Linkin Park's Chester Bennington Dead at 41

Discussion in 'News' started by Joe, Jul 20, 2017.

  1. Blackee Dammet

    Blackee Dammet Feminism Is My God Now

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    I've seen this a lot lately and I don't think it's a good route to go down. He was obviously bothered by some of the comments he got, but he was very clearly in that place long before any of these songs even came out (he even says so in that interview up there) and, while I know people are in a weird mood right now and are just spitballing ideas to get it off their chest, the idea that people who didn't like the album might have contributed to it is a hell of a guilt trip to put on people already very miserable at the moment. I've already seen more than a dozen people on various LP forums, boards and status updates feel horrible for not "appreciating" the album and openly pondering the idea that that could have killed one of (if not their number one) favorite singers. That's a really tough sentiment to put on the shoulders of grieving fans.
     
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  2. Iopia

    Iopia Well-Known Member

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    I've been thinking about this too, how the rest of the band must have been on such a different wavelength to the pain Chester was going through. Not that they didn't understand, but it must be painful for them looking back and realising they had no idea just how bad Chester's mind was. I just hope they don't blame themselves for not seeing it, it's not their fault. No one could have. But I can only imagine how hard it must be for them to resist asking "why couldn't I have stopped this?", especially after 18 months of Chester pouring his emotions out to them. They must be beating themselves up over something that's not their fault, and that's horrible to think about. No one deserves to go through that.
     
  3. warriorathlete21

    warriorathlete21 Well-Known Member

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    I worked up the courage to post a vocal tribute to Chester in the lp chat forum.
    Check it out and participate if you guys can.

    The band knew he suffered but, I wonder how often he was suicidal and if they ever knew that he was within the past year or so. (If he has been for that long.)

    This is one of those tragedies where you'll always remember where you were when you heard the news.
     
  4. Blackee Dammet

    Blackee Dammet Feminism Is My God Now

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    To be fair, I think given the way the band had written lyircs their entire career, the same could be said for any point in the last two decades. Breaking The Habit, for one, is a literal suicide song (even if Mike maintains it totally isn't). 'Zero subtlety as a means of catharsis' has long been the way LP handled their subject matter, I want to say Chester himself had mentioned just laying thoughts bare the way their songs did was a deliberate coping method and a way to try and help other people with the same thoughts.
     
  5. kcg

    kcg Well-Known Member

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    This. So fucking much. Your first paragraph describes why I considered Chester Bennington a role model. The path he took from Hybrid Theory to A Thousand Suns was exactly that. It just goes to show you how your inner demons never truly go away. It's so fucking heartbreaking that my number one favorite singer and my musical hero is now gone. It still hasn't sunk in. I just can't believe it. Getting to see Linkin Park live and meet Chester in person and tell him what an inspiration he is to me was on my bucket list, and now it's gone. I'll never get to see him or hear his incredible voice again....and it fucking kills me!

    Sorry I haven't had enough time to talk about this stuff with you guys, I've been so busy with ridiculously long shifts at work in a factory where I only get ten minute breaks every two hours and don't have any time to find out what the hell is going on in the world. I've spent the whole day trying to hold back tears while I was working. My stress levels have reached new highs this year and the death of my hero has made it 100 times worse. I really need to see a counselor bad.
     
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  6. shadowofthehabit92

    shadowofthehabit92 Well-Known Member

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    I hope the rest of the band and his family are okay. I hope they don't blame themselves. I spent a good bit of time listening to Linkin Park today, and hearing Nobody Can Save Me, Leave Out All The Rest, and One More Light killed me. I've always had a good support system to talk about my darkest thoughts and feelings, but there were so many times, as much as I trusted those people, I didn't want to talk about it with others. I would just put my headphones in, turn on some Linkin Park, and I felt as if I wasn't truly alone with how I felt. That provided so much comfort. What kills me so much is that Chester has helped so many people by his music, but he felt that he had to end his own life. That is one of the most heartbreaking realities of this situation. I love Chester and Linkin Park. I hope Chester is at peace. I hope his family and band mates can find peace and I hope all of you can find peace.
     
