The End Of An Era: RIP Linkin Park Frontman, Chester Bennington

As of right now, nearly every Linkin Park fan around the world is in mourning. Thursday afternoon, news spread like wildfire reporting that Chester Bennington, lead singer of Linkin Park, had committed suicide. Countless fans were in shock. Most of us grew up listening to Linkin Park. Chester’s voice and song lyrics felt close to home. Full of angst, anger, sadness, and heartbreak, Linkin Park's music was there for us when we needed it most.

Chester was a powerful vocalist, and I am beyond grateful to have experienced and heard the full range of his vocals live in concert back when I was in high school. Linkin Park has been one of my favorite bands since middle school. Over the years, through many style changes and shifts in genre, their music continued to thrive and reach fans on an emotional level. Chester poured his heart and soul into the music, and we felt every surge of emotion in sync with our own. His long battle with depression and substance abuse, however, pushed him to the edge. We never fully know one's battles with mental illness, especially with the arduous lives of our favorite musicians.

Chester is no longer with us, and it feels like losing a friend. It is deeply upsetting and heartbreaking. Listening to Linkin Park's songs now sheds a new light upon the messages he conveyed through the song lyrics. There was much more pain and suffering than we could've understood when the songs were first released.

From all of your loving fans: Rest in peace, Chester, you will forever be in our hearts and your legacy will not be forgotten.

Although the future of Linkin Park is currently unclear, I hope Mike considers taking the lead and moving the band into a direction that honors Chester and his beloved vocals. Chester cannot be replaced, and Linkin Park will never be the same without him, but I hope the band does not die with him.

In memory of Chester, here are some of my all-time favorite songs from Linkin Park, that I will surely be playing on repeat:

1. In The End

I had to fall/ To lose it all / But in the end / It doesn't even matter

Album: Hybrid Theory, 2000

2. Breaking The Habit

I don't know what's worth fighting for/ Or why I have to scream / I don't know why I instigate / And say what I don't mean

Album: Meteora, 2003

3. Numb

And I know / I may end up failing too. / But I know / You were just like me with someone disappointed in you

Album: Meteora, 2003

4. Somewhere I Belong

I wanna heal / I wanna feel what I thought was never real / I wanna let go of the pain I’ve felt so long

Album: Meteora, 2003

5. Leave Out All The Rest

Forgetting all the hurt inside / You've learned to hide so well / Pretending someone else can come / And save me from myself / I can't be who you are

Album: Minutes to Midnight, 2007

6. What I've Done

Put to rest / What you thought of me / While I clean this slate / With the hands of uncertainty

Album: Minutes to Midnight, 2007

7. New Divide

So give me reason / To prove me wrong / To wash this memory clean / Let the floods cross / The distance in your eyes / Across this new divide

Album: Official Single for Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen, 2009

8. Iridescent

Do you feel cold and lost in desperation? / You build up hope, but failure’s all you’ve known / Remember all the sadness and frustration / And let it go. Let it go.

Album: A Thousand Suns, 2010

9. The Catalyst

We're a broken people living under loaded gun.

Album: A Thousand Suns, 2010

10. Castle of Glass

Wash the sorrow from off my skin / And show me how to be whole again

Album: Living Things, 2012

11. Burn It Down

When you fall / I'll take my turn / And fan the flames / As your blazes burn

Album: Living Things, 2012

12. Guilty All The Same

You're guilty all the same / Too sick to be ashamed / You want to point your finger / But there's no one else to blame

Album: The Hunting Party, 2014

13. Until It's Gone

I thought I kept you safe and sound / I thought I made you strong / But something made me realize / That I was wrong

Album: The Hunting Party, 2014

14. One More Light

Who cares when someone's time runs out? / Who cares if one more light goes out? / Well I do

Album: One More Light, 2017

We care, and we will miss you greatly. One more light has indeed gone out.

RIP Chester Bennington, March 20, 1976 - July 20, 2017.