LINKIN Park

Linkin Park is a band generally known as an alternative rock/metal band, but is also well known for fusing multiple genres together in their albums to create music. They were founded in 1996, and they are mainly known for fusing together intense metal music and beat centered hip hop. A lot of their songs include hardcore rap, punk rifts, electronic beats, electronic background ambiance, and pop styling.  Linkin Park throughout the years has had 8 members, the main vocal core from the beginning of 1996 being Chester Bennington the lead vocalist and Mark Shinoda the Rap lyricist and MC.  The band debuted it’s first album in the year 2000, called Hybrid Theory. The album was a massive success. Multiple songs on the album where on the Billboard hot 100, and the album was one of the most successful debut albums from an artist/band to date. The album showcased the bands style of fusing together Metal and Rap.

Genre fusion in the early 2000s was something that was not mainstream at the time and had not been seen regularly. The Album received three Grammy nominations, and eventually sold over 10 million copies, leading to the album having a “diamond status”, the highest an album can receive. Linkin Park in total had 6 albums they released to present day, each album was successful and had plenty of top hits that were on the top 100 billboard and played on the radio. Each album at one point in time has been No.1 on the Billboard charts, topping modern artists like Kendrick Lamar, Harry Styles, and many other artists. The band did a lot of collaborations with many different artists, from bands like Korn and Metallica, to rappers like Jay-Z and Dj’s like Steve Aoki. Jay-z even produced a solo hip-hop album with Mark Shinoda.

Another band that fused genres would be a band like the Gorillaz. The fusion of rap and metal into a genre is sometimes considered to be called “nu metal” and has influenced not only rock and metal, but had a big impact on rap music as well. If you look at popular artists of the 2000s and even today, a lot of artists take inspiration from Linkin Park. One artist in particular would be Machine Gun Kelly, a modern day rapper who is currently writing a Pop Rock album with rap fusion inspired by bands like Linkin Park. Modern artists that enjoyed Linkin Park’s music style and verbally said they saw them as an influence are The Chainsmokers, BlackBear, and Imagine Dragons.

Overall, Linkin Park was one of the main artists to a have a massive impact on music during the 2000s. Buzzfeed even claimed Linkin Park as the “most influential rock band of the decade.” throughout all of the 2000s, the band always had massive impacts on the music charts and other artists, providing solid lyrical content that focused on subjects from depression, anxiety, romance, and injustice. Another article by the Atlantic claimed that Linkin Park changed the sound of  male angst. The article lines out many points about the band and their style, as well as the fact that the only album that outsold Hybrid theory by a rock band was the Beatles, and kind of explains the affects of their music. Linkin Park’s music is generally music that focuses on negative emotions and abuse, as the front main Chester Bennington had grown up within a lot of abuse within his life, as well as others in the band. The music was generally supposed to be a release for people to lash out anger and negative emotions as the result of abuse and other productions of negative energy. A lot of the lyrics when talking about a specific person or thing in their music are generalized with words like You, Me, Them, etc. In order to allow the listener to envision their own emotions and people into it when they listen along to the lyrics, but each individual song is filled with emotion that stems from their own personal lives. Their music introduced this idea of being able to be more forward and represent stronger emotion in music for all artists by not only allowing anger into their music but combining the elegant rap lyrics to get points across without shouting and only using rage to express male emotions. It allowed for these things to be played out pleasantly and harmonic but also in a stronger more forceful manner.

To me personally, Linkin Park was a staple in my childhood, I come from a family that does not really talk about their emotions or has a strong sense of expression. Most of my life I’ve grown to learn to internalize my emotions and deal with them on my own through different outlets. Music, working out, and pursuing hobbies that occupy my time, as well as mediating in times in which I do not feel at peace. The band members of Linkin Park are all lively and personal people who have been through a lot of struggles in their life, and have constantly made waves with their music to try and express emotions people generally feel within their everyday lives and those people who have dealt with abusers. I grew up with a lot of music and influence in my life of all different genres, and I was never the type to strictly devote my self to one thing and not branch out into different varieties of music as a kid. R&B, Hip Hop, Pop, Punk, Metal, Rock, Alternative, Country, and Classical music have all been music I’ve listened to and resonated with. Growing up listening to Linkin Park definitely positively impacted me as a kid, I’m a firm believer in peace and avoiding toxic and negative expression towards others, so having an outlet like their music that covers an array of topics and emotions was always valuable to me and to many others. In Linkin Park’s performances you can see and feel the emotion in Chester’s voice when he sings the lyrics, and in the song “crawling” and his particular performance in this attached link at Rock Werchter 2017 you can visibly see and hear the emotion’s expressed within the lyrics even 17 years after the song was released.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0-0ekfyP0A   

