Is it time to unsubscribe to Linkin Park (new)?
“The Emptiness Machine” is the band's latest single and marks Emily Armstrong's debut as Linkin Park's new co-lead singer. She was seen performing covers of the band’s classics, including “Crawling” and “Numb” in their latest livestream
A memory that serves me distinctly to this day is a 1st grade after-school evening when I'd come across this windows media player preview in a folder on my older brother's (box) computer – a boy holding a microphone stand to his face in a dark alley with his band positioned behind him.
The boy had green and red flames tattooed on his arms, oddly spiked hair and, to my utter shock, a piercing on the lip.
It was the preview to "One Step Closer" from the album "Hybrid Theory". Though released in 2000, the song happened to me in 2004. I was 8 years old when I first 'met' him. And he was about 20 years older than me.
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Time and age, I had little understanding of and before I knew it, I'd been listening to that one Nu metal song on repeat on my Walkman at a time when my friends were singing along to whatever post-kindergarten kids in that era used to listen to.
My siblings teased me day and night saying I'd had a new crush and it was funny to them because "it's not Mickey Mouse".
So, no, "In The End" was not my first exposure to the Linkin Park. Though, in time, I'd found myself stealthily copying whatever LP song my brother downloaded, into the mixed CD to my Walkman, which, by the way, was also home to Evanescence, Skillet, 50 Cent and Eminem. Just eight-year-old kids things.
Confession time. I stole something once. Green and red markers from our classroom stash.
During the weekends, specifically on Friday mornings, I'd pause a music video and zoom in on that boy's tattoo and mimic it onto my own arms. By Saturday night, I'd scrub it off and next morning in school, I'd cover the outlines with my long-sleeved shirt. I'd be careful to maintain that practice only during the weeks that my father was not in the country. He would have sternly opposed. So, imagine a 4-feet tall short-haired me wearing my brother's clothes pretending to be a boy (I used to go by the name Lee) with tattoos for two days a week, every week for at least a couple of years, till I grew out of it and started drawing Eminem's wrist tattoo with a ball pen instead. I wasn't the only criminal. Joining me were the entourage of kids from the building whom we used to play with on the roof top in the evenings. I'd draw the green flames for them too, and if we ran out of ink, I'd tell them where they could stock up their supply just as I did. It was a whole cult-venture.
"One More Light"
I went from listening to every single one of his songs, watching and vibing to his music videos over the years, even stalking him through his interviews to completely halting the practice in the year 2017.
Should've stayed, were there signs, I ignored?
Can I help you, not to hurt, anymore?
We saw brilliance, when the world, was asleep
There are things that we can have, but can't keep…
Linkin Park's seventh studio album "One More Light" was released on 25 July 2017. The music video was released on 20 July 2017, the same day that the band's co-lead vocalist Chester Bennington was found dead by suicide. He was 41.
The year that he bid adieu, I could not look at him since. Not in photos or videos or even music videos. I refused to read up on what happened. For a considerably long time, till 2020, I'd managed to keep away from any details regarding his death. When it happened, I remember I was having a regular busy day, and a friend called and broke the news to me. I remember requesting all my friends not to tell me anything, no matter what. I simply wasn't ready.
Then in 2020, with all that time in my hands during the Covid-19 pandemic to make and break, I'd mustered the courage to play the entire album, his final words to us. It felt as though someone I knew closely had been taken away from me, a desperate feeling I'm almost all too familiar with.
Cut to 2024. The year that saw Chester's posthumously released "Friendly Fire". It was among the last songs Linkin Park recorded with Chester which came out on 23 February this year. It's almost like a greeting from the dead but only to say,
Can't put back what's been broken
Can't change the moment
We went too far…
Same ol' Mike but new faces
"My name is Mike, this is Emily, and in the role of Chester Bennington this afternoon is each of you [audience]," he said in Linkin Park's "From Zero" livestream on Thursday (5 September).
Linkin Park have just announced a new singer, Emily Armstrong, will join them for their new album and tour. Armstrong will join returning members Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Phoenix and Joe Hahn for the band's forthcoming projects.
