Goodnight Chester Bennington ❤

Kristeena Monteith
Jul 21, 2017 · 3 min read

After my dreaming
I woke with this fear
What am I leaving
When I’m done here?

So if you’re asking me
I want you to know

[Chorus]
When my time comes
Forget the wrong that I’ve done
Help me leave behind some
Reasons to be missed
And don’t resent me
And when you’re feeling empty
Keep me in your memory
Leave out all the rest
Leave out all the rest

Linkin Park — Leave out all the rest (Minutes to Midnight, 2007)

When I first heard that Chester Bennington had died and that it was likely a suicide as he was found hanging — the first thing I did was tip my head back and belt out the chorus of Leave out all the rest in tribute to him.

Linkin Park was the first rock band that I truly loved. In fact, the very first rock song I heard and paid attention to was Somewhere I belong off their Meteora album. I was 8 years old and going through one of the hardest years of my life and for the first time music wasn’t just for entertainment — I felt something in his voice, something gritty that my 8 year old self couldn’t fully understand but still felt drawn to.

Linkin Park’s music helped so many people I know, including me process the harder things we go through in life. Feelings of isolation, loneliness, inadequacy, hopelessness — all that teenage angst congealed into something that Linkin Park’s music spoke to. You still felt understood. Which teenager doesn’t feel like nothing they do matters to anyone, no matter how hard they try and wonder what the point is? Who doesn’t want more meaningful connections with people and to feel like they really and truly belong?

Every now and then I still listen to Linkin Park for hours, album after album (Hybrid Theory & Meteora are the best, don’t make me choose). I still listen to every new single, of course I love the older stuff best but songs like Numb, Crawling, In the End, Faint, What I’ve Done, Breaking the Habit, With You, Shadow of the Day are some of my favourites.

Literally everyone knows Numb lol.

In some ways his own music has been helping people cope with death and loss for so long, now I’m turning to it for him. For many people who felt completely misunderstood and unwanted — Chester Bennington was singing about it and part of me wishes that there was something we, his fans could have given him for all the music he gave the world, that might have helped him. But sometimes solutions aren’t so simple, for him, I guess, goodbye was the only way.

Chester leaves behind many reasons to be missed. I’m very very very grateful to have been around to hear him sing and to benefit from his music. I wish I’d been able to see them perform live. If I could talk to him now I’d thank him for all the awesome music and let him know that it was so transcendental and universal. It’s often one of the first rock bands people from cultures that aren’t particularly open to rock music experience. Most of my friends who love rock now, started with Linkin Park, that means, his voice was what spoke to them. That makes me happy to think about.

Goodnight Chester Bennington ❤

)

Kristeena Monteith

Written by

Nerd, Chevening Scholar, UN Young Leader for the SDG’s — who wants to make the world better. But first, make herself better.

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