  7. Iopia

    Iopia Well-Known Member

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    Well what I said can apply to any suicide, not just a musician's. But I think the main difference here is how they wrote the lyrics. Sure Chester has written about his 'darker side' for his entire career, but never before has the band spent the better part of 18 months openly discussing their deepest, darkest thoughts with each other, as opposed to their usual method of penning lyrics on their own during the final stages of a 6 month songwriting period. It's not really about the end result, all we're saying is that after spending the almost a year and a half openly discussing their darkest emotions with each other, it must be painful for the band to look back and feel that they should have known. "Were there signs I ignored?"

    Although in many ways you're right that it doesn't really make a difference. Those thoughts of guilt and self-blame would still be there regardless even without that songwriting process. He was their friend after all. I just think that having this happen after the band opened themselves up to each other so much must make it even more heartwrenching for them. Realising that there was so much more pain beneath what he could bear to reveal to his closest friends.
     
  8. Catwannabee

    Catwannabee New Member

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    I just created an account because I feel the need to share.

    How I wish I could erase yesterday.
    It was 6 am in my country when my sister woke me up telling me the news on tv that Chester had died, followed by the word suicide. I hoped it was just a sick joke, or a false news. It was so unexpected. I thought he already left the demons behind, and currently lived a happy life. I didn't really follow Linkin Park on interviews/news lately, other than quick look on their social media now and then.
    This is a great loss for me, must be multiple times harder for those who know him personally.
     
  9. Darcy

    Darcy LPA Super Member LPA Super Member

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    This is really sad. It was enough to make me come back and check in. I hope everyone is OK. Practice self care. <3
     
  10. brady

    brady I am the LPA LPA Super Member

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    Linkin Park has almost always been apart of my life. Their first album came out the year I was born, but I have two older brother who came to like the band. As I grew older and started getting into music around the time Minutes to Midnight released, my musical taste was directly influenced by my brothers and was introduced to Linkin Park inadvertently by them. But they weren't the only one, I can also remember lightly listening to bands like Green Day, too. But for some reason, they really stuck out to me, and quickly became my favorite band. I still remember how my oldest brother burned me a CD for our handheld CD player with all of my favorite Linkin Park songs, and I still remember how my favorite song, The Little Things Give You Away, was the last track and I always loved listening to it. From then on, I grew up with the band. I found out about more and more of their music through YouTube on the family computer and would spend hours on it just listening to their music.

    It wasn't until 2012 with the release of Living Things did I start to really begin to follow the band closely. I started to buy all their albums on iTunes. I'd look up pictures of Mike or Chester and draw them. It was the album cycle that I joined this site. Yeah sure, I was pretty immature at the time I joined this site, but hey, things changed. But I honestly fell in love with the band. The music, the lyrics, the vocals, all of it was amazing. Through interviews, I began to find out what great people the guys behind the music were, especially Chester. He always seemed to be the clown of the group, always just having as much fun as possible, with there rarely being a moment where he wasn't smiling or laughing. Him and Mike quickly became my idols.

    A few years later and I'm still dedicated to following this band. I always frequently posted on the LPA. I saw them in concert in 2014, and planned on seeing them next week. I always defended most of, if not all of the band's decisions. I always felt naturally inclined to support this band. This was the band of my entire life. From when I first began listening to music as a kid to now, Linkin Park has always been my number one band, and Chester my number one singer. Their music has helped me through depression, helped hold me together when I was most broken, made me feel like in had someone in my loneliest moments. But most importantly, helped me enjoy life. And next week, if I got into the meet and greet, I planned on telling Chester and the band thank you.

    But now he's gone, and I'll never get that chance. And now I'm just left with a hole inside of me that Chester and the band had filled throughout my life. Listening to their music will never be the same for me. It seems like almost every line that the band ever wrote has new meaning to it, or a new tone, or even just a different weight to it. I know I've never met him, but this loss has made such a big impact on me, and damn will I fucking miss him.

    I hope I got all my thoughts I've been having down on here. It's been rough since the news broke.
     
  11. Minus

    Minus ohai LPA Addicted VIP

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    Long time no see, Darcy.

    It's been such a weird thing. The old LPA family grew apart, as is prone to happen when we grow up. Seeing so many old faces has been bittersweet to say the least. Even if you haven't been here in years, you still went out of your way to come back at this heartbreaking moment. Even in passing, Chester and LP are bringing people together.
     
