The Linkin Park Dilemma

Anyone who was ever raised in the age of hard rock, emo and metal will be very, deeply familiar with the band Linkin Park. They were approaching legend status within just an album or two, but shortly after their final album (which was abysmal), their main singer, Chester Bennington Hanged himself.

The band collapsed into nothing for 7 years, until now.

His death is one of those tragedies that certainly last. His voice was unique, his battle with mental health was well known and relatable to so many through the bands lyrics and music. It's impossible to calculate the level of loss to the music scene from his suicide.

Well, the band is back. Some members seem to have moved on and either decided not to tour with them, or quit entirely, while the core few stuck around, and introduced a fresh, new singer.

A Female singer.

A Scientologist.

A Rapist apologist and defender.

A Mental health denier.

On the surface, it sounds like the worst possible choice a band could ever have made. My feeds have been bombarded with this stuff, the vitriol and hate of every single Linkin Park fan. Demanding she step down, demanding the band break apart, boycott them! The woman is the epitome of evil!!

Well, maybe.

But I can't her on record anywhere saying any of these things.

She may very well be a scientologist. But this was merely alleged by some other singer from The Mars Volta. He could be spouting BS for all we know. Perhaps she was once a member and quit. Perhaps she was born into it, or pressured, forced. Perhaps we should actually hear from her if she feels like opening up about it, and if not, perhaps we should shut up.

She has not said a word about her views on mental health in public statements so far. For all we know she herself is a victim of depression, or anxiety, or any number of illnesses, perhaps she is a victim of scientology's bizarre anti-mental health beliefs (look it up).

She has, however, made a statement about being a rapist defender. Basically some guy from the 70's show she knew and was friends with turned out to be a massive rapist, and she supposedly defended him alongside others like Mila Kunis.

But her public statement in recent days said she had no idea and as soon as she found out, she cut all ties with him and has never spoken to him since.

Am I supposed to be mad at that or, what? Do we take her to caught and cross reference evidence of chat histories and leaked audio with lawyers and a jury panel to determine the truth and ultimately, whether or not we find her a socially acceptable choice for a band who can make whatever decisions they feel like despite these armchair critics apparent wisdom?

And, while we're there, do we boycott every Christian or Catholic musician? Do we turn off all Jewish media? Just because we've normalised these religions doesn't make them any less ridiculous than Scientology. Let's not forget the evil, terror and suffering caused in the name of God - any god out there.

We accept it, and are even banned from criticizing it in many countries cough UK cough, and yet, we can be so vicious just because scientology is smaller and newer? Sure, turn off the music for any scientology bands, but if you don't want to be a hypocrite, you have a pretty small pool of music to enjoy from now on.

It's atheist rock or nothing!

I dunno I just think it's all stupid. At least give her the human decency of explaining her position first before being judge, jury and executioner.

And if she prefers to stay silent on these matters - Let her! Y'all just have to speculate in the privacy of your own home and just make a personal decision to turn off the music and move on with your life.

In the meantime, the new song is pretty sick. She is of course not a match for Chester. That's not her fault, nobody can match or replace him. She has some huge shoes to fill and it must be pretty damn scary. But Chester is dead, and the new song shows they can still churn out some damn catchy tunes.

Seriously, like it or not, the chorus to this song has been bouncing around my head for days now. Glad I didn't boycott it for dumbass reasons. Check it out!