Linkin Park's Chester Bennington Dead at 41

Discussion in 'News' started by Joe, Jul 20, 2017.

  1. cryoshok

    cryoshok New Member

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    This will be long, but I hope you can bear with me as I show my vulnerability.

    It has been a long time since I have posted here. So long actually that I can’t figure out how to get into my old account “jammist” so I had to make a new one just to get this off my chest!

    I’ll be honest, in the last couple of years I had sort of fallen out of Linkin Park. Was not really following the band or their music closely anymore and was more focused with becoming an EDM producer and that scene. That is why I am caught even more off guard by the grief I feel while I write this.

    On Thursday while driving I received a bunch of messages from old high school friends, I could only glance at them. “Did you hear about Chester?!” “Oh man, not Chester from Linkin Park!.” I was a bit confused on what they were talking about, what could have happened? When I finally got to a computer I saw the news. At first I thought, well that’s really sad, I couldn’t believe it to be honest…. But I didn’t think it would affect me too badly though since I don’t really follow the band anymore and I never actually knew Chester personally.

    I was wrong. Rapidly I felt a weight come down on me…as if the world I live in suddenly did not feel real. I felt empty. As if someone I have known half my life had just passed and reality would never be the same again. I couldn’t understand, why was I feeling so hurt by the loss of someone I never met? Why is it when I wake up, I am jarred just as badly as the first time by every reminder this is real? Why can’t I listen to a Linkin Park song without breaking into tears?

    I had forgotten. Somehow I had forgotten how much of an impact this man and this band have had on me in the last 15 years.

    I am a grown ass man now in his 30’s now and I guess I repressed some of these memories or they had fallen into the subconscious depths of my mind. But I remember now, harder than ever.

    I remember discovering Hybrid Theory at 16, and obsessing over it. It was the spark that got me started wanting to make music of my own. Soon after I bought my first guitar…and at that moment I made a decision.
    A decision that many of us probably made: That I would be a creator of music, not just a listener, from that point on.
    I would spend hours dreaming of being like Chester or Mike. They were my idols, my heroes, for some of the most developmental years of my life. They represented the dream we artists are foolish enough to chase.

    Years went on and Hybrid Theory, Reanimation, and Meteora became the soundtracks to my life. My first concert ever was Summer Sanitarium with Linkin Park opening for Metallica. In college, I started a band with my good friend and so much of our style was influenced by Linkin Park. Minutes to Midnight, Living Things, A Thousand Suns came out…I heard this man’s voice in my ears, spilling his heart out to me every day for almost 13 years.

    Everything has cascaded to bring me to where I am today. An aspiring music producer. Even now, when I am making a song there is a influence of Linkin Park’s sound in my composition style.

    This is more than just the death of a celebrity, or an idol to me.

    It feels as though it almost represents the mortality of a part of me. His death is almost poetic. The artist’s plight is real. We are all tortured souls. It is that quality that allows us to connect with others through our music. The same quality that makes a great artist can also consume them. It is tragic…it is beautiful.

    I had to post this . People in my life don’t understand why I would mourn a celebrity, especially one I never got to meet. They don’t get it and I have no one to talk to about it that takes me seriously.

    It’s the individual’s that make an impact on our life and who we are that we truly miss.


    Thank you Chester - for making that impact on me and millions of others

    You did more in 20 years than most people would in a lifetime. You lived the life and will be remembered as a legend in your prime who changed the lives of your fans.

    I 'm comforted to see LPA community come together and support each other in this time. I feel bad for falling away from you guys in recent years. We are all in this together.

    If you managed to read all that, you deserve a hug and a cookie. I am impressed if you did and I appreciate it more than you know.

    -AJ (CryoshoK)
     
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  2. Astat

    Astat LPA Super Member LPA Super Member

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    *sigh*

    This is still really fucking hard.
     
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  3. Vix

    Vix New Member

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    Unbelievably so
     
  4. blackout.

    blackout. Well-Known Member

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    I know that's how it looks according to credits but I think it's impossible. Chester said that "Talking To Myself" is from the perspective of his wife telling about his behavior. I think that Mike couldn't write about it. It's strange because I know how credits for the "One More Light" songs looks like but maybe there are some mistakes?
     
  5. minuteforce

    minuteforce Danny's not here, Mrs. Torrance. LPA Team

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    Shinoda and co. might be just that good at writing in Chester's voice - in that conversation they recorded for Facebook, Chester talked about how good they were at writing things that fit him as a singer and as a person
     
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  6. CannaKippers

    CannaKippers Member

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    I wonder if the band ever discussed what their plan would be for the group if one of them were to die? Say, if a freak accident had occurred on the road or elsewhere. Maybe they already know what each of them would have wanted. However, Im sure that the reality of it actually happening changes all of those theoretical discussions.
     
