Music Mondays: Linkin Park

As most of you probably know - Chester Bennington, the lead singer of Linkin Park committed suicide last week. I'm not going to go into any other details here, it's too rough. I've already struggled on whether or not I wanted to do this post. Linkin Park has always been close to my heart, and a personal favorite of mine. I didn't always publicize my love for the band the way I have with others because they helped me through stages of my life where I felt misunderstood and lost. And I wanted to keep that part of me private. I could relate to their music in a way that I couldn't with people. When I was in my room listening to LP, it gave me an escape, an outlet to just forget about the bullshit. They were the first band I ever loved with my whole heart and craved more. I could not get enough of their music, always had their CDs on repeat. Begging my mom to buy the CDs for me, even when she thought that me listening to their music was going to corrupt me. I cried when my cousins broke my copy of Hybrid Theory and laughed about it. It wasn't until Collision Course that my cousins understood just how big Linkin Park was. I, on the other hand, was never big on rap/hip hop because I didn't grow up with it. I was never really exposed to it. So this collab was disappointing to me at that time. I said Jay ruined the sound! Growing up after that though, I learned to like it. And while I didn't like the way some of their newer tracks sounded - I felt like they were changing their style too much - I can appreciate that it was their artistic vision.

I'm forever grateful that I was able to see Linkin Park perform live in concert, and while I am saddened that I won't be able to see Chester perform again, I can seek solace in their albums and hope that he is in a better place.

If you or anyone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255. 

- L