Chester Bennington Birthday 6-Pack: Prime Linkin Park Picks

For this Chester Bennington birthday six-pack, a few fave Linkin Park songs, and a few you might have forgotten about.

 

I like cracking a sixer of songs from your favorite ROCK 92.9 artists when their birthdays roll around. In fact, I did exactly that for Jerry Cantrell a couple of days ago. You can check out six songs that span his time in Alice In Chains and his solo work here. And yes, I’ll even do this for rockers that are no longer with us. Such is the case with the late Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington.

 

Bennington was born in Phoenix, AZ on March 20, 1976. His childhood and upbringing were rough: he was the victim of bullying and sexual abuse and turned to drugs to cope. He also used poetry and songwriting as a coping mechanism, and those skills served him well. He spent the bulk of the ’90s singing for the bands Sean Dowdell and His Friends? and Grey Daze.

 

Chester Bennington Birthday 6-Pack: Prime Linkin Park Picks

By the late ’90s, Bennington was sour on the music industry and was working at a digital services firm. L.A. A&R guy Jeff Blue urged him to audition for a band called Xero, who were searching for a new lead singer. Bennington quit his job, auditioned well, joined the band, and Linkin Park was born. He would front the band from 2000 through his death by suicide in 2017.

 

Marking a Chester Bennington birthday is a somber task, to be sure. His was a hard life cut short. But the music he made with Linkin Park was and is vital. And what he did outside of the band is pretty interesting, too. So let’s get into this Chester Bennington birthday six-pack and remember a musician who had a gift for combining his troubles with his talents to great success.

• Grey Daze "B12"

  Chester reunited with his ’90s band shortly before his death in 2017. Thankfully for fans, the band and the Bennington estate worked together to get the songs finished and produced. Chester wrote these lyrics as a 12-year-old. Wild.

• Linkin Park "One Step Closer"

  The band’s opening salvo, circa Y2K. Linkin Park cut through the noise in that overstuffed era of rock. Chester’s voice was a big reason why. He could sing, he could scream. He does both here.

• Linkin Park "Somewhere I Belong"

  Bennington’s vocal range was, in reality, his emotional range brought to life through music. He was a man who felt and felt deeply. And while there was a lot of anger and frustration in the songs he created, there was also tenderness. You get that here.

• Dead By Sunrise "Let Down"

  No, it’s not a cover of the Radiohead song. “Let Down” was the lead single of Bennington side project Dead By Sunrise. Actually, that’s not a fair label. The band was more of a supergroup, featuring members of Orgy and Julien-K.

• Stone Temple Pilots "Black Heart"

  STP was one of Chester’s first favorite bands growing up. He even fantasized as a young man about singing for them. He got his chance when the band fired lead singer Scott Weiland in 2013. They released their High Rise EP that year.

• Linkin Park "One More Light"

  Chester’s final album with Linkin Park. Chester’s final single with Linkin Park. This is how the band said goodbye to Chester. This his how we’ll say goodbye to Chester.