  7. AndreyKamensky

    AndreyKamensky hakuna matata

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    It may be too soon or too hard to watch at the moment, but I did and I think it actually helped me deal with this whole thing a bit.
    Most touching parts of Chester's last show:

     
  8. Derek

    Derek LPAssociation.com Administrator LPA Administrator

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    You know, I think a large part of why I and others have (mostly) been able to push through this is due in large part to the LPA community, and the LP fan community at large. I have been nothing short of impressed over how much the fans have stuck together during this period, and done all they can to help other fans and in some cases probably save lives.

    I've been talking to complete strangers who needed my help, but I've heard many stories of other fans doing the same thing. Messaging hundreds of people to tell them they matter, and that they are loved. I have never been so proud to call myself a Linkin Park fan. We've legitimately been handled the worst card we could be dealt, and we've stuck together in a way that I feel would make Chester so proud of his LP family.
     
  9. Hybrid

    Hybrid Has Gone Rogue. LPA Team

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    I still keep waiting for the tweet:

    @ChesterBe
    Hey guys! It looks like you missed me or something...

    Dude, I know what you mean. The majority of my weekend has been used to talk to people. Talk with fans. Group Skype calls(more than just the one on Thursday). Listening and talking with others is helping me cope...
     
  10. Doridorica

    Doridorica Well-Known Member

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    This is so nice of you, thank you for all the support and like you said, I'm truly amazed how all LP community came together and suppor each other, show love and are jus there for each other. It's like Mike said: one day at a time.
    @Hybrid, for me, reality sank in today: he's really gone.
     
  11. Hybrid

    Hybrid Has Gone Rogue. LPA Team

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    His legacy is still very much alive. So long as we remember him in the light that he cast upon himself as the loving caring and honest man he was, he will never go away or be forgotten. He now lives on within us all.
     
  12. Derek

    Derek LPAssociation.com Administrator LPA Administrator

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    I know. That entire 10-20 minute period where fans were frantically trying to find confirmation it was 'fake news' I was waiting for Chester to tweet something like 'Well that's silly! I'm right here TMZ! [posts pic of him alive and well]'

    When AP sent the confirmation, I was still hoping for some rare chance the media got this WAY wrong. But once Mike sent the tweet, my heart sank. I couldn't believe this was our new reality: a world without Chester.
     
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  13. Casualty

    Casualty Well-Known Member

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    Thats almost exactly how it was for me. I still can't believe this really isn't some nightmare...
     
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  14. Doridorica

    Doridorica Well-Known Member

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    His legacy and work will always be here if we keep it alive, he will always be in our hearts and will live through us, no matter what. We're his soldiers.
    My friend sent me a message while I was driving, looked at it, hit the breaks and kept repeating no, no way, it can't be while trying to load LPA forums. When it wouldn't open I knew sth bad happened but kept repeating that he is here and nothing bad happened.
    What i meant earlier is that today, after seeing all those memorial videos, the reality struck me: he's really physically gone. Really, really gone. And it made me feel awful, I haven't cried this much since Friday, it's really bad but I'll be ok, we all have to be,
     
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  15. Hybrid

    Hybrid Has Gone Rogue. LPA Team

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    Together, we will all move forward.
     
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  16. xEsaul

    xEsaul Well-Known Member

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    Anyone see that Talinda's Twitter was hacked at one point recently?

    Anyway, I don't make friends easily. I'm rather shy. Linkin Park served as a means for people to get to know me. I love our community. The amount of support across table has blown my mind. I've battled depression myself throughout my life, and it's always been the band that reminded me that it's okay to feel this way. I've never experienced death before. This is new to me.
     
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  17. insanefanboy

    insanefanboy RIP Chester Bennington

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    You know the hardest part for me?

    I took Linkin Park for granted. I hate myself for that. I completely wrote off the OML tour and album (at first) thinking "aw well there'll be another don't need to worry about this one" WRONG!

    I didn't think this would ever happen and I'm stupid.
     
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  18. Hybrid

    Hybrid Has Gone Rogue. LPA Team

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    Talinda's Twitter hack reminded me that there are still people out there with very ugly souls.

    Hey. To be fair, The band took a calculated risk with OML knowing that it wouldn't be for everyone. That's not on you and it surely isn't a reason to call yourself stupid. You also didn't take Linkin Park for granted because I'm sure there are plenty of other songs in their catalog that speak to you. Don't beat yourself up over it. No one knew or wanted this to happen. Keep your chin up.
     
    Last edited: Jul 24, 2017
  19. Doridorica

    Doridorica Well-Known Member

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    Don't torture yourself like that, we all thought there'd be another album (or ten) and more tours and of course that nobody thought we'd wake up to receive news like this one. There's no point in saying what ifs and hating yourself for sth you can't control. We'll always have music and intereviews as a legacy.
     
  20. insanefanboy

    insanefanboy RIP Chester Bennington

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    Your right Doridorica and Hybrid maybe hate was a strong word, but I just feel so selfish.
     

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