Armstrong will share vocals with Shinoda, while Colin Brittain will also join as the group's new drummer. The band announced their new line-up ahead of the launch of their forthcoming album "From Zero" and a new world tour.
While Mike, as the founding member, has every right to rebrand and carry on their legacy, as a fan myself I'm sure that's what Chester would have wanted, this move sparked mixed feelings among fans worldwide.
Some see it as an Emily trying to fill in some big shoes. While others appreciate the newly added spark of a female lead vocalist to this formerly all-boys rock band, an Evanescence or Skillet 2.0 in the making.
Original or Mimicry?
"The Emptiness Machine" is the band's latest single and marks Emily Armstrong's debut as Linkin Park's new co-lead singer. She was seen performing covers of the band's classics, including "Crawling" and "Numb" in their latest livestream.
Armstrong grew up in Los Angeles and is best known as the singer in alt-rock band Dead Sara, which she co-founded with guitarist Siouxsie Medley in 2005.
In an interview with Billboard, Amstrong recalled the impact Linkin Park's 2000 album Hybrid Theory had on her. "I was in a band when it came out," she recalled. "'One Step Closer' was the song for me, and I was just like, 'that's what I want to do. As a singer, I want to be able to scream'.
And scream, she did, in the livestream.
Dressed like a blonde Lita from WWE, her mimicry to what Chester would have sounded like while singing those songs live was obvious. The lack of melody and ingenuity in her voice while adapting to the genre of rock and metal was also evident. In one of her latest interviews as she takes on this new role, her mention of 'One Step Closer' drew a semblance to my memory as an eight-year-old and the impact the same song had on me. As one fan among billions, I am sceptical of the success of this transition on an emotional level.
In an era dominated by solo artists, Linkin Park are one of the most successful bands of the streaming age. They are the only band to feature in Spotify's top 10 most-streamed albums of all time, with their greatest hits collection "Papercuts" attracting more than 9 million streams per day, as reported by BBC.
Mike, just like many other musicians out there, is making his desperate attempts to stay relevant while still making music for the new age "Gen-Z and Netflix" consumers.
And you're angry
And you should be
It's not fair
Fans who are still adjusting to this new dynamic can only hope to exert that there is no one that can possibly replace Chester Bennington in the global music arena. However, a tribute, an homage and covers are as acceptable as it gets.
Yes, there are many talented and exemplary singers out there, and one selected by Linkin Park may seem promising as the band is set to run its first tour in the upcoming days since Chester's passing.
Of course, Linkin Park are not the first band to appoint a new lead singer following the death of a frontman. Most notably, Queen have frequently toured with singer Adam Lambert in recent years, following Freddie Mercury's death in 1991, among other famous bands.
Who cares if one more light goes out in the sky of a million stars
Who cares if someone's time runs out if a moment is all we are
Who cares if one more light goes out… well, I do
While attempting to understand the theory of 'grieving sensory memory', I'd come across a saying. They say a person's voice is the first thing that starts to fade away after you lose them.
The greatest gift Chester has left behind for his fans and I'm sure, his family and friends alike, is the life he lived as depicted in his music, through his stardom and the words he sang that we can replay when in need of the comfort of hearing someone else speak our minds on our behalf. No one can take that away from us.
When my time comes, Forget the wrong that I've done
Help me leave behind some reasons to be missed
And don't resent me, And when you're feeling empty
Keep me in your memory
Leave out all the rest
As for Emily, as a woman in the music industry and now being under the greatest spotlight of her career, as an up and coming rolling stone, we are rooting for you.
For Mike, we have known you as closely as we knew Chester and Rob and the founding members of the band. So, we entrust within you the same, but more so now, need of the kind of music that touches our soul as Linkin Park was always known to have produced.
The reminders pull the floor from your feet
In the kitchen, one more chair than you need
As for all of us fans, it's high time to adapt to change and welcome the new era of music, artists and its consumer generation.
Finally, to answer this pelting question, we must wait ever so patiently rather than jumping the gun toward cancel culture in order to witness the unfolding greatness as promised by the new Linkin Park.
