step Closer-related news, the track was recently the first to be remixed for an upcoming series of Hybrid Theory 20th anniversary remakes.

100 gecs took on the single and gave it a bold new sound, with Mike praising the cover: “Part of the spirit of Reanimation was to take the Hybrid Theory songs that people knew so well, and let innovative artists flip them in ways nobody expected. I think 100 gecs did exactly that.”

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