The shadow of the day

Josh Brewer
Jul 21, 2017 · 3 min read

Far too often over the last 18 months, the people who live through music have suffered a loss wholly unfamiliar to those who simply exist in a world alongside it.

Most of those who grieved the losses of David Bowie, Prince, George Michael, Chris Cornell, and countless others never met the men and women whose deaths so deeply affected them.

But those artists became our friends. They were confidants, trusted in the best and worst of times. They affected us with the power of their music, while some, both figuratively and literally, changed who we were through their songs, their records, their emotions.

We were faced once again with those all-too-familiar feelings of shock, sadness, anger and loss. Earlier today, Chester Bennington, the 41-year-old co-lead singer of rock goliath Linkin Park, was found dead in his California home.

While nothing will compare to the overwhelming sense of loss felt by Bennington’s family and friends, millions of fans across the world are left with a feeling of loss for someone who played an important role in their lives without ever spending face-to-face time together. Of the millions who purchased a Linkin Park record, or for those who listened to any song spanning the band’s 17-year career, today’s loss is personal.

Each new visit to Facebook this afternoon saw a handful of new posts reminiscing on the impact Bennington and Linkin Park made. We all took today’s news in different ways, but we all grieved, as fans and as friends.

Most of us grieved the easiest way we knew how: By listening to Linkin Park. The passing of a singer, however, has a way of changing the way a song sounds.

Think back to how you heard “Like a Stone” before Chris Cornell died, how you processed “Purple Rain” before Prince’s passing, or how you listened to “Heroes” prior to David Bowie’s death.

Two songs changed for me today.

Linkin Park released “Shadow of the Day” on their third studio album, Minutes to Midnight. It was a successful single on an album full of them, but for me, it stood far above the other songs on the record. The track showcases Bennington’s vocal abilities and marks a significant departure from Linkin Park’s musical style.

This song became impossibly difficult to listen to this afternoon, once the news of Bennington’s death was broken by TMZ. The lyric, “Sometimes solutions aren’t so simple/sometimes goodbye’s the only way,” hit like a Mike Tyson punch to the gut, knowing that the man singing those words took his own life earlier in the day.

If “Shadow of the Day” became a type of retroactive goodbye, “Leave Out All The Rest” became the soothing words we all wanted, and needed, to hear.

Even hours since the news of his passing — and with large spans of time spent with Linkin Park’s catalog on repeat —the chorus of “Leave Out All The Rest” at once provides a smile and a tear, bringing a sense of reassurance while simultaneously breaking our hearts.

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

These songs will join the pantheon of others as time capsules of moments in our lives. Chester Bennington will live on through these songs, and the litany of others he helped bring to the world since Hybrid Theory smashed its way into the music world in October 2000.

His family and friends will grieve and remember Bennington through personal memories, and I can only hope they smile when their husband, father, bandmate or friend comes to mind.

Meanwhile, his legion of fans — the ones who became de-facto friends thanks to the music he gave us — will throw on a Linkin Park record, fire up Spotify or head over to YouTube to remember the man we lost.

The shadow of this day has bathed our world in gray, but it will not remain this way forever. Chester Bennington’s music ensures it.

)
Josh Brewer

Written by

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade