The Legacy Of Chester Bennington & Linkin Park
by Sheldon Rocha Leal
What a tragic end to a man that meant so much to so many. Depression is a scourge that affects many people on a daily basis and a disease that is grossly underestimated.
I’ve been reflecting on the death of Chester Bennington and the body of work that has been left behind. I didn’t know much about the band he lead and so I set out to investigate the significance and profoundness of the legacy that Linkin Park has had and Chester Pennington has left behind.
Linkin Park was started by three high school friends, Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon and Brad Delson, in California in 1996. The band’s original frontman was Mark Wakefield, who left the band, when he realised they were going nowhere. Chester Bennington, who was part of a Post Grunge band called Grey Daze, only joined the band in 1999.
Before Linkin Park launched their first album [Hybrid Theory] in 2000, there were very few bands that were merging Rap and Rock together. The band pioneered this whole new genre of music, known as RapCore.
For their innovation, the band was generously rewarded, with amazing accolades and chart success.
Between 2000 and 2017, the band released 7 studio albums, 5 live albums, 2 compilation albums, 2 remix albums, 3 soundtrack albums and 10 EPs, of which 5 peaked at No1 in the USA and sold a combined 100million units internationally.
Their most successful album was their first album, [Hybrid Theory] which sold over 30million units internationally. Incidentally the band released a new album a few months ago, which peaked at No1 in the world, One More Light.
The band also released 34 singles in the 17 years that they were together and sold over 30million singles worldwide. Of these singles their biggest was “What I’ve Done”.
The band even did a duet album with Jay-Z in 2004, entitled “Collision Course”. The EP sold over 5million units worldwide.
All in all Linkin Park, has to this point sold over 130million records worldwide (singles and albums combined), making them one of the most influential bands of all time.
The band won 2 Grammy Awards, 5 American Music Awards, 1 Billboard Music Award, 10 MTV Europe Awards, 4 MTV VMAs and 3 World Music Awards, to name just a few.
Chester Bennington also did some side projects. In 2005 he formed a band entitled Dead By Sunrise, who released one album in 2009. He had been writing some songs for Linkin Park, that he felt didn’t really fit in with the style of the band and therefore decided to form this side project. The album released was entitled Out Of Ashes and had moderate success on the charts.
In 2013, the band Stone Temple Pilots were doing a tour, but were looking for a vocalist and Chester Bennington joined the band as a stand in vocalist for the tour.
All that now remains to be seen is whether Linkin Park will throw in the towel now that their frontman has passed on, or if they will attempt to continue without him, either way, Chester Bennington and his band have left an indelible mark on music history and in our society as a whole. RIP Chester Bennington 😢
