Somewhere I Belong
Confession: Breaking the Habit by Linkin Park was the song that helped me to survive through tough, personal issues as a young teenager.
Confession: The music video for What I’ve Done by Linkin Park was one of the most influential things in my life and helped shape me as a person and what I wanted to do with my life.
Confession: I’m writing this because I can’t believe Chester Bennington is gone, and though I still need to process his death, I am compelled to write this because of the uproar his death has caused within the mainstream population of my generation, i.e. those born in the mid to late 90s and raised in the 2000s, when Linkin Park became the iconic band that it is.

Let’s just start with the first thing I would hear from fellow students when I would say that I really like Linkin Park: “Everyone loves Linkin Park”, because Linkin Park’s music is for everyone — “you cannot NOT like Linkin Park”, as some of my friends would say. Most people have tried to sum up Linkin Park’s transcendent popularity by saying that their music appealed to the teenage angst of their audience. I’d like to say that that is a very simplistic form of reasoning that doesn’t really sum up Linkin Park’s appeal. Here’s why.
Linkin Park’s music has never been limited to ‘teenage angst’; listen to their songs closely; the music and melody is more than just light metal, and their lyrics are far from angst. Linkin Park’s lyrics addressed deep insecurities, fears, and anxieties for teenagers like no other musician in their time — the type of insecurities that stem from difficult family lives and personal lives; the type of fears you can’t talk about, not even with close friends; the type of anxieties that don’t go away after reading a pamphlet. Combined with their unique blend of music, Linkin Park became the much needed outlet for a generation that was confronted with more than just ‘growing up’ — a generation that was facing a highly problematic world and future, and a difficult individual present. And this is not an overstatement; everyone from my generation or younger likes Linkin Park; if they don’t like all their music, most people have at least one favourite Linkin Park song; if Linkin Park acted as a gateway to heavy rock and metal for some, for others it was the only rock band they listened to (or maybe one of the few musicians they listened to)— and all because of their unique music, a big part of which was the balance of Mike Shinoda’s rap and Chester Bennington’s versatile voice. Which is why you realise why ‘teenage angst’ isn’t enough to sum up the band and their contribution to music and a generation; why you need to really think about what Linkin Park has done to make so many people actively mourn Mr. Bennington’s passing with a profound sadness.

Yes, I know not everyone in my generation is mourning, but if you were raised in the 2000s and listened to music, Linkin Park was there, and they were there for everyone for one reason or the other. When my friends and I heard of Mr. Bennington’s passing on social media, our reactions were common and can be generalised as: Linkin Park helped us survive through hard times; Linkin Park helped us deal with things we couldn’t talk about easily; Linkin Park helped us to grow out of difficult phases in life; Linkin Park helped us to grow up period. Even now, as we listen to their music on repeat in remembrance of Mr. Bennington, it hasn’t gotten old; usually, when you listen to music you grew up to, you may cringe or just feel nostalgic and only listen to it because of that nostalgic value. But listening to all those songs I loved so much, I find that Linkin Park’s music is still relevant, still an escape, and still so important for different reasons, and considering the fact that Linkin Park were still active and had plans to go on tour for their new album, this truly is a loss for music for our generation. And yes, our generation — for aforementioned reasons, Linkin Park was something for us, and we love them and still do.

Lastly, one thing I want to talk about, and perhaps the major reason for my writing this, is about Mr. Bennington himself. Following news of his death, which was a suicide, many people have taken the same, old road that certain people take when news of a suicide surfaces: Why would they commit suicide? They had everything in the world. Let’s understand something, someone’s life and life’s struggles are not for you to judge — someone’s happiness is not for you to define. No one wants to commit suicide, you’re pushed to it through things and experiences in your life; some people can deal with it, but some can’t. And all the money in the world can’t keep you from it. That is the difficult thing about depression; it’s never completely cured. If you know someone with depression or other mental illnesses, please be nice; please don’t pass comments about their life and what they should do to make it better; please don’t use it as an opportunity to prescribe your religion or lifestyle practices or preach your personal opinions. Just be nice and supportive, and if you can’t manage that, then leave them alone. You are not some Almighty force that knows what someone went through or what someone is feeling or thinking, don’t pretend to be one. Please. In fact, this is very similar to all those people complaining about why people are mourning Mr. Bennington or any other celebrity — “you didn’t know them”, no, but you don’t have to know someone to mourn them, just like you don’t have to pass comments about how someone is reacting to or processing something when you don’t know the role someone or something played in an individual’s life. Again, please don’t. Please.
When you think about the kind of comments people pass, you realise why Linkin Park’s music became an outlet for many — a saviour for many too, I know. And whilst this loss is sad, heartbreaking, and truly a loss for many, from the bottom of my heart and soul, I pray that Chester Bennington finds in death the peace he couldn’t find in life. Ameen.
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Chester Bennington was the lead singer of the band Linkin Park. Mr. Bennington passed away on 20th July 2017, following a suicide by hanging. He has talked about being abused and molested as a child led to his substance abuse issues and struggles with depression. Please understand that before talking about why would a man so much money want to kill himself; be kind, if you can’t be smart.
