Geki

It is too soon, but everyone grieves differently. Me, for example, I've been playing basically everything with Chester since he passed. In fact, the very first song that I put on after finding out Chester had passed was ''Let Down'' by DBS. It was painful but it helped me, because I personally can really feel the pain in Chester's voice in that one, among other songs. I want to celebrate him for everything he has done for me in my life, as well as the world, because there are tons and tons of people just like us out there that he affected. I don't work well not talking about it, or not letting my emotions out, etc. I have to let it out or it consumes me...

I wouldn't buy that, no offense, nor want that. I think they could just release that as like an EP or something like they have done in the past with stuff like the SoHo show, or the iTunes Festival, etc. I'd rather have demos with Chester.

I think most of that scrapped Meteora album were just the demos that we have been getting since LPU 9 from Meteora, we have basically a full album with all of them at this point, I think there's like 11. But maybe there were more. I think a lot of them had the vocals removed from them. Seeds from Minutes To Midnight, I'd love to have. But a lot of the seeds may not feature Chester. I remember they whittled down the 150 songs to about 50 songs, and then down to like 20, etc. I would say anything from the 50 that made it would be cool to have, and a lot of them were probably worked on more, likely to have Chester. Another interesting thought is that all the band members wrote songs for MTM, something they didn't do with later albums, etc. I bet there are some good songs that Chester actually wrote for MTM, that would be a cool way to honor him. If they really wanted to be awesome and give us something we've always wanted with Chester, just give us that Thoughts That Take Away My Pride demo from Meteora, the completed version, with vocals, etc. I think it's time to finally just release that, and I highly doubt it has a sample issue like Pictureboard. Fuck it. Now is a good time to give it to us. Also some other stuff like the original version of Powerless, etc.

Yeah, that would be epic.

My wishlist for LPU 17. 01. Not Alone (Original MTM Version before it was re-written) 02. No Roads Left (Chester's Vocal Take) 03. 21 Stitches (Given Up Demo) 04. Grecian (MTM Demo) 05. Thoughts That Take Away My Pride (Fully done b-side from Meteora, complete with vocals) 06. Numb (Demo) 07. Shadow Of The Day (Earlier version with electric banjo) 08. Blackbirds (Original MTM Version before it was re-written) 09. Clever Name (MTM Demo) 10. Episodes (MTM Demo)

I want to hear everything with Chester ever that is unreleased. Pipe dream, but who knows. I feel like Ryan might share some cool unreleased DBS tracks.

They could give us Chester's vocal take on LPU 17 or something. It would be weird to put it on this vinyl. I agree.

EDIT: Changed my view on this. Like I said before, I really hope we get some of this. A lot of it is stuff I've wanted for many years, especially the DBS stuff. And don't forget there is a ton of stuff with STP that Chester wrote in 2013-2015 that never came out, too. That Mark Morton song is probably sick as hell, I want that so badly.

Not trying to be negative but let's see if anything ever comes out. A lot of music has been said to have been coming out in the past regarding a lot of stuff Chester has done and it never did, whether it was label or not, so we'll see.

Yeah, that's why I wanted to post it, so that there is a thread for it. I think it's the best article out there, and may be the best we will ever get on the insight about Chester's final years.

I agree, the 2007 versions are way better. I hate the other mixes.

That's a good way to put it. It's ok to not like it or criticize it but there's always someone out there that will. Music is 100% subjective, right? I think Chester's issue with people was that people were saying it was a decision made by the label or by the band to sell more albums. I don't think that's true at all, I think anything Linkin Park did was definitely their choice, and they always liked changing stuff up with each album. But I also don't think any of it contributed to Chester's suicide, I don't think Chester was even thinking about any of that shit at all in his final days, he has been suffering for MANY years with a lot of issues, like decades, so I guess it just finally caught up with him, but I don't think any of that stuff contributed.

Yes, I agree. I think it's probably the best one out there. It keeps it professional and classy to a degree, while giving insight from some of his closest friends. I agree fully.

I'm with you on that!!! I'd love to hear the original DBS stuff from 2005, 2006, etc. That version of My Suffering performed at Club Tattoo 2008 would be amazing to finally have. Even though the live recording of it is terrible, it still sounds epic to me, and likely better than the version we ended up getting as the final version. The original versions of Let Down and Walking In Circles from 2005 would also be epic to have, the first DBS songs ever written, I'm sure those were probably a little bit different. Fire and Too Late also were extremely different according to Chester, he basically re-wrote those entire songs for the album from what they originally were, that were much more darker. Sadly, Warner owns all of the DBS stuff, and I don't think there's a high demand for it at all. And now that Chester's dead, I don't think they'll want to release any of it. It would be cool if Ryan or Amir or something got a hold of it and shared it but that's really asking too much from them, especially now.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/inside-linkin-park-singer-chester-benningtons-last-days-w495942 I didn't see this posted anywhere on the site, so I figured I'd make a thread about it, perhaps for people who may not have seen it, or want to discuss it. I think this is a really classy article and it's not like a lot of other crap out on the internet right now. It details a lot of Chester's downward spiral that he has been on for the past couple of years and features interviews with many of his friends, including Ryan Shuck of Dead By Sunrise, Sean Dowdell of Grey Daze, Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots and Matt Sorum of Kings Of Chaos, and a few others. I also like how Ryan and Sean pointed out that while Chris Cornell's death may have contributed to Chester's downward spiral, it likely wasn't the reason that he did it, because many places have been saying that. Also, if anybody is interested in owning a physical copy of this article, it's out in Rolling Stone now, the one with the Kendrick Lamar cover. It features a few other interviews with Jared Leto, etc. and has a few cool pics of Chester that aren't included in the digital version.

