"Search and Destroy" is a song recorded by American rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars, for their third studio album This Is War. It appears as the ninth track on the album. Written by lead vocalist Jared Leto,[1] the song was released as a promotional single to UK radio on October 25, 2010.[2][3] The track was produced by Flood and 30 Seconds to Mars, and was originally not going to be on the album because the song was so hard to mix.
Background and recording
The song includes a heavy contribution from the band's fans, captured singing a chorus created from layers of the band's Summit recordings.
While doing an exclusive track by track album preview, Jared told MusicRadar:
Actually, we were going to throw this song out, but we decided to keep it. It was hard to mix, a total pain in ass, but I’m glad it made the record because I think it fits in with the overall framework of the album.
"The song is a mission, an adventure that takes you on a journey. Maybe that’s why it gave us so much trouble: We had [to] go on an adventure as a band to get it right. Some songs come very easily and other ones fight you.
"Oftentimes, the ones that give you trouble turn out to be the best ones - this is an example of the latter.[4]
Live performances
"Search and Destroy" was a regular on setlists during the Into the Wild and Closer to the Edge tours, after This Is War had released. When played live, guitars and bass are tuned to Eb standard (low to high: Eb-Ab-Db-Gb-Bb-Eb).
