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Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington has committed suicide

This hit me harder than I could have anticipated. I saw them live a few weeks ago. Holy shit.

Exactly two weeks ago yesterday I saw them live and it was one of my favourite gigs I've ever been to. I thought I'd wake up today feeling a bit better but nope, this has hit a lot of people hard man. :'(
 

SilentRob

Member
Trying my best to calmly answer people who go like "How could he do this to his children?!" and explain that it's not a decision to be sick and that suicide stemming from psychological issues like depression is not a rational decision but a symptom of the sickness. But man. It's hard having patience for ignorance in this situation :/
 

H1PSTER

Member
Trying my best to calmly answer people who go like "How could he do this to his children?!" and explain that it's not a decision to be sick and that suicide stemming from psychological issues like depression is not a rational decision but a symptom of the sickness. But man. It's hard having patience for ignorance in this situation :/

It's because these people are either trolls or haven't been through any sort of depression themselves... It's fine being sad, but to be depressed is a whole different monster.

He thought about everything, his kids, his career, his life and the darkness still said that he made the better choice - that's how bad depression can be.
 

SilentRob

Member
It's because these people are either trolls or haven't been through any sort of depression themselves... It's fine being sad, but to be depressed is a whole different monster.

He thought about everything, his kids, his career, his life and the darkness still said that he made the better choice - that's how bad depression can be.

I know they aren't trolls, they simply are ignorant because, as you said, they neither suffered from depression nor did they have close friends or partners with mental issues. It's simply a matter of being subjected to it and/or having explained why it's not simply a matter of being sad or "depressed". But this suicide hits so close to home, it's hard to not just immediately go "fuck you" @__@

Also, everyone: If you talk about this suicide on social media, please make sure to add a Suicide Prevention Hotline or something else that could help people in need. Seeing a famous person commit suicide and the outpouring of both support and sadness in its wake is one of the biggest triggers for already vulnerable people. A simple call to such a Hotline (or, really, talking to ANYBODY about it) could already get them over the hill and prevent a death.
 

H1PSTER

Member
I know they aren't trolls, they simply are ignorant because, as you said, they neither suffered from depression nor did they have close friends or partners with mental issues. It's simply a matter of being subjected to it and/or having explained why it's not simply a matter of being sad or "depressed". But this suicide hits so close to home, it's hard to not just immediately go "fuck you" @__@

+1 to that brother.
 

Koopatrol

Member
I'm just so glad I got to see him perform live with LP on four separate occasions while I had the chance. My favorite show was probably the secret performance they did for Warped Tour 2014, shortly after The Hunting Party came out. It was really awesome to see other artists join the stage to perform songs like A Place for My Head, One Step Closer, and Bleed It Out. Sunset Strip Music Festival 2013 was also amazing, got to see Mike perform a verse from Reading My Eyes over Bleed It Out. Also the incredible show in Chula Vista 2014 where my sister was lucky enough to catch a drum stick and I was lucky enough to catch a guitar pick from Phoenix.

I truly miss this guy. Rest in peace.
 

Garruson

Member
I've not really been affected by any celebrity death but this got me, loved his voice and he was such a great writer and frontman.

There's something really wrong with how many men are committing suicide :(
 
Was listening to 'Shadow of the Day' on the way into work this morning, shed a tear or two.

In cards and flowers on your window
Your friends all plead for you to stay

Sometimes beginnings aren't so simple
Sometimes goodbye's the only way
 

Alphahawk

Member
Man I was looking at MTV, and they have this article detailing all the tweets that other musicians sent to pay tribute to him and man I nearly lost it.

Like others have said, I didn't really think the loss would hit me as hard as it has, but well we're here.
 

kmax

Member
In tribute to Chester, today I'm listening through all the albums as I work.

As a LP fan, it's the least I can do.
 

Joe

Member
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfKlc74O8MM

I was at this show in NYC in 2000.

It was only a couple of weeks after Hybrid Theory released and they opened for 3 other bands.

They were great live but Chester easily stole the performance. His voice was just incredible and he sounded just like he did on the album.

