Sing like an angel and scream like a devil.
First of all, let me apologize for any possible mistakes, because English is not my native language.
This is what I feel when I think about the man who was maybe one of the few people who made me get me closer to
music.
Chester Bennington.
(Picture by steamcommunity.com)
It's hard not to have heard that name before, but for the ones who don't know him, he was the Linkin Park frontman.
I want to talk about him because, probably, he was the only one until now that makes me feel real emotions
with music, he gaves me the creeps, he made me dream.
Just the voice.
That amazing voice that could sing in so many different ways:
melodious, romantic, sometimes fragile and other times it became violent, sad and full of anger.
All these traits were united by one element: he was able to be the perfect frame, the perfect background of
feelings that, in my case, during the teens age and in the years immediatly after, were part of the daily agenda. I
don't know how many times i was sitting by the window of my room, smoking the last cigarette of the day, with the
headphones on and i thought: wow, that song.. it talks about me..it seems like ,the one who wrote it, knows me.
I know that it could be a childish feeling, that it is normal in that way, it's the purpose of an artist to make this effect. But it was different. It gave me peace of mind deep inside.
I know that it could be a childish feeling, that it is normal in that way, it's the purpose of an artist to make this effect. But it was different. It gave me peace of mind deep inside.
I'm not here to make Chester's biography, Wikipedia could do it much better than me. I am here to tell you how I came across that voice during a normal afternoon at school and from that moment on it never went away.
11 years have been passed: I was at secondary school, it was a Tuesday (I remember it because it was the only day
of the week that i had to stay at school after lunch). We usually had time before afternoon lessons, so a friend of
mine came to me with an object that was super in those days: a smartphone. He was excited and he told me to be
ready to see the last video he got:
that video was one of the most popular clip of my generation: everyone saw that video one time at least, it is
called AMV (Anime Music Video): a montage about an anime with some background music.
The Goku's super sayan transformation versus Freezer, with the background song "In The End" of Linkin Park.
I probably thought it was the most beautiful video in the world. Of course in the next days I saw that video again
and again until i needed to know the name of that song that gave me those feelings, it seemed metal, but it wasn't,
it had that something different that made the song, I don't know how to say. It made the song the right song.
So I discovered it was called In The End of this unknown group called Linkin Park. For the first time
i went in a music shop and i bought a CD, Hybrid Theory. I fell in love at the first listening. Today
there are plenty of those songs in my playlists: In The End, One Step Closer, Runaway, Pushing Me Away,
Crawling. I always loved both the famous Chester's scream and the melodic voice.
(Pictures by www.discogs.com)
It was the beginning of a love story that still last today: there was Meteora with its Numb, Breaking the Habit, From the Inside, Somewhere I Belong, Lying from You, and then Minutes to Midnight with Shadow of the Day, Given Up, Leave Out All the Rest, What I've Done, Bleed It Out, next there was A Thousand Suns with Iridescent, Waiting for the End, Burning in the Skies, New Divide, and with the beautiful Living Things with Lost in the Echo, In My Remains, Burn It Down, I'll Be Gone, Castle of Glass, Powerless, then The Hunting Party with Keys to the Kingdom, Guilty All the Same, Wastelands, Until It's Gone, Final Masquerade, and at last One More Light.I can't make a list of preferences of this last album because i don't really know which song to exclude.
A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to go to their concert in Rome. It was a dream come true (I have to thank my girlfriend fro the gift): see them on the stage, sing with them, the feelings at beginning of every songs. It was a magic, unforgettable night.
6 months ago, Chester took his own life. The other members of the band dedicated a letter to him in which they said the demons ,who took him away, have always been part of him and they were both a source of strength and weakness.
I think that was his charm and his great talent: a fusion of violence and sweetness in yin and yang style, light and darkness, hope and loneliness. We all are light and darkness, but he was able to show them both, without hide anything, he exalted them both.
(Pictures by zheniaa.deviantart.com)
I wanted to make this post as a tribute to the man who, for the boy who I was and maybe I am, I consider a legend. Your songs have helped; I don't know how many people, but at least a boy for sure.
Thank you Chester, and remember
Legends never die.