Thirty seconds to mars song list is a wild ride through the psyche of Jared Leto and his brother Shannon. Honestly, it’s not just a collection of radio hits. If you only know the stuff that played on MTV in 2006, you’re missing the weird, space-prog-rock beginnings and the synth-heavy, arena-pop pivot they took later on.
They’ve been at this since the late nineties. That’s a long time to stay relevant. Most bands from that era burned out or ended up on nostalgia tours playing state fairs. Not these guys. They keep changing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it’s a bit much, but it’s never boring.
The Space-Rock Origins: When They Actually Sounded Like a Band
Before the cult-like following and the white outfits, there was just the self-titled debut. This is the era that older fans cling to. It was 2002. "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)" was the first time many of us heard Jared’s scream. It wasn't the polished, pop-friendly scream he’d use later. It was raw. Gritty.
The thirty seconds to mars song list from this period is heavy on atmospheric layers. Think about "Edge of the Earth." It feels like you're actually floating in a vacuum. It’s dense music. Bob Ezrin produced it—the same guy who worked with Pink Floyd and Alice Cooper—and you can tell. It wasn't trying to be a hit. It was trying to be a concept.
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Why "The Kill" Changed Everything
Then 2005 happened. A Beautiful Lie dropped and everything shifted. "The Kill (Bury Me)" is basically the anthem of the mid-2000s emo and alternative scene. If you haven't seen the music video—a blatant but stylish tribute to The Shining—you probably weren't on the internet back then.
That specific thirty seconds to mars song list from the mid-2000s is what defined them for a decade.
- Attack: High energy, fast, aggressive.
- A Beautiful Lie: This one had a video filmed in the Arctic Circle. Who does that? Leto, apparently.
- From Yesterday: A massive, cinematic track with a video filmed in the Forbidden City in China.
It was during this time that the "Echelon" (their fanbase) really solidified. The music wasn't just audio anymore; it was an aesthetic. It was a lifestyle. It felt like they were building a world, not just a discography.
The Arena Era and the Battle with EMI
You can’t talk about their songs without mentioning the lawsuit. EMI sued the band for $30 million. Thirty. Million. Dollars. Most bands would have folded. Instead, Jared filmed the whole ordeal for the documentary Artifact and they funneled all that frustration into This Is War.
This is where the thirty seconds to mars song list gets big. Like, "singing with thousands of people" big. They used a "digital summit" to record thousands of fans' voices to use as layers on the tracks. When you hear the "oh-oh-ohs" on "Kings and Queens," those are the fans.
"Closer to the Edge" is the standout here. It’s fast. It’s hopeful. It’s a stadium-sized middle finger to the industry that tried to sue them out of existence. "Night of the Hunter" showed they still had those prog-rock roots, but "This Is War" was the track that played in every trailer for two years straight. It was inescapable.
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The Electronic Shift: Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams
By 2013, the guitars started fading out. Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams was divided into four segments, almost like a play. "Up in the Air" was literally launched into space on a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft. Again, the theatrics were dialed to eleven.
But the music was changing. It became more rhythmic. "City of Angels" felt like a love letter to Los Angeles, stripping back the aggression for something more melodic. Then came "Do or Die." It’s basically a dance-rock hybrid.
Some fans hated it. They wanted the screams back. They wanted the heavy riffs from 2002. But the band didn't care. They were moving toward a sound that could fill even bigger spaces. The thirty seconds to mars song list was becoming less about a band in a garage and more about a spectacle on a stage.
The Modern Sound: America and It’s The End Of The World...
If you look at the more recent thirty seconds to mars song list, like the tracks from the 2018 album America or 2023’s It’s The End Of The World But It’s A Beautiful Day, the transformation is complete. It’s almost entirely electronic.
"Walk on Water" is a gospel-tinged pop song. "Rescue Me" deals with mental health but does it over a beat that wouldn't sound out of place at a festival main stage. Then you have "Stuck" and "Seasons." These are short, punchy, radio-ready tracks.
Is it still rock? Honestly, probably not in the traditional sense. It’s "Leto-pop." It’s shiny, well-produced, and designed to be sung back by a crowd of 50,000 people.
Ranking the "Must-Listen" Tracks for Newbies
If you're just getting into them, don't just hit "shuffle" on Spotify. You’ll get whiplash. Start with these to understand the evolution:
- The Kill (Bury Me): The essential entry point.
- Capricorn (A Brand New Name): To see where they started.
- Kings and Queens: The peak of their "arena" sound.
- City of Angels: For the softer, more cinematic side.
- Stuck: To understand where they are right now.
What People Get Wrong About the Discography
A lot of critics dismiss the band as a "vanity project" for an Oscar-winning actor. That's a lazy take. Jared and Shannon were playing music long before Dallas Buyers Club or Morbius. The thirty seconds to mars song list is actually quite technical, especially Shannon's drumming.
Shannon Leto is one of the most underrated drummers in the genre. Listen to the percussion on "Night of the Hunter" or "The Fantasy." It’s intricate. It’s driving. It’s the backbone that keeps the songs from drifting off into total pretension.
Actionable Tips for Navigating the Music
If you want to truly appreciate the thirty seconds to mars song list, you have to look past the singles. The deep cuts are where the real gems live.
- Listen to "Alibi" if you want to hear Jared’s vocal range without the production tricks.
- Check out "The Mission" from the first album for a glimpse into their sci-fi obsession.
- Watch the music videos. For this band, the visuals are 50% of the art. They don't make videos; they make short films. "Hurricane" was so controversial it got banned or censored on most networks.
Go through the albums chronologically. It’s the only way to see the threads they’ve kept—like the themes of struggle, isolation, and eventual triumph—while watching the sonic landscape completely change color. Don't expect the same band twice. Every album is a hard reset.
Start with the A Beautiful Lie album if you like 2000s rock, then jump back to the self-titled for a darker vibe. If you prefer modern production, skip straight to America. No matter where you start, the thirty seconds to mars song list offers a specific kind of high-drama energy that nobody else is really doing anymore.
To dig deeper, look for the live acoustic versions of their hits. "The Kill" played on a single acoustic guitar changes the entire mood of the song, stripping away the angst and leaving just the melody. It proves that underneath all the space suits and the digital summits, there’s actually a solid foundation of songwriting.