Reanimation (Linkin Park album)

Did You Know?

• At the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, British ice dancers Sinead and John Kerr skated to "Krwlng".
• In 2011, magician Dynamo walked across the Thames River while "Krwlng" played over it on his TV show Dynamo: Magician Impossible.
• Remixes on the album were crafted by Tricky, Prince Paul, DJ Z-Trip, and Team Sleep ("My December").

Release and promotion

The only official single from Reanimation was "Pts.OF.Athrty", a remix of "Points of Authority" by Jay Gordon of Orgy. Its B-sides included "H! Vltg3", a remix of "High Voltage" by Evidence and DJ Babu with additional vocals by Pharoahe Monch, and "Buy Myself", a remix of "By Myself" by Marilyn Manson. Radio promotional singles were "Enth E Nd", "Frgt/10", "Songs from Reanimation", and "My<Dsmbr".

The official video for "Pts.OF.Athrty" shows an animated battle between robots, ruled by the heads of Linkin Park members, and an alien race. MTV2 produced videos for every song on the album for its "MTV:Playback" program, which aired only a few times. These videos included "Opening" (a girl going to bed), "Pts.OF.Athrty" (the US flag up to 1:05, then a motorcycle chase), "Enth E Nd" (Mike Shinoda, KutMasta Kurt, and Motion Man performing in the back of a car—the only video to show the actual performers), "[Chali]" (the girl in bed and shots of her room), "Frgt/10" (the girl from "Opening" doing graffiti while evading a police chopper), "P5hng Me A*wy" (a cannibal at work), "Plc. 4 Mie Hæd" (the girl singing), "X-Ecutioner Style" (a cartoon boy walking around town, singing Chester's "Shut Up" parts), "H! Vltg3" (a night in the life of a man), "[Riff Raff]" (the girl in bed), "Wth>You" (a quick montage of mugshots in sync with the song), "Ntr\Mssion" (the girl in bed), "Ppr:Kut" (people's reactions to an unexpected loud noise; Joe Hahn made a cameo), "Rnw@y" (a woman with a Mohawk running in each chorus), "My<Dsmbr" (a man living on the beach doing amusements at an amusement park), "[Stef]" (the girl in bed), "By_Myslf" (a woman in a forest), "Kyur4 th Ich" (people breakdancing; Joe Hahn made another cameo), "1Stp Klosr" (a failing relationship), and "Krwlng" (animation of a white stick man). Only the MTV2 videos of "Frgt/10" and "Kyur4 th Ich" were officially released on the DVD-A edition, along with the official "Pts.OF.Athrty" video. The videos considered "official" were those for "Pts.OF.Athrty", "Enth E Nd", "Frgt/10", and "Kyur4 th Ich".

Critical reception

Reanimation gave a major boost to the underground hip-hop artists who appeared on it, exposing them to a much wider audience. The album reworked Linkin Park’s original material so heavily—rearranging song structures, rewriting or expanding verses, and bringing in numerous guest performers—that it felt like a completely new release. AllMusic’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine described it as a positive move forward, applauding its willingness to experiment.

Spin’s Will Hermes called the collection somewhat disjointed but admitted it had enough rap-rock energy to be more than just a filler release between albums. Commercially, Reanimation entered the Billboard 200 at number two, blocked from the top spot by Bruce Springsteen’s The Rising, and remained on the chart for 33 weeks. It moved 270,000 units in its first week and eventually sold close to two million copies, securing its place as the fourth-highest-selling remix album ever.