"One Step Closer" is the debut single by the nu metal band Linkin Park released in 2001 and the second track of their debut album, Hybrid Theory.

"One Step Closer" was the American Juniors' first single, a remake of the 2001 S Club 8 song "One Step Closer". The song was recorded by the ten finalists on the American Juniors television program, not just the five who won. It was released by Jive Records in 2004.

"One Step Closer" is the ninth track of U2's eleventh studio album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

The song is a slow tempo recording, with Bono's lyrics centered around traffic images, leading to the singer being stranded on a refuge island:

I'm on an island at a busy intersection I can't go forward, I can't turn back Can't see the future ... It's getting away from me I just watch the tail lights glowing

The "foggy atmospherics" harken back to U2's mid-1980s work, befitting Daniel Lanois' involvement. Greg Kot, blank">How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb album review, _Chicago Tribune, November 21, 2004.

The origins of "One Step Closer" date back to the All That You Can't Leave Behind sessions. It was revived for Atomic Bomb, with Lanois introducing a pedal steel guitar in addition to guitars from The Edge and Bono, and musical influences varying from country music to The Velvet Underground making themselves felt. One recording of the song ran for more than 15 minutes, with Bono adding many verses that were subsequently dropped. Producer Jacknife Lee also contributed to the final form of the recording. blank">Interview with Bono and Edge for promotion of How to Dismantle ..., u2achtung.com, undated.

"One Step Closer" is billed in the album with thanks to _Noel Gallagher of Oasis. The title of the song comes from a conversation Bono had with Gallagher about Bono's dying father, Bob Hewson. Bono asked, "Do you think he believes in God?" to which Gallagher replied, "Well, he's one step closer to knowing." As with most U2 songs, however, multiple readings are available, Adrian Deevoy, blank">Walk on Water, _Blender magazine, November 2004. with the singer's feeling of being lost, but still drifting towards some kind of understanding, possible at any age. Verdicts varied based on the listener: Bono biographer Mick Wall felt the song was "clearly linked" to Bono's father, and made for "painful if beautiful listening," Chicago Tribune reviewer Greg Kot did not make the same Bono connection and felt that Lanois' "foggy atmospherics" masked a lack of ideas, while Christianity Today saw it as a "sadly uncertain, yet hopeful" depiction of Bono's father having a crisis of faith. Russ Breimeier, blank">How to Dismantle ... review, Christianity Music Today, undated.

Through the end of the _Vertigo Tour, the song had never been performed in any U2 concert.