It's a great memory.
 

strafer

member
Listening to Hybrid Theory right now.

While I was not a huge LP fan this album is so fucking good and was a part of my time in high school, it was played constantly.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
listening to hybrid theory/meteora brings back so many memories. haven't listened to Linkin Park in years.

i might have moved away from them but their music was a huge influence on me growing up. thank you chester. i hope you're at peace.
 

Skoen

Member
Sorry if this is too sensitive. Can someone tell me what depression feels like? is it the feeling when a family member/friend dies but for longer periods?

The biggest problem with my depression are the constant "voices" in my head talking myself down at all time. Constant uncontrollable Self-Judgement, constant darkness following you around every corner.

I tend to judge and overthink all the smallest things I say in every conversation I have. Question why my friends even hang out with me or why anyone would like me at all, many times even paranoid about that they talk shit about me behind my back.
I tell myself that I suck at my job and that I´m not good or strong enough for any girl to have a relationship of any kind.

The list can go on and on. And the stupid thing about it is that I know that lead a very good life.

I have the best friends I could ever wish for, a good job, a very rich social life,always out doing something and I also have lots of girls who always take interest in me wherever I go. I litteraly have no reason whatsoever to complain.

Despite all of that I still loathe myself for no good reason at all. Some days are better or worse than others but overall still not good.

After 10 years of constant battle I am slowly finding out the reasons behind it and the last two months I have been starting to try to crawl out of it.

Depression is a fucking bitch! Especially because it is such a hidden disease. It´s always the people you least expect who are suffering from it.
 
The biggest problem with my depression are the constant "voices" in my head talking myself down at all time. Constant uncontrollable Self-Judgement, constant darkness following you around every corner.

I tend to judge and overthink all the smallest things I say in every conversation I have. Question why my friends even hang out with me or why anyone would like me at all, many times even paranoid about that they talk shit about me behind my back.
I tell myself that I suck at my job and that I´m not good or strong enough for any girl to have a relationship of any kind.

The list can go on and on. And the stupid thing about it is that I know that lead a very good life.

I have the best friends I could ever wish for, a good job, a very rich social life,always out doing something and I also have lots of girls who always take interest in me wherever I go. I litteraly have no reason whatsoever to complain.

Despite all of that I still loathe myself for no good reason at all. Some days are better or worse than others but overall still not good.

After 10 years of constant battle I am slowly finding out the reasons behind it and the last two months I have been starting to try to crawl out of it.

Depression is a fucking bitch! Especially because it is such a hidden disease. It´s always the people you least expect who are suffering from it.

Very well put. Glad you're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
 

psychotron

Member
Remember hearing Crawling on the radio and falling in love with the band. I was lucky enough to see them open for Metallica at Giants stadium. They absolutely killed it. Spent their whole set in the pit having a blast. What a fucking shame.
 
That is very sad. I really just echoing everyone else here but Linken Park were a very large presence in my teenage years. All the love to Chesters friends and family throughout this difficult time.
 
Have been a fan of the group since I was very young, I've written posts about them on a few forums over the past day between FB, LPA, LPL, etc. Was surprised to see such a long running topic here on the GAF. Suffice to say I'm completely heartbroken, but I take solace in seeing so many people being affected by Chester and LP's music. Usually I'd have to specify one or the other, but the fact that LP has held to the same lineup for most of their career is a testament to the friendship of their members and makes their legacy so much more powerful.

RIP Chester. I loved everything you were involved in and you helped make me the man I am today. From "Part of Me" to "One More Light," I salute you. May your soul rest in peace and be free of the demons that haunted you for so many years.
 
Remember hearing Crawling on the radio and falling in love with the band. I was lucky enough to see them open for Metallica at Giants stadium. They absolutely killed it. Spent their whole set in the pit having a blast. What a fucking shame.

I was there. That was the Summer Sanitarium tour right? Great show.
 
This has shown me I had Linkin Park wrong all this time. To be honest, I always thought they were bandwagon jumpers cashing in on the nu-metal craze with their angsty, emo metal sound, but the angst and emotion were clearly very real and I maybe sold them short.