I wonder if the version of NRL included will be the original 2007 version that we got, or the version released in 2013 with the different mix. I have the MTM Tour Edition CD with NRL on it, the original 2007 mix.

Yes, Chester helped so many people in so many ways. That does suck that your birthday is July 19th, but try not to associate your birthday with Chester's death a day after, just think about all the good times and good memories from Chester and LP, etc. But thanks. The community really does actually make me feel like I'm not alone, even if I am sometimes.

Why? Chris Cornell was fucking amazing. Super talented artist with all of the bands and projects he's done, IMO. Incredible voice and song writer. Do you hate him because he committed suicide and then Chester did a few months after? If so, that's a pretty stupid reason, no offense. Chris was one of Chester's best friends, perhaps even his BEST friend, so it definitely hurt Chester a lot. I didn't even know that they became such close friends after PR08, until I looked into it, after Chester died. They hung out a lot and were really close, I've seen so many photos of them hanging out, at Disney World, etc. And Chester was even the Godfather to Chris's son. They were also working on a foundation together as recent as 2015. So when your best friend commits suicide, and you already have been struggling with severe depression, it's bound to really eat you up. I totally get it. Exactly. I'm not going to feel ''guilty'' because I heavily shit all over the album. It's music. Don't release music if you don't expect it to be criticized, especially when you're in a band who have sold 80 million albums and won several Grammy Awards.

Yes, as far as I'm aware, it's the first time NRL is available on vinyl. It's also the main reason I'm buying this because I already own MTM on vinyl.

Idk, I never cared for THP even remotely, so I never paid much attention to any of the songs on the album. I mean the band doesn't play any of those songs live so I don't see why they'd need someone who can perform them. I didn't answer your question because it makes no sense. Why would they need someone to play a song that they have never even performed before with Chester? Nothing studio matters, they need someone who can do the old songs LIVE. The studio recordings with Chester will forever remain, it's not like they go away because he died. They need someone who can make the kind of music they want with them in the future and can do the songs justice live, and since they didn't play THP or even stuff like Given Up live on the current touring cycle, why do they needs someone who can perform those? I think the reason that THP didn't catch on was for several reasons. One, it wasn't promoted well at all. Two, THP wasn't the heavy sound that the old school fans liked, it was like a 90's rock sound, the old fans wanted a nu-metal Faint type of song. Three, they barely played any of the album live, even on it's own touring cycle, and they played the tamest songs on the album at that. They should have legit opened up every set with Chester screaming KTTK at every show in 2014 and 2015 and also played War and all the other shit on the album except for Drawbar and The Summoning. Casual fans at the shows probably didn't know about the album.

I was just trolling when I said LT was my favorite album they ever did, I hate that album. Both of those are much easier to sing than the aggressive shit on the old albums. C'mon now. I know you probably hate Meteora and HT and stuff like a lot of fans do because it's ''cringey'' or whatever, but those albums had songs that were pretty unique vocally at times and a lot of it was hard to sing. They played literally one song from THP on their recent tour so I don't expect them to play any of it in the future anyways, and if they did, Wastelands wasn't as hard as most of the other songs on that album vocally. Lol.

Already own on vinyl but will likely buy this.

I know, that's why I said originally that they would have to drastically change the set if they continue without getting a new singer. Like I said before, Chester was Linkin Park. I know for me personally that I probably wouldn't go to a Linkin Park show without Chester, nor would I buy their music, etc. But I do like the community for the memories it gave me in the past and stuff from the old days of 1997-2008 is popping up all the time.

That Frank Zummo interview is interesting. There is a chance that it never would have happened, as Chester had said he wanted to do some stuff with DBS in the past, such as 2012, when Ryan said Chester wanted to make another DBS album and this time make it more raw and emotional, etc. But that sounded promising. Zummo as the drummer would have been cool, too. I always got confused with the members of Julien-K besides Ryan and Amir because it's always changing. I legit thought that Bidi guy was Elias at the recent Julien-K show that I went to. I never paid much attention to Julien-K except for Death To Analog, so I never knew all the changes, etc. Haha. But I also agree with you that those albums were ''therapy''. Out Of Ashes was something I heavily related to when I was going through a dark period around the time that it came out. I still listen to the album to this day. It's a great album. High Rise was also cool but I didn't love it as much, I now wish we got a full STP album. But yeah, I hope we get all the unreleased stuff Chester did someday. He had so much music outside of LP.

Same here!!! Actually, I can remember the very first time I heard a clip of the song. I was in my 11th Grade English class in High School and I noticed that Verizon had uploaded a 30 second preview of the chorus. It was probably elsewhere online at that moment, too, but it was pretty soon after it surfaced. I asked to go to the bathroom and I listened to it on my phone in a hallway. Haha. I was like this is badass. Then of course, hearing the song for the first time in full, I was at my Dad's house with my best friend at the time and we downloaded it and played it together. Was a special moment for sure.