It has been a sad week in the music industry and for me. Chester Bennington committed suicide and now nearly a week later, I still can't believe it. I would be a completely different person had I not ever heard Linkin Park.

I remember when In the End hit the radio waves. As a kid I listened to the radio everyday. I loved music but I didn't have any favorite artists then. In the End came out and at the time I didn't know who the artist was but it was my favorite song on the radio at the time. When Numb was released to the radio, I was a little older and I found out who the artist was, Linkin Park. Back then Youtube had not been out so I went to MP3.com to listen to Numb when it wasn't on the radio. That was when I heard the song Papercut for the first time and I loved it too.

Fast forward a little later and I was at my friends house. This was about 5th grade. Me and another buddy, not the one that lived there, were in my friend's sister's room and we found her CDs. This is where I found the album Meteora by Linkin Park. I knew it was the album with Numb on it and I wanted it. So my buddy burned a copy of it for me. However, I wanted to write the name on it and I couldn't find a sharpie so I used a pen. Unfortunately the pen didn't work so I tried writing harder on the CD. That actually damaged the CD and for a couple of months after that all I could listen to was the first 5 tracks. After that I asked my mom take me to the record store. Meteora was the first CD I ever bought.

It wasn't until after I got Meteora that I learned In the End was also Linkin Park. That was when I discovered the album Hybrid Theory. So Linkin Park was the first band I ever liked and it took me down the path to other bands. If I never had listened to Linkin Park, my music taste might have been very different today.

So hearing about Chester broke my heart. He was such a major influence on my life and now he's gone. This makes me wonder what will happen to Linkin Park. Although I hate to say it I don't want them to continue on because you can't find another singer like Chester. It won't sound like Linkin Park if they get a new singer. Rest In Peace Chester and thank you to the rest of Linkin Park for bringing great music to this world.

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