I was doing dishes this past Tuesday and, as is a prerequisite, I was listening to some music. This particular evening I had surveyed my CD collection and selected Hybrid Theory, Linkin Park's groundbreaking album from '00. Mind you, I hadn't listened to this album in its entirety for at least the better part of a decade, and, I assure you, the nostalgia was strong. I have never been a huge Linkin Park fan, but I own a couple of their albums and I have always liked them. I suppose they're one of those bands you don't quite realize just how many of their songs you know and love. So when I heard that Chester Bennington had passed, I was saddened. I was more than saddened; to my surprise, I was truly mournful. Chester, as he was often simply known, had a unique voice, the type of voice that became synonymous with a musical era and formed the soundtrack to so many of our adolescent adventures. Moreover, he was still creating good music and touring the world. Linkin Park may have been considered sell-outs by some of their earlier fans, but many of us appreciated that they continued to mature and explore different sounds.
The death of Chester Bennington has probably affected me more than any other celebrity death in my lifetime, not simply because of how much I enjoyed his music, but because he really is the first world-famous musician of my generation to commit suicide. Chris Cornell's suicide in May was shocking and tragic to be sure, but, as much as I enjoyed his music, he was a little "before my time," so to speak (the same goes for someone like Robin Williams). I never really listened to his music as it was coming out. I have listened to quite a bit of it, but I never really followed his career contemporaneously. On the other hand, I grew up with Linkin Park. I remember when "In the End" came out. I remember when Linkin Park became the biggest thing on the radio. I remember when my brother got into rock music and loved Linkin Park (I also remember when he stopped liking them, but that's another issue altogether). I remember when their sound changed and everybody said they were sell-outs, and I didn't want to admit that I still liked them, but I really did. I remember when my friend bought Minutes to Midnight and played the crap out of it. I remember when they came out with their "we're rock again" album, only to follow it up with another pop album (I liked what I heard off of both). I mourn the passing of Chester Bennington not just because I will miss hearing his music, but because a defining voice of my generation has ended his own life. That last sentence is the part I struggle to put into words. I'm not sure how to express just how his passing makes me feel. It's not like I knew the guy, nor was he even an "idol" of mine, but to have someone famous from my own generation commit suicide is deeply saddening. When elderly celebrities die, it's expected. When aging/retired celebrities die, it's sad. When relatively young and still-active celebrities die, it's tragic. When they take their own lives, it's jarring. It's bad enough when someone overdoses or dies in a car accident, but suicide is something altogether more troubling.
What his passing means for his family, friends, and fans is tragic enough, but what it says about our society is even more depressing. Chester Bennington had everything, right? He had money. He had professional success. He had the love and adoration of millions of fans around the world. He even had a loving family. He had the world, but what did it profit him? How does someone so successful find themselves lost in addiction and depression? If we were him, we all think, we would be happy. That's not how it works though, is it? Many have been stressing that mental illness is truly a disease over which you have no control. I get that, but I can't help but notice the theme of substance abuse that unites celebrities like Williams, Cornell, and Bennington, not to mention all the celebrities who have ODed in my lifetime. Why do so many artists, especially musicians, end up this way? I guess great art comes from tortured souls. There's something deeper than mental issues here. There are spiritual issues. Chester's own lyrics show a deep dissatisfaction with his upbringing and ascent into adulthood, and recent interviews reveal the havoc wreaked on his psyche by his parents' divorce and his having been sexually abused. We all sort of assumed that his lyrics were simply a way to sell albums, but it is has become apparent that he was always a deeply troubled individual. As I listened to Hybrid Theory the other night, I couldn't help but to be struck by the emptiness and lack of resolve that lace every song. His words took on new meaning when I heard of his suicide. His early music was defined by pervasive hopelessness, and, while he may have moved beyond that artistically in his later years, his death indicates that he never did personally. For someone at the pinnacle of our culture to commit suicide reveals how utterly hopeless our culture is, as does the fact that so many of his fans were drawn to his, for lack of a better word, angst. We value temporal things, and when we discover that they cannot satisfy, we are left without a reason for existence. This is the logical outcome of a culture driven by hedonistic materialism. Hollywood serves as a microcosm of a world void of meaning. It shows us what society becomes in a relative, post-modern (or is it post-post-modern now?) world. Should we be surprised that societal problems like drug use and suicide are increasing in our nihilistic culture? If nothing matters, then nothing matters. Why even live a life full of pain and sorrow?
I do not want to deny that mental health issues do exist. If you are having suicidal thoughts, please tell someone. I do, however, believe that there is often a much deeper cause than a mere chemical imbalance, and, subsequently, there has to be a more permanent solution. Prescribing drugs to "cure" the mental conditions of those who have struggled with drug addiction as a result of deep-seated emotional wounds is one of the most asinine ideas modern medicine ever gave us. Man is not merely flesh, blood, and neurons. We are more than that. We have souls. We are spiritual. You cannot heal a complex being with such a one-dimensional approach, as we continue to discover. There is a place for medicine, but we are multi-faceted beings and we must be healed holistically. I'm here to tell you that there is only one Doctor who can do that. Psalm 147:3 tells us that God "heals the brokenhearted and binds up all their wounds" and Psalm 103:3 calls us to bless the One who "heals all your diseases." In Matthew 11:28 Jesus offers a similar comfort when He says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." If we would have true, lasting peace, we must be reconciled to our Maker through Jesus Christ. Is it any wonder, then, that an era marked by the abandonment of God, morality, and truth itself has been plagued by depression, drug use, and suicide?
I mourn the loss of an artist like Chester Bennington. I mourn the loss of his noteworthy musical talent and his unique voice, but mostly I mourn that he never found true peace. I pray that those who are in a similarly dark place would find that peace, not simply for one more day, but for eternity.
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