I'll never forget the first time I was introduced to Linkin Park. I was 13, and in a crappy teenage cover band. We were all at school one day and the singer of my band was telling us how stoked he was to listen to his new CD, which was Hybrid Theory from Linkin Park. I'd never heard of them, but we had gym class later that day and played the opening track during our "one song run," which those teachers may or may not have immediately regretted doing.
Anyway, a few years later when I was probably a sophomore in high school, the bass player of that same band and I bought tickets to see the Summer Sanitarium tour. It was my first opportunity to see my beloved Metallica, along with The Deftones, Mudvayne, Limp Bizkit (who were pretty hated at the time) and Linkin Park. It was an especially hot day at Mile High Stadium, I'd spent all of my $11 on a parking lot t-shirt, and they had hired guards at the drinking fountains. Seriously! I finally convinced one of the vendors to give me a handful of ice to suck on to avoid dying, but despite my hardships that day it was definitely a show I'll never forget.
Anyway, back to the point, today was another crushing reminder, right off the heels of Chris Cornell's sudden passing, that you never know what kind of demons a person may be battling. And, when an artist passes away, it not only affects those who knew him/her personally, but all of those who have emotional ties to the music. Thousands upon thousands of people. That's why music lovers take situations like this so heavily and mourn the loss of an artist like they were family.
RIP, Chester. Best wishes to his family and loved ones.