The Catalyst

This is the first single from Linkin Park's fourth album, A Thousand Suns. The song was premiered in the trailer of Electronic Arts' video game Medal of Honor on August 1, 2010 a day before the song was released. The band's DJ Joe Hahn directed the trailer. Linkin Park's music has appeared in other EA games such as the Madden football franchise. Bassist David "Phoenix" Farrell told USA Today: "When we were talking with EA and being familiar with the 'Medal of Honor' title I think the song made a lot of sense. The song itself has got some dark undertones and it's got a lot of energy in it. It kind of just fits with the subject matter."

Linkin Park held a contest during July 2010 in which fans could download stems from the song, remix the stems and/or write their own part for the song on any instrument. The prize was that winning remix would be featured on A Thousand Suns. The winner of the competition was NoBraiN, and his remix is included as an additional track on the album.

Bassist Dave "Phoenix" Farrell told MTV News that this moody rumination on the broken times in which we live was chosen as A Thousand Suns lead single as it indicates how the album is a drastic departure from anything the band have done in the past. "We wanted a track that represented where the album was going to be and how it was going to work, and this was really the track to do that. ... It's a risk, but [it's] worth it," he said. "We've known [the album is] going to be different, and if fans were expecting Hybrid Theory or Meteora, they're going to be surprised. It's going to take people some time to figure it out and know what to do with it."