Really sad news and my thoughts go out to his family and friends.
 

xam3l

Member
I may be just a dropplet in an ocean of people that took this news like a fucking train to their faces.

But the more I think about how influencial his bad was in my life, the more sad I am. Im 29 yo and I dont remember beeing so sad by the departure of a celebrity, or even someone from my family (which happened this week).

With that in mind Im trying to understand that feeling and I think I got it. I never knew Chester, I had my opportunities in the various concerts I went to, but even so I can consider it as my buddy.

Linkin Park was the most influential band in my life. I do not like his recent work. I dont listen to it. But in my teens and early twenties they were the shit! And the hopes that they would come back from that popy stuff always remained.

But its not about the music or its quality, its about all the moments of my life were Chester and Cia were by my side. All the generations of friends I have and had, all my romances, my all fucking life. They were just there.

They were the catalyst of some decision in my life, relationships and adventures. And Chester was always the face and the voice of those moments.

Its sucks. It hurts. As corny as it may sound, he was like the best friend I've never met.
 

Cronen

Member
I haven't really listened to Linkin Park since their Minutes to Midnight album, but their first two albums did have a big influence on me as a young teen that was getting in to Rock/Metal music, so for that I will always be grateful.

I was lucky enough to see them in 2008 at their Projekt Revolution festival they did at Milton Keynes here in the UK (which I believe they turned their performance in to a live CD/DVD album?). The line up was ace:

Linkin Park
Jay-Z
Pendulum
N*E*R*D
Enter Shikari
The Bravery
Innerpartysystem

I wish his family, his friends and the rest of the band all the best. Can't imagine what they're all going through.
 
Also, everyone: If you talk about this suicide on social media, please make sure to add a Suicide Prevention Hotline or something else that could help people in need. Seeing a famous person commit suicide and the outpouring of both support and sadness in its wake is one of the biggest triggers for already vulnerable people. A simple call to such a Hotline (or, really, talking to ANYBODY about it) could already get them over the hill and prevent a death.

This is rock solid advice... Quoted for truth
 
Linkin Park were certainly the closest thing the 21st century had to a really good mainstream rock band.

My favourite thing they did was the video to 'What I've Done'. Those images set to those words and music really hit me the first time I saw it and I've always thought it was awesome. They had a few other really solid songs too - even if the overly angsty nu-metal thing that was popular at the time could get a bit much. If it's true they became the butt of a joke, that's kind of sad and undeserved.

Any suicide hurts and destroys families and friends, but with celebrities that shock wave gets sent through millions of people who have no real way to deal with it because they don't even really know the people in question. We have no way of really making sense of or processing the event. That's why you probably shouldn't get emotionally involved with the lives of celebrities at all.
 

Soma

Member
I wear a lot of band shirts lately but my VERY FIRST one was a Linkin Park t-shirt I got from Hot Topic that I wore like a fuckin champ back in high school. This definitely hits me to a degree but you know what, fuck the memes. I'm listening to this band tonight for the first time in a long ass time in remembrance.

Rest in peace.
 

Alphahawk

Member
Sorry if this is too sensitive. Can someone tell me what depression feels like? is it the feeling when a family member/friend dies but for longer periods?

For me, when I had my first major depression episode, it just felt like everything was detached from me. and it was hard to connect to things. Sadness was part of it, but it's not really the main component, at least it wasn't for me.

Luckily a combination of things happened, to where that only lasted a few months, I've had a couple more episodes pop up here and there, and while they were intense it wasn't like that first time.
 

H1PSTER

Member
Sorry if this is too sensitive. Can someone tell me what depression feels like? is it the feeling when a family member/friend dies but for longer periods?

I have experience with my dad committing suicide and suffering from similar thoughts, and depression myself - I need to preface this with the fact that I have a diagnosis of Asperger's and I've been told that it works as a "buffer" so it might not be a true feeling of it.

