Rest in Peace Chester...

Chester Bennington took his own life aged 41.

My breath caught as I learned the news of Chester』s death plus his profile captioned 「commits suicide」 in Reddit in the morning. The pang didn』t last long, though.

「So another musician gone. Kurt Cobain, Robin Williams, and this time Chester, what』s wrong with you guys…」 I murmured under my breath as I thumbed through the comments of that very post.

I missed the real years of LP, which more resonated with post-90s youngsters.

I got to know LP in the year of 2005 when I was still a college student, a time I was playing a band together with a few friends.

The other day our guitarist carried home a couple of DVDs of LP"s gigs. 「check this out, it』s now rampant among kids」 he said as he tore the wrappings.

「What』s it this time? Again electronic? You know how I hate it.」 Flowing in my veins back then was stuff like Guns N Roses and AC/DC, and I hated electronic music, which to me had no grooves at all.

「Well, things go viral for a reason. Who knows…」 said our guitarist as he placed the DVD onto the player.

「Are you serious? is this really up to rock? The guitar guy played no solos and just scrubbed chords like an idiot all thru that song, and you guys call it rock.」 As an old school guy I defended the tradition a great deal when speaking of rock, and I started my harangue right after the first song, which to me was anything but ear-friendly.

Then came Somewhere I belong, and I got stunned. I uttered no other words, riveted my eyes on the screen, and refused any fast forward petition. I walked myself through the DVD twice and became a LP fan ever since.

「Rock is melodious in essence!」

「Flamboyant guitar solos needed! 」

「Hard rock is supposed to toe the line of blues and refuses electronic!」

…

LP denied all of them. How can you imagine a rock band, DJing, and rapping rolled into one? LP did it and brought out the best of them.

We picked up the guitar to defy music of older generations when we were young, but now we are above taking heed of anything chic among kids.

People outgrow ingenuity of their own.

I hated Lu Han coz she was really evocative of Li Yuchun, the 「poster boy」 for the whole bunch of neutral and asexual stars, which I hated. And imagine how shocked I was when being told it was actually a HE.

Well, I』ve thrown off the old scruples over time, though I remain scornful in my references to her, oh sorry, him. And each time I see some 「eye sores」 of nowadays, I comfort myself:

「Remember the LP thing? Perhaps another eye candy out of eye sore.」

And as for Chester, I think he has finally reached the very somewhere to which he belongs.