This song really describes how it feels when you have a traumatic experience happen to you and you feel responsible for the outcomes as well as the event itself. It’s a vivid description of feeling trapped and encompassed in your past, as well as how it really feels to be constricted by your own negative self image. I ask myself these questions, who am I? What am I supposed to be? What is real?  What really is important in life? I find myself so encompassed in my own feelings sometimes I struggle to proceed through life and really find myself within reality and focusing on a realistic future. Within this song, it really does describe the feeling of being suffocated by negative emotions and being pulled down by your own insecurity and the disability to believe in yourself and what you should be.

Chester Bennington

Chester Bennington has the most influence on Linkin Park as a band, and other artists as a whole. In July 20, 2017  Chester Bennington passed away at age 41 by suicide. His influence on the band was the most influential. Losing a lead singer of  a band has a detrimental effect on a band and its development. After  his death, many different artists had statements about Bennington. NBC presented Linkin Park’s statement about his death.

“Dear Chester,

“Our hearts are broken. The shockwaves of grief and denial are still sweeping through our family as we come to grips with what has happened.

“You touched so many lives, maybe even more than you realized. In the past few days, we’ve seen an outpouring of love and support, both public and private, from around the world. [Bennington’s wife] Talinda and the family appreciate it, and want the world to know that you were the best husband, son, and father; the family will never be whole without you.

“Talking with you about the years ahead together, your excitement was infectious. Your absence leaves a void that can never be filled — a boisterous, funny, ambitious, creative, kind, generous voice in the room is missing. We’re trying to remind ourselves that the demons who took you away from us were always part of the deal. After all, it was the way you sang about those demons that made everyone fall in love with you in the first place. You fearlessly put them on display, and in doing so, brought us together and taught us to be more human. You had the biggest heart, and managed to wear it on your sleeve.

“Our love for making and performing music is inextinguishable. While we don’t know what path our future may take, we know that each of our lives was made better by you. Thank you for that gift. We love you, and miss you so much.

“Until we see you again, LP”  

Bennington was born on March 20, 1976 in Phoenix Arizona. His childhood and past experiences are filled with demons and trauma. He was a victim of sexual abuse as a child, and had many other struggles with abusive relationships from adults as well as lovers throughout his life. He also dealt with drug addiction, and many other difficult struggles people face throughout his life. He took to making music and singing to express his emotions and release his pent up feelings of depression. From young age Bennington’s dream was to be a rock star, and had always seen singing as his passion. From working as a Burger King employee, to becoming full blooming rock star.

Towards the end of his life Chester’s life. He talked about his depression in an interview. He always had a lifelong struggle with depression, but towards the age of 40. He broke his leg, many of his friends and family passed away, and Chester became succumbed back into his addiction to alcohol and drugs. He said he told his therapist he felt as though he envied sociopaths, he wished he was like them, he wished he couldn’t feel anything. If it were up to him he wishes he wasn’t even really human, that he didn’t have to experience the positive and negative emotions that the world had to offer.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-qc-s3OjKM

The music Linkin Park and many other artists portray is a strong emotional connection that I feel should be shared with the world, artists like Xxxtentacion, Juice Wrld, 21 Pilots, P!nk, Eminem, Frank Ocean, NF, Post Malone, Three Days Grace, The Killers, and many many others really have this prominent presence in the world that I feel as though is a beautiful expression. Life is a gift, one to be cherished through the good and the bad, and with Linkin Park’s future uncertain after Bennington’s death, and the unfortunate events of the world right now. I think meaningful music and art has more impact now than ever. Hopefully they continue to create music that’s emotionally impactful. Hopefully music can help many people throughout their lives, people like Chester, and anyone who needs an outlet for their feelings in the world.

Resources

Apar, C. (n.d.). Chester Bennington: Biography & History. Retrieved from https://www.allmusic.com/artist/chester-bennington-mn0000111882

Coscarelli, J. (2017, July 20). Chester Bennington, Linkin Park Singer, Is Dead at 41.

Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/20/arts/music/chester-bennington-linkin-park-dead.html

King, A. (2018, June 24). There were warning signs before Chester Bennington’s suicide, the Linkin Park singer’s widow says. Retrieved from

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/23/us/talinda-bennington-suicide-town-hall-cnntv/index.html

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