Everything you say to me 
Brings me one step closer to the edge
And I am about to break

Very few songs have a premonitory ring to them. But one can’t help but feel from the words quoted above from Linkin Park’s first hit single One Step Closer that Chester Bennington (the band’s frontman) was teetering on the edge since day one. Cynics brushed the words aside as a marketing gimmick to sell grief.

But Linkin Park would never be able to go past the snobbery of the rock and metal press because they had committed the cardinal sin of mixing the lyrical flow of rap with the sonic fury of rock ‘n’ roll. This approach of musical alchemy was classified by some, rather unimaginatively, as the subgenre ‘Nu Metal.’ With Bennington’s highly-charged vocals, Linkin Park found themselves in the vanguard of the new rock genre along with Slipknot, Korn, Mudvayne and Deftones.

These were a new breed of rock stars, far removed from the influences of grunge and glam rock that characterised the better part of the ’80s. This new crop of rock icons appeared on the scene with dreadlocks, turntables and a predilection for mixing various musical influences. Even in this respect the band went the farthest in collaborating with hip-hop heavyweights such as Busta Rhymz and Jay Z.

In spite of upsetting the established order, or perhaps because of it, they resonated well with a new breed of rock fans. It would be foolhardy to think of Nu Metal as solely a creation of the record industry. The music industry functions by amplifying people’s choice rather than creating it — barring a few exceptions. With due apologies to Bertrand Russell, much like all great truths, new music genres start as heresies too. Every generation has redefined, and will keep redefining, what music means to them much to the chagrin of the old guard — rock music is no different. A case in point: when jazz music was first introduced it was considered subversive, sending its youthful audience in hysterical fits of reverie on the dance floor. Today it’s considered a preoccupation of an older demographic, receding into the background.

Linkin Park’s frontman Chester Bennington’s suicide is symbolic of a defeat in the face of inner demons

Hybrid Theory, Linkin Park’s first album, was a metaphor for their genre-defying sound. In characteristic defiance, they carried on with musical fusion and kept ruling the charts and playing to sold-out concerts. Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington in time would refine their rap/rock routine with the former belting out rap in rapid procession only to leave the latter to detonate his sonic fire. Bennington’s voice had that Jekyll-and-Hyde quality, multifaceted just like the music his band made. In one instance he would be singing in the sonorous tenor of a boy in the choir, and in the very next he would erupt in a primal scream. His was one of the most powerful voices in music in recent memory.

Meteora, the follow-up album, also lit up the rock ‘n’ roll firmament proving to the naysayers that this crew from California were no one-hit wonders; that they were here to stay. Arguably, this was also their best album with its fair share of chart-topping hits including Somewhere I Belong, Faint, Numb and Breaking The Habit.

Existential angst, substance abuse and isolation were the dominant themes in his songs. His voice lent an anguished authenticity that his fans related to and turned to for support in times of dread. And this is what makes Bennington’s suicide so troubling — his death is symbolic of a defeat in the face of inner demons.

These days, every time you listen to a rock album, it feels like a requiem. If rock music isn’t dead, it certainly is dying; and it’s leaving casualties in its wake. A few weeks prior to Bennington’s death, his close friend, the posterchild of the grunge rock movement Chris Cornell, also took his own life right after a concert. One could only speculate that his friend’s death may have been the final nudge into the abyss for the Linkin Park vocalist.

If they say
Who cares if one more light goes out?
In the sky of a million stars
If a moment is all we are
Or quicker, quicker
Who cares if one more light goes out?
Well I do

Excerpted from One More Light, Linkin Park’s most recent LP from the song of the same name, it seems like he was relaying a cryptic message about his demise. The grief of his family, friends and legions of fans does show how many cared about his coruscating brilliance that lit a path for so many others to follow. Whether one likes him or not, Bennington’s incandescence will stay with us for a very long time.

Published in Dawn, ICON, August 20th, 2017