CW: Suicide. If you or anyone you know needs help, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 at 1–800–273–8255. You can reach the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.

When I was young, I was a diehard fan of Linkin Park. It seems embarrassing and cringy to admit it, but Linkin Park spoke to my teenage angst — I found a way to express myself through the band’s energy. Almost everyone who listened to Linkin Park knew two people: Chester Bennington, who sang and screamed as the band’s lead singer, and Mike Shinoda, who rapped for the group.

While I stopped listening to Linkin Park (and stopped listening to music as a whole), I still maintained respect for the band.

I will always remember the day lead singer Chester Bennington killed himself. I remember I went on a hard run where his death was all I can think about — Chester Bennington is an absolute icon to a whole generation. I went on a hard 12-mile run, listening to some of Linkin Park’s most popular songs to channel the pain.

Everyone who listened to Linkin Park remembers the day Chester died. It’s been almost five years. A lot has been said and written about Chester Bennington’s death, including a comprehensive Rolling Stone article from Kory Grow about Chester’s last days. Linkin Park released a tribute statement to Chester following his death, one anybody can tell was extremely difficult to write.

“Your absence leaves a void that can never be filled — a boisterous, funny, ambitious, creative, kind, generous voice in the room is missing…You had the biggest heart, and managed to wear it on your sleeve.”

But…it’s been five years. And something I occasionally wonder is what happened to Linkin Park since. Will the band ever replace Chester? Can they ever replace Chester? Chester’s suicide was an absolute tragedy, but Chester’s wife, three children, and the band lived on.

I believe Chester’s family deserves the privacy any normal family has. As for his band, how did they cope? Are there plans to move on, or can the band not possibly move on after losing Chester?

For now, the answer is no.

“That’s not my goal right now. I think it has to happen naturally. And if we find somebody that’s a great person that we think is a good personality fit and a good stylistic fit, then I could see trying to do some stuff with somebody. The potential lineup change wouldn’t be for the sake of replacing Bennington, as I wouldn’t wanna ever feel like we were replacing Chester,” Linkin Park star Mike Shinoda said about replacing Chester Bennington.

Losing the most recognizable member of your band makes it extremely difficult to replace him, particularly when it’s someone as essential as Chester. Not only was he such an emotional presence and frontman of the band, but the range of his vocals makes him logistically extremely difficult to replace.

Three years ago, Mike Shinoda was asked in an interview about whether the group would look for another lead singer, and Mike said finding another member “has to happen naturally” and the person has to be a “good personality fit and a good stylistic fit.”

He talked about how he “wouldn’t wanna ever feel like we were replacing Chester” and that not being onstage was “almost unhealthy” for the band.

One reputable singer, Deryck Whibley of Sum 41, was asked by The Jasta Show whether he could replace Chester Bennington as the frontman of Linkin Park, but Whibley shot down the idea. He said it would be an “impossible task” to replace Chester Bennington and Chester’s shoes were “impossible shoes to fill.”

Show host Jamey Jasta asked Whibley the question because Whibley once performed a cover of Linkin Park’s Faint with Mike Shinoda in 2018, and the performance received critical acclaim. While Whibley took the proposition as a compliment, he rejected being able to replace Chester, or anyone being able to replace Chester.

For the band, moving on was difficult. Mike Shinoda’s grief was the most apparent — Charlotte Richardson Andrews at The Guardian documents his release of the solo “Post-Traumatic,” where Shinoda went on a solo tour to honor his grief and that of his fans. Other members of the band needed more space and time to process, but Mike needed to be in motion.

“When Chester passed away, my first thoughts were, ‘I’m not doing music anymore,’ and, ‘I can’t do this…Eventually, I realized that just isn’t how I’m built. Anytime I’m dealing with something stressful, I always go to music and art for a place to think,” Mike said.

Takeaways

For Linkin Park, it’s about much more than the logistics of replacing Chester, but the grief. It’s just not time yet, and it may never be time. The band currently doesn’t have the emotional and creative bandwidth to replace Chester at the moment.

The fact is for most fans, there is no Linkin Park without Chester. It’s not only that Chester passed, but the way he died makes many fans and people who knew Chester regretful and in pain. Chester frequently sang about his pain, particularly in the band’s debut album Hybrid Theory. His lyrics documented his struggles with his mental health.

The grief of his family and band is likely insurmountable. At the end of the day, it’s not about whether the band can replace Chester. It’s about whether they ever should.