Linkin Park - One More Light (May 19, 2017) Album • Page 19

Heads up, stream of consciousness piece here, because I felt like sharing my thoughts:

LP was one of the first bands that everybody in my circle of friends liked. I can still remember hearing "One Step Closer" on the radio and thinking "huh, this is similar to all the the other rap-rock bands...yet it's different." Then "In The End" got huge and everything changed. Every person I knew had memorized that song, whether intentionally or not. I was slowly phasing out of my Limp Bizkit/Korn/Staind era (this was during my "teen angst" years, lol) and fell hard for LP.

I was so fucking excited for Meteora that I walked 3 miles to Circuit City, and I immediately put that CD into my Sony Discman to listen twice on my way home; I remember listening to "Numb," "Faint," and "Easier to Run" repeatedly. My best friend and I were the biggest LP fanboys and both agreed that Chester's voice was seemingly designed by the rock gods to be a frontman. Just like his idol, Chris Cornell, he had a voice tailor-made for arenas. I sort of fell out of love with them after being fairly underwhelmed by Minutes to Midnight, but I continued to check out every album they'd release, mostly to hear Chester go from screaming at the top of his lungs to softly serenading in a ballad; that's how much range he had, and it never felt forced or unnatural (like, say, Ma$e or Eminem attempting to sing on their records, y'know?).

Very sad day. I will always applaud LP for doing what they wanted with every new album. They were never afraid to try out new landscapes in their sound, and for that alone, they deserve a ton of credit. Not many bands can do that and actually survive. Chester's passing is a huge loss and I hope we can celebrate him & his work while also shining a light on depression. I like what Geoff Rickly posted on Twitter -- perfect summation of the internal battle of being a person while also being a worshipped public figure. Proof that even those we place on a pedestal still have their own personal demons to battle.

 

Ugh, it's pretty haunting listening back to some of their songs now. Heavy hits hard:

I'm holding on
Why is everything so heavy
Holding on
It's so much more than I can carry
I keep dragging around what's bringing me down
If I just let go I'd be set free

 

Hybrid Theory was the second cd I ever bought myself. I still remember the day I bought Meteora. God I loved this band back then. So sad.

 

listening to HT again,and goodness, the chorus to With You. He had such a commanding voice.

 

The Messenger hits hard right now.

 

In case anyone else visits Reddit, do yourself a favor and stay away from the Linkin Park sub. People are saying some really horrible, insensitive stuff. Definitely avoid it if you struggle with mental health too

 

wow.

 

Even the Lolla reddit sub had an asshole trying to make jokes and which was extremely insensitive to the mental illness Chester was struggling with.

 

Just saw this

 

Weird anecdotes

I remember thinking Shadow of the Day was a really stupid song when I was younger. Don't really know why. Probably something about them being soft or something like that. Now I really enjoy that song.

This one time watching Linkin Park performing One Step Closer at the VMAs at my friend's house my mother asked, "why does he keep telling the crowd to shut up?"

 

It's sad to scroll through his Twitter and see all of the sweet things he re-tweeted almost daily from his wife and kids

 

Just had a long conversation about all this with some co-workers. We lost a lot of great musicians these past few years (Bowie, Prince, Cornell, Weiland), but I think what makes this one hit so much harder is this is a musician we all grew up on. Like I'm a big David Bowie fan , but I didn't get into him (wasn't even born) until well after his peak in popularity passed. He wasn't on the top 40 radio, wasn't on TV everytime I turned it on, wasn't in the headlines as often and wasn't performing shows. I fell in love with his catalog 30 years later.
Linkin Park on the other hand, thats a band where we were all there when their first song hit the radio, when their videos flooded MTV and Fuse, when they were releasing big hits and making big headlines. I have memories of being at their concerts, memories of rushing to the store on album release day, memories of jamming their songs with friends. Almost every period of my life - middle school, high school, college, post college - I can think of LP songs that soundtracked those years. It's weird and scary that we're now entering the years where our childhood heroes and stars are the ones passing.

 

It's all true. Linkin Park were extremely relevant/everywhere on TV/Radio from the time I was in late middle school-current

 

One of the very first bands I ever became a fan of as a kid. I still remember some kid in my cabin at a church camp (that I'm now in leadership at) playing Hybrid Theory a bunch. The first CD my older brother burned for me had "In the End" on it.

I've loved almost every album they've put out (only exception is probably Living Things). Favorites are Minutes to Midnight, Reanimation, and The Hunting Party, but every album has at least some songs I really dig. They're not the coolest or greatest band on earth, but as my tastes have evolved over the years, there's never been a moment when I couldn't get down to a Linkin Park song.

Man, this is rough. I'm really gonna miss Chester's voice. Hopefully his loved ones make it through this; I can't even begin to imagine how hard this must be for them.

Gonna listen to LP pretty much all night and wallow in nostalgic melancholy.

 

Honestly listening to the new album again there's a lot of lyrics here talking about depression. Sad we didn't see the signs.

 

It's in the TMZ article.

 

Looking through his wife's twitter just broke my heart. She seemed to adore him.

 

I initially thought the lyrics to their newest album were sad, but now that this has happened....the lyrics just shatter my heart into a million pieces. Dammit.

 

I guess it hasn't been confirmed that it was a hanging but it's being investigated as a suicide.

 

RIP Chester Bennington, I feel sad hearing that he committed a suicide awhile ago.

 

Every time I read an article, watch a video or hear a song it still feels so surreal. I can't believe he's gone.

 

Man.. With You is SUCH a fucking great song.

It's funny.. I never stopped putting on Hybrid Theory from time to time. But it would be like a drunk sing-a-long thing. When I go back and just quietly listen to Hybrid Theory it's just so so good.

 

"A Place For My Head" still bangs. Haven't listened to them in forever, but Hybrid Theory was a huge part of my adolescence right before I got into "the scene." And I'll always be thankful for what that record did for me during those years and how it helped me expand my taste. Oh, and I love the cover to their latest record, I'll have to give it a listen.

Rest in power, Chester.

 

A whole generation of people just lost an icon. Linkin park changed music when they came out in 2000 they mixed rap and rock and started a whole new genre of music that spawned many new bands

 

I thought it was cool that Billboard highlighted Geoff Rickly's response, never thought I'd see Thursday referenced on that site but glad that his message is reaching more people.

Why Is Everything So 'Heavy'? How Linkin Park's Chester Bennington Gave Us Strength, Even on His Last Hit