With my dad, luckily I was too young for it to hugely impact me however he died when he was 24 - I'm now 26 - whenever it got close to his birthday around the age of 24 I was getting sorta irked by it, I felt overwhelmed by the fact that i considered myself young and he died at that age; when I hit 25 I was sad because I still thought I was young and I'd outlived my dad... I didn't know him; other than these thoughts I really don't care...

I can relate what you say to my partners uncle who has terminal cancer, he's one of my best friends and I actually broke down and started sobbing because I know I'll miss him - I rarely ever cry but this has gotten to me way more than the above has and no my depression doesn't feel like that.

With the depression I rarely ever cry but I have extended periods of considering that the world would be better off without me in it - I feel numb (pardon the pun?) to most things and I tend not to give a shit about anything and there are extended periods where I just feel worthless and useless... During one episode I actually told my missus that she would be better off finding someone else and that she could do way better than me.

I also feel really unmotivated to do most things and I'm stuck in my ways - obviously the Asperger's doesn't help this but more often than not I can get the motivation to do different things but when I'm in a rut I just rather shrivel up and not be noticed by anyone or anything, including myself - I've had suicidal thoughts but I will always tell somebody (my missus) when I've had them and I've never actually followed through with them either because I understand how much my dad's suicide hurt my family.

It differs from person to person - my account will be different to yours, everyone else's and what Chester felt because it just affects and effects everyone in their own ways - some absolutely hate life and I can't say I do, I just feel worthless within life sometimes... I can't control when I do - I just do.
 

WhatNXt

Member
A good friend of mine described depression as being paralysed by negative thoughts and how you feel about those thoughts. And said sometimes its not so much a thought as a general malaise that's hard or impossible to shake yourself out of. For some people its rooted in negative rumination and for others its probably more chemical.

I was reading the other day that Metacognitive Therapy is showing promise in place of other forms of therapy like CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy). The latter is about trying to test the validity of your thoughts and treats them as behaviour you can train yourself to change, the former is apparently more about training your mind to see thoughts as 'just' thoughts, and to let them pass by inflicting less harm.

Our inner voice and soul can be a cruel thing. It's a shame Chester was so reflectively hard on himself when clearly there is so much love out there for him. But that's how this illness is.
 
A good friend of mine described depression as being paralysed by negative thoughts and how you feel about those thoughts. And said sometimes its not so much a thought as a general malaise that's hard or impossible to shake yourself out of. For some people its rooted in negative rumination and for others its probably more chemical.

I was reading the other day that Metacognitive Therapy is showing promise in place of other forms of therapy like CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy). The latter is about trying to test the validity of your thoughts and treats them as behaviour you can train yourself to change, the former is apparently more about training your mind to see thoughts as 'just' thoughts, and to let them pass by inflicting less harm.

Our inner voice and soul can be a cruel thing. It's a shame Chester was so reflectively hard on himself when clearly there is so much love out there for him. But that's how this illness is.

I went through it and the best way i could describe it is this: Picture how you feel when someone you love breaks up with you. That down you get right after. Now picture waking up like that every morning of every day and going though every day that way for months and years.

I completely understand him. At one point, you just get fed up of feeling like shit.

edit: Also, drinking just makes the downs worse which is why i stopped drinking. You feel great when youre smashed but the day after is awful.

Anyway this sucks cause i still listen to their old albums. RIP. If you have depression, get help.
 
Ever since learning about Chester being abused by someone and his alcohol addiction there have been a lot of songs that are hard to listen to, like this part from A Place For My Head:

You try to take the best of me
Go away
You try to take the best of me
Go away
You try to take the best of me
Go away
You try to take the best of me
Go away
You try to take the best of me
Go away
You try to take the best of me
Go away
You try to take the best of me
Go away
You try to take the best of me
Go away


Like, every LP fan knows this part of the song is one of their most hyped parts to mosh pit to, but I don't think any of them thought it's possibly about Chester's abuse.
 

DoomGyver

Member
Hybrid Theory came out when I was in middle school. It was one of the first cds I ever bought. I never stopped listening to them, and I like their new stuff. RIP
 
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