Chester Bennington says Linkin Park saved heavy metal

by Richard Howard

July 22, 2016

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"In my opinion we actually kept metal alive."

You gotta admit, Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington is a dope-ass singer. Even if the very mention of ‘One Step Closer‘ makes you throw up in your mouth and you equate his short tenure as the frontman of Stone Temple Pilots as blasphemy; objectively, he has some pipes. Unfortunately, the guy can also say some dumb-ass shit. Take, for example, his reply when Metal Hammer asked him how he felt about the long-standing accusation thrown that Linkin Park’s debut Hybrid Theory hurt the integrity of metal.

“I think that’s really funny – just those words, ‘the integrity of metal.’ In my opinion we actually kept metal alive. I met a kid a few days ago who said, ‘You were the first rock band I ever listened to’ and I hear that all the time. We played a surprise ‘Vans Warped Tour’ show in California in 2014 and had a whole bunch of singers from other bands come up and sing with us. Every one of them was either, ‘Your band was my first record.’ Or, ‘Your band is the reason I’m playing music.’ It was maybe the first time where I felt like we were the band that people looked at in the way that I look at Deftones, Metallica and Stone Temple Pilots.”

Hold on there, big shooter. I think what you’re trying to say is that your band introduced heavier music to a large group of people and was a big inspiration to many of today’s musicians, metal or otherwise, which would be accurate. But saying you ‘saved metal’ is just as ridiculous as the claim that your band hurt the genre in any way. (I agree with you there, Chester. ‘The integrity of metal?’ Is metal a friggin’ 18th-century nobleman?)

As cheesed-off metal fans and publications alike are pointing out, metal was alive and well (if not as mainstream as in the early 90s) when Hybrid Theory came out in 2000, and wouldn’t have faded into oblivion had “Crawling” not swooped in with cape billowing to save the day.

Now, I don’t think Bennington meant to suggest that was the case, but goddamn dude, you’re a lyricist. Pick your words a little more carefully. Me, I’m going to pop some corn and wait for Phil Anselmo, Corey Taylor or Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato to challenge Bennington to a fight. You know, to defend the integrity of metal. Who wins? In the end, it doesn’t even matter.

[h/t Metal Sucks]

Tags: Music, News, Chester Bennington, hybrid theory, Linkin Park, saved metal

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