In The End
In memory of Chester Bennington
When I think of Chester Bennington the first thing that comes to mind is Linkin Park. I think that is what fans of his, myself included, remember him best for. His presence on stage and the way he shouted out the lyrics to his songs on albums and live in concert is something that I will never forget.
I first saw Linkin Park in concert in November of 2001 at The Family Values Tour. I was eighteen years old and about 5 months removed from graduating from high school. They performed along with Stone Temple Pilots, Staind, Static-X and a few other bands. The concert was at the Honda Center formerly the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim. I went with my cousin Celine. That venue has a special place in my heart because that is where my high school graduation was held. That would be the first and only time that I would see Linkin Park live but I remained a fan nonetheless. I became a fan of theirs when the album “Hybrid Theory” came out. My favorite songs from that album include: “One Step Closer,” “Runaway,” “Crawling,” “In The End” and “Pushing Me Away”.
When their second album titled “Meteora” came out I remember my mom taking me to go buy their CD. I think I was in my early twenties when it came out. My favorite songs from that album are “Somewhere I Belong,” “Faint” and “Numb”. I would not get the chance to see Linkin Park in concert in support of that album due to health reasons. I was happy enough to have their CD regardless of whether I saw them in concert or not.
As the years went by and I got older I became out of touch with listening to Linkin Park’s music. I was more of a fan of their first two albums. However I did go out and buy their next album titled “Minutes To Midnight”. I did not hear anything about Linkin Park being in concert this time.
I remember being at the mall one day and going into the store Hot Topic. As I browsed around the store I was looking at the CD’s they had and I saw a live album that Linkin Park had put out. I wish I would have bought it because it had live versions of all my favorite songs from them. This would be the last time that I would be into Linkin Park for awhile.
For the next ten years I grew old of listening to Linkin Park and did not buy any of their albums. I heard songs on the radio or see music videos on television of either remixes of their old music or collaborations they did like the remix collaboration they did with Jay-Z titled “Numb/Encore”. The song was a hip hop remix of their song “Numb” and Jay-Z’s song “Encore”. I thought the remix with Jay-Z was bad ass because I am also a fan of rap and hip hop.
Bennington is also known for the collaborations and contributions he did with various bands and other music artists. As I mentioned Linkin Park collaborated with Jay-Z for the rap remix their song “Numb”. Bennington also collaborated with bands like Seattle’s own Alice In Chains to perform their song “Man in the Box” and also Chris Cornell to perform “Hunger Strike” by Temple of the Dog. Cornell also performed with Linkin Park during a concert and sang their song “Crawling.” Bennington was also the lead singer for Stone Temple Pilots for a brief time when they were searching for a new singer after Scott Weiland was fired from the band.
His collaboration with Soundgarden on the song “Hunger Strike” is just amazing in my opinion. I am saying that because I really like the song and I wish I could have seen Bennington and Cornell perform the song live. What makes the song amazing to me is the rhythm guitar throughout the song and Chris Cornell’s vocals.
After Cornell’s death in May of 2017 Bennington would become close to Cornell’s widow Vicky and Cornell’s teenage daughter Toni. It was during that time that Bennington would sing a bone chilling rendition of the song “Hallelujah,” a song that is now on my playlist after being sung by Bennington and would be sung later by Cornell’s daughter Toni and Ryan Tedder who is the lead singer of the band One Republic.
In May 2017 Linkin Park released their 7th album titled “One More Light,” and the band would prepare to go out on tour in support of that album. That tour would never happen because 2 months later on July 20th, 2017 Bennington would be found dead inside his home. Mike Shinoda who was a lifelong friend and in Linkin Park with Bennington broke the news of his death to fans of Linkin Park on Twitter. I was so devastated when I heard Bennington passed away as well as the manner in which he did it.
Bennington’s death coincided with what would have been Chis Cornell’s 53rd birthday. It makes me wonder if Bennington took his own life because he wanted to be with Cornell up in rock and roll heaven. I do not know. I am still heartbroken that Bennington and Cornell are no longer with us.
It is believed that Bennington had a rough childhood. In a 2017 interview he talked about that he was sexually abused by an older man when he was only 7 years old and the sexual abuse went on until he was 13. He was afraid to tell anyone what was going on because he was afraid that he was going to get bullied by people at school or that people would not believe him.
I am listening to Linkin Park’s songs to inspire me to write this tribute to Bennington. It is tough, really tough as a matter of fact. I could hear his voice like in the way he would sing Linkin Park’s songs. Myself and millions of other fans will never get another chance to see him again.
I will say that Bennington and Linkin Park’s music did not help me with a certain point in my life. What I mean by that is Bennington or Linkin Park did not have as much of an influence on my life because I did not start listening to them until I was an adult. It was after he had already passed and I learned that he suffered from depression that I became inspired by him because I have my own struggles with anxiety and depression. The way he ended his life is a huge wake up call for me to have a strong mind even though it might be difficult at times.
