Most times it is just a little something that reminds me of Dylan. A quick glance at a picture on the wall. An abandoned drafting board. A dusty old amp. Or a memorable CD sitting atop a shelf untouched for years at this point. But the news of Chester Bennington of Linkin Park ending his own life made it impossible not to think of Dylan. Dylan and I talked about the band a lot. I really liked their first two albums which were a little before he really developed his own taste in music. In fact, I remember when I told him that I had a copy of “Hybrid Theory”, after he had discovered the band, he was a bit surprised. He really liked the mash up album with Jay Z. He was going through a rap phase then, which was one of the great things about Linkin Park. They seemed to comfortably satisfy both the rap fans and rock fans. Indeed, it was a hybrid sound that really worked well for the band.

However, the greatest memory I have of Linkin Park was right around the time when Dylan really got into the band. “Minutes To Midnight” had been out and he loved the album. Both of us listened to it a lot, and talked about it. “The Little Things Give You Away” about hurricane Katrina sticks out right now. Every song seemed to grow on us as we listened to it more and more. But nothing could compare to “Bleed It Out”. A monster of a song with the great one two punch of Chester’s singing and Mike Shinoda’s rapping. It was, and still is, infectious. Great song. So, there would be a number of times when the family would be going somewhere, and sure as shit it seems that we would all agree on Linkin Park’s “Minutes to Midnight”. And when “Bleed It Out” came on, it was the closest we would ever come to our own family “Carpool Karaoke.” At the very least, all fours of us would be tapping our fingers or bobbing our heads, but most of the time at least two of us would be singing along to every word. Dylan was particularly proud when he was able to rap Mike’s part word for word. A really good memory of us as a family. All of us agreed, “Bleed It Out” was a fucking great song and “Minutes To Midnight” was our family album for quite a while. Chester Bennington and Linkin Park definitely made an impact on our family.

“Don’t be afraid, I’ve taken my beating, I’ve shared what I’ve made
I’m strong on the surface, not all the way through” Linkin Park

Rest in peace now, Chester.