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  12. Blake

    Blake Leave a Trace LPA Super Member

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    I still can't believe this is real
     
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  13. Dannyc

    Dannyc Well-Known Member

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    Me neither, i cant focus on anything, been blasting LP all day and all night. This feels like twilight zone or a bad nightmare
     
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  14. Rahat

    Rahat Nyeh LPA VIP

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    I've been reading and just constantly refreshing and looking at how everyone else has been dealing with this. I've always been a quiet person and a lot of the time keep all my darker thoughts to myself. In south Asian culture and especially Islamic families like mines it's just taboo to even bring up thoughts like this. My parents would tell me to pray and things will get better. I'm not the most religious person but I see some peace in it. I remember in middle school listening to hybrid theory.. Then meteora and towards the end of high school minutes to midnight came out.

    The first time I thought about ending it was at the end of high school. I lost several close friends to gang violence and accidents. The woman who is now my fiance needed space away from me because of how toxic I was to everyone. I'd sit there listening to chester scream and it would keep me alive. My friends came through for me as well and I kept going. I got her back and even though I hadn't fully recovered I was getting better. Through it all I had Linkin Park as my soundtrack. Come to college and I ended up dropping out and leaving home with barely any money in my pockets. Just wanted to get away from everything. I pushed everyone away and it was those days I was truly completely at my worst. I hated myself and felt I deserved nothing. She stayed with me through it this time and refused to leave me no matter how much I pushed. She would put on Linkin Park for me and listen to them with me. She would also push me to be better. I've always idolized Mike but Chester was someone I could connect to more. I took in his anger and sadness in everything he sang. There was one day I had decided it was going to be over. I didn't think I deserved to be living anymore. I was walking and living in the city I thought the easiest way to go would be in the subway. I've never written or said this aloud to anyone. I kept getting calls from her and my sister asking where I was and I was about to turn off my phone. This guy in a suit walks up to me and tells me that I should answer the phone. That might have been what saved my life... Just some stranger. I picked up the phone and spoke to her and it was OK again. She taught me how to love myself. She said it won't ever matter how much she loves me until I love myself too. Maybe chester couldn't ever figure out how to love himself. You can have family a wife you can have everything but you need to love yourself too. I always thought he overcame it and I was OK. I was angry yesterday and scared. If he couldn't do it what really makes me any better. It's like she knew exactly what was in my head she just took me and held me didn't have to say anything. I wish chester had someone with him the night before or morning of. If he wasn't alone maybe of a stranger in a suit told him to pick up his phone and call someone. I try to rationalize it but that's impossible.

    My prayers go out to Talinda... Their family and all the guys. As scared as I am that I might go off the deep end again someday... Right now I love myself enough and I love my fiance enough to keep going.
     
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  15. Henry

    Henry Mochiagete, Tokihanashite.

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    You can rest now Chester.

    I would be lying if I say that LP doesn't affect my teenage year in anyway but they did. I appreciate for the fact that the band exists when I need a hand to hold to most and Chester for being the voice that speak to me when I need it.

    Edit: I can't help but feel that OML is Chester's suicide note.
     
    Last edited: Jul 22, 2017
  16. Sonic

    Sonic Searching for the last Chaos Emerald... LPA Super Member

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    Absolutely love this edit of the soldier.
     

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  17. MarcusArelius

    MarcusArelius Well-Known Member

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    I think Easier to Run was his suicide note....
     
  18. Caique Soares

    Caique Soares Member

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    It's hurts so bad. So fucking bad
     
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  19. Henry

    Henry Mochiagete, Tokihanashite.

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    oh I meant the whole One More Light album was. Easier to Run is a bit too faraway to be one. But I might be wrong.
     
  20. hybrid1988

    hybrid1988 Fever Daydream

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    Damn, this sucks so bad. I was never one for idol worship but i'd be lying if I said Chester wasn't a hero for me. I'd always fantasize about what musical ideas he had floating in his head and no matter how many other bands I've gotten into since listening to LP, I would always would look forward to a new LP album cycle. It became a lifelong tradition for me. I'm actually tearing up a little typing this because I don't know if i'll ever feel this way about a band or a musician ever again. My connection with them was truly one of a kind. They've been with me through all the milestones of my life. I've grown up right along side of them and their music matured right along with me. It's almost as if they held my hand and walked with me along this road we call life.

    I'm truly going to miss him.
     
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