I am not normally someone that makes a regular habit of commenting on music or getting caught up in the latest issue when it comes to pop culture. However, considering I was recently writing about the roll music has in helping us find a voice and outlet for emotions specifically referencing Linkin Park I felt like it was appropriate to way in. This is obviously a bit of dangerous ground as this whole topic surrounding the band’s new lead singer Emily Armstrong is extremely polarising and seems to be bringing out the worst in people. So, let’s see if I can break this down and put forward a bit more of a sane opinion without provoking to much hate.

My personal history with Linkin Park

Growing up in the 2000s Linkin Park was the soundtrack of my teenage years and ‘Live in Texas’ was the first concert DVDs I brought. A hate to think how many times I watched that concert belting out ‘Somewhere I belong’, ‘Numb’ or ‘Crawling’ at the top of my lungs as I just wanted to join the crowd and sing with Chester. These songs have always spoken to me as an outsider that felt lost and couldn’t really be themselves and found their way onto every playlist and even could be heard regularly on high rotation at my work place during my twenties. It was perhaps no suprise that Linkin Park was my first live concert as part of my 18th birthday present a night which was made even more memorable by the fact that during that night in Melbourne Chester broke his wrist pretty early in the concert and came back out to finish the show. Serviously the guy was a legend.

More recently after coming out as Trans I have really found a lot of comfort listing to those old favourites and even songs from their later albums. Those seems that resinated with me as teen just seem so much more relevant now and lyrics like the chorus from ‘Papercut’ just seem to be the perfect description of how I’ve felt. Even tracks from their later albums like ‘Lost in the Echo’ which seemed to the be equally apt at describing that process of letting go and moving on which is only to real for me at the moment. This new found relevence is why I felt like marking the band’s signficance for me by starting to collect their albums on Vinyl with ‘Hybrid Theory’ a record I have long consided one of the greatest debut’s in musical history. After this arrive, I immeditly found my self screaming along with Chester and releasing all those pent up emotions just like I did 20 years ago.

I’m laying this out there to highlight that I am no fletting fan that knows a couple of songs and highlight that not only do I have a deep emotional connection to band and their music, but a huge respect for Chester. To me, nothing that follows is every going to replace his impact or the role that the band has played in some pretty formative moments.

The heart of the controversy

On the 5th of September 2024, Emily Armstrong was introduced as Linkin Park’s new singer, 7 years after Chester Bennington sadly passed away. This has been meet with critism from both Chester’s mother and son as well as many outspoken fans that veiw the move as an attempt to replace Chester and a betrayal of his memory by Mike Shinoda. This is perhaps been emphasised by some alleged comments that Mike may have said to Chester regarding replacing him with a girl. However, Armstrong’s own background with connections to the Church of Scientology and her decision to attend Danny Masterson’s hearing over sexual assult allagations in 2020 (later convicted of rap in 2023) have added to the critism.

As a result of this there is a clear split in the fan base with some embarcing Armstrong as lead singer with a different sound to Chester and others labeling this new line up ‘Shinoda and friends’ refusing to call this version Linkin Park. It has become a pretty heated and ugly at times with fans trading insults on social media with fans telling Chester’s son Jamie to go ‘kill himself’ for speaking out against the bands decision. Considering the content of many of the songs with a focus on mental health these actions are a betrayal of everything the band is about and represents the worst of humanity. No one should be engaging in this sort of destructive and harmful behaviour. Instead, people need to take a step back and see both sides of this.

Lets have a more mature approach

Firstly, Chester’s family are rightly upset at the band decision to reform and find a new vocalist without at least approaching them before hand. I don’t necessarly think the band needed to ask permission but it sounds like the family was not even infromed of the decision. This seems to me lacking a bit of common decency and fall’s squarily on Shinoda. The narrative here could have been far less toxic if he had explained things and potential outlined a way they could honour Chester’s memory through this new version of the band. A comparison that I have seen online is with AC/DC and the decision to move on after Bon Scott, part of the reason this was well recived by fans was the tone of ‘Back in Black’ the first album with Brian Johnson as the album and especially the title track was a tribute to Scott. In addition, out of a sign of respect the band pledged to never again play ‘It’s a long way to the top’ live despite it’s iconic status in Australian Rock folklore. Obvisouly, ‘From Zero’ is yet to be released and it is possible it will have some form of tribute to Chester however this all could have been handled with a lot more nuance and respect.

Secondly, the band does have a right to move on like others that have lost members along the way. While Chester was a huge part of what made Linkin Park, their music also represents the lifes work of Shinoda, Joe Hahn, Dave Farrell and Brad Delson all orgainal band members. They have as much right to be recognised and continue to profit from the music they helped create. Now let is put it in perspective, many bands have lost members along the way including AC/DC (Bon Scott) and Metallica (Cliff Burton) and continued to be a resouding success while paying respect to their lost members. Even others like Alice in Chains, Lynyrd Skynyrd, INXS and even Queen have replace lead singers with verying degrees of succes however continute to record new songs and preform their old back catalogue. This isn’t even considering the bands that have parted ways with different members like Deep Purple or Iron Maiden and continued to play thier music. The fact of the matter is that this is a fairly common occorance in the music industry and that Linkin Park really shouldn’t be treated any differently. Their future success, should and really will be measured by the impact of their new music as much as their back cateloge.

Finaly, Emily Armstrong’s connection to the church of Scientology brings a bad reputation however as an athiest I can see that their are elements of all major religions that behave in very toxic and controlling ways. This is not even considering the countless attrocisties and conflicts that have been caused by the Abrhamic religions. It ‘s why I broadly condem organised religions while recognising that individual people often feel the need to believe in something which makes them potentially vonrable to instiutions seeking power. While I wish people were different I believe in the freedom of self determination so if they follow religions and have been free to choose that is a personal deicison. Now, it’s probable that Danny Masterson’s affiliation with Scientology contibuted to Armstrong making what she has admitted was a bad decision in attending his hearing but the fact that she never attended his nemours other court appearances suggest she does not condone his actions. Considering this I will not condem her for one ill considered decision (afterall we have all made a few of these) or her personal religious beliefs as while we don’t agree with them people should be free of religious persecution.

‘Leave out all the rest’

Realistically, I and many others are going to remember Chester as the voice of Linkin Park as to many of us he was our voice when we were lost. However, as someone that has gone through their own changes it is important that we move on. The challenge for many of us fans is how we cross this ‘New Divide’ and hopefully the band address this a bit more effectively in the future perhaps allow their new material to led the way.