From Yesterday

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title: "From Yesterday" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["thirty-seconds-to-mars-songs", "2006-singles", "songs-written-by-jared-leto", "virgin-records-singles", "song-recordings-produced-by-josh-abraham", "2005-songs"] description: "2006 single by 30 Seconds to Mars" topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_Yesterday" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 2006 single by 30 Seconds to Mars ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox song"]

Field	Value
name	From Yesterday
cover	From_yesterday_art_1.jpg
type	single
artist	Thirty Seconds to Mars
album	A Beautiful Lie
released	November 7, 2006
genre	{{flatlist
length	4:08
label
writer
producer	Josh Abraham
prev_title	The Kill (Bury Me)
prev_year	2006
next_title	A Beautiful Lie
next_year	2007
misc
type	single
file	Thirty Seconds to Mars - From Yesterday.ogg
description	From Yesterday
::

| name = From Yesterday | cover = From_yesterday_art_1.jpg | alt = | type = single | artist = Thirty Seconds to Mars | album = A Beautiful Lie | released = November 7, 2006 | recorded = | genre = {{flatlist|

• Alternative rock
• space rock
• post-hardcore
• screamo | studio = | venue = | length = 4:08 | label = | writer = | producer = Josh Abraham | prev_title = The Kill (Bury Me) | prev_year = 2006 | next_title = A Beautiful Lie | next_year = 2007 | misc = | type = single | file = Thirty Seconds to Mars - From Yesterday.ogg | description = From Yesterday "From Yesterday" is a song by American rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars, and the third single released from their second album A Beautiful Lie (2005). The song impacted radio on October 17, 2006. The music video for the song is believed to be the first ever American music video shot in the People's Republic of China in its entirety. The music video is also the last video by the band to feature bass player Matt Wachter. The song won the Kerrang! Award for Best Single.

Music video

There are three video edits, a 13 and half-minute full edit complete with dialogue, scenes and ending credits, a 5 and half minute edit, an edited 4-minute version intended for broadcast. It was filmed using 400 Chinese soldiers (they are seen holding flags at the beginning of the video) and 20 horses. The film starts with a young boy, presumably the Emperor Puyi, being asked what he would like for his birthday. He simply states "The Sound of Tomorrow". The action then cuts to a plain white room with the band members, clad in white outfits similar to those worn in fencing, each doing their own thing in preparation for a show. An Asian woman enters and tells them that it is time. She leads them out into the hall and disappears. They walk down to the end of the hall where they attempt to open the door. They are unable to and understand it's locked, as Jared says. The lights start to flicker and they go out, leaving the band puzzled.

It then opens to another scene where the band is walking through giant gates into the row of Chinese soldiers, now wearing black ninja-like outfits. As they are all walking down, Jared notices a woman wearing a white mask walking on the exterior of the row, unnoticed by the others.

The band are then taken to the hall where the Emperor is situated, and are given scrolls. Jared then says to his brother, Shannon Leto (the band's drummer): "This is a gift?"

The band is then shown putting on supposedly traditional Chinese armor before meeting in an alleyway for a battle against four others, dressed in identical armor. This scene is mixed with each band member being led to a different part of the kingdom, encountering various practices believed to be Chinese traditions. Matt Wachter encounters the butler whipping himself who then laughs maniacally; Tomo Miličević finds a dead woman lying on her bed, and someone proceeds to put a small black ball (A black pearl of wisdom, which is a Chinese custom) into her mouth; Shannon sees a grown man being breast-fed by his mother or wife; and Jared accidentally walks in on silver long nosed masks wearing occult ritually preparing to sacrifice three young women with their heads in a single pillory board.

At the end of the video, the band members end up fighting each other and four warriors. They wear masks, and thus cannot see who is who. Four of the warriors are slain, and the remaining four wind up in a stalemate. They slowly remove their masks, revealing that 30 Seconds to Mars are all alive. The video then samples "A Beautiful Lie", released as the band's next single.

For a very brief period of time during the butler's whipping scene, an image of the butler appears where he is wearing a rabbit suit mask. It does not seem that this image has anything to do with the story, but may be a brief allusion to "The Kill" in which something similar appears midway through the video.

The video can be seen as a tribute to the film The Last Emperor since several of the scenes and characters are directly inspired by the film. The MV was shot on location in the Forbidden City and the Emperor Qin palace.

Track listing

• Standard version

1. "From Yesterday" (radio edit) – 3:52
2. "The Story" – 3:59 (Live @ AOL Sessions Undercover)

• US (CD)

1. "From Yesterday" – 4:07
2. "The Story" – 3:59 (Live @ AOL Sessions Undercover)

• UK (CD)

1. "From Yesterday" (radio edit) – 3:52
2. "Stronger" – 6:01 (Radio 1's Live Lounge 2)
3. "From Yesterday" – 13:40 full director's cut video (enhanced CD)

• UK (7-inch vinyl 1) This limited edition vinyl is clear, and comes in a gatefold case

1. "From Yesterday" – 4:14 (Chris Lord-Alge Mix)
2. "The Kill (Bury Me)" – 3:47 (Radio 1 Live)

• UK (7-inch vinyl 2) This is also limited edition, but is red, and has the band members' signatures etched into the back

1. "From Yesterday" – 4:07

• US (7-inch vinyl 1)

1. "From Yesterday" – 4:07
2. "The Kill (Bury Me)" – 3:51

Personnel

• Jared Leto – vocals, guitar
• Tomo Miličević – guitar, programming
• Matt Wachter – bass guitar, keyboard, synthesizers
• Shannon Leto – drums
• Oliver Goldstein – additional synthesizers

Commercial performance

"From Yesterday" reached number 1 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart, making it the band's first number 1 on any Billboard chart. It peaked higher than "The Kill", which is considered to be the band's breakthrough single (although "The Kill" did better on the Hot 100 and stayed longer on the Modern Rock Tracks chart).

Charts

::data[format=table title="Chart performance for "From Yesterday""] | Chart (2007–2008) | Peak position | Canada Rock (Billboard) | |---|---|---| | 18 | | | ::

Certifications

Release history

::data[format=table title="Release history and formats for "From Yesterday""]

Country	Release date	Version	United States	United Kingdom	Australia	Italy	Latvia	United Kingdom
November 7, 2006	Original
January 16, 2007
April 20, 2007
February 4, 2008
Re-release
::

In popular culture

• The song is also available as downloadable content for Guitar Hero 5 as of February 4, 2010.

References

References

1. (October 10, 2006). "AllAccess.com Alternative eWeekly". AllAccess.
2. (February 24, 2010). "30 Seconds To Mars: 'We've Always Been Open And Engaged With Our Listeners' | Interviews @". Ultimate-guitar.com.
3. (May 6, 2015). "Moorea Black Pearl - Pearl Legends".
4. (May 6, 2015). "Moorea Black Pearl - Pearl Legends".
5. "Chinese death rituals {{!}} Infopedia".
6. [https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/56648/30-seconds-to-mars-visits-china-for-new-video billboard.com]
7. "Thirty Seconds To Mars Chart History (Canada Rock)".
8. (January 28, 2010). "Guitar Guitar Hero(R)'s February Downloadable Content Lineup Packs a Powerful Punch With Fresh Music From Top Bands". [[Activision]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::