Bennington first gained prominence as a vocalist following the release of Linkin Park's debut album Hybrid Theory (2000), which was a worldwide commercial success. The album was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2005, making it the best-selling debut album of the decade, as well as one of the few albums ever to achieve that many sales. Linkin Park's following studio albums, from Meteora (2003) to One More Light (2017), continued the band's success.
Bennington formed his own band, Dead by Sunrise, as a side project in 2005. The band's debut album, Out of Ashes, was released on October 13, 2009. He became the lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots in 2013 to release the extended play record High Rise on October 8, 2013, via their own record label, Play Pen, but left in 2015 to focus solely on Linkin Park. As an actor, he appeared in films such as Crank (2006), Crank: High Voltage (2009), and Saw 3D (2010).
On July 20, 2017, Bennington was found dead at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California; his death was ruled a suicide by hanging. Hit Parader magazine placed Bennington number 46 on their list of the "100 Metal Vocalists of All Time". Writing for Billboard, Dan Weiss stated that Bennington "turned nu metal universal".
Bennington possessed a three octave tenor vocal range, beginning at the low bass G (G2), and reaching its peak at the tenor G (G5). His vocals showed tremendous durability for the entirety of his career. Altheapi of Rolling Stone wrote: "Bennington's voice embodied the anguish and wide-ranging emotions of the lyrics, from capturing life's vulnerable moments to the fury and catharsis found in his belted screams, which he would often move between at the turn of a dime."
Talking about his favorite bands and influences, Bennington mentioned Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, Arcade Fire, Circle Jerks, Descendents, Deftones, Jane's Addiction, Metallica, Ministry, Minor Threat, Misfits, The Naked and Famous, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Refused, Skinny Puppy, Soundgarden, and A Tribe Called Quest. Bennington also considered himself as "a huge Madonna fan", crediting her for making him grow up wanting to be a musician.
After Bennington's death, his widow Talinda Bennington launched a campaign called 320 Changes Direction in honor of her husband to help break the stigma surrounding mental illness.
State Of The Art
Chester Bennington Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Until you fall into the hole
You dug for yourself while you slept here
Too young, too selfish, too cold
And when you find out what's been waiting
The moment you open your eyes
You'll see your true reflection
The very first time in your life
You can not fight what's in you
This will not be denied
You can not fight what's in you
This will not be denied
Cry to yourself
Nothing will help
It's too late to change what's been done
You do what you've always done best
You run
Into the hole you fall deeper
Deeper the faster you run
It wont stop until you accept it
Accept everythng that you've done
You can not fight what's in you
This will not be denied
You can not fight what's in you
This will not be denied
Cry to yourself
Nothing will help
It's too late to change what's been done
You do what you've always done best
You run
The lyrics of Chester Bennington's song State Of The Art speaks about the human struggle to come to terms with their own mistakes and accept their true identity. The opening lines "There's no way to find out what's inside you/ Until you fall into the hole/ You dug for yourself while you slept here" depict the idea that people often bury their own emotions and feelings deep within themselves, which they can only discover when they are in their most vulnerable times.
The lines "You can not fight what's in you/ This will not be denied" show how it's futile to ignore or suppress one's true self. The singer of the song is urged to accept their past mistakes and not try to escape them, symbolized by the lines "You do what you've always done best/ You run."
The song's overall theme conveys the idea that it's essential to confront the harsh realities of life, and the message is that we all make mistakes but must accept them, learn from them and move on. It is when we refuse to accept our true self; we fall into the trap of denial, which reiterated in the line "Nothing will help/ It's too late to change what's done."
Line by Line Meaning
There's no way to find out what's inside you
It's impossible to know your true self
Until you fall into the hole
Until you hit rock bottom
You dug for yourself while you slept here
You created your own problems
Too young, too selfish, too cold
You were immature, self-centered, and heartless
And when you find out what's been waiting
When you finally awaken to reality
The moment you open your eyes
At the point of no return
You'll see your true reflection
You'll see the harsh truth about yourself
The very first time in your life
For the first time ever
You can not fight what's in you
You can't deny your true nature
This will not be denied
It's inevitable
Cry to yourself
You suffer alone
Nothing will help
No one can rescue you
It's too late to change what's been done
You can't undo the past
You do what you've always done best
You resort to your familiar coping mechanisms
You run
You flee from your problems
Into the hole you fall deeper
You dig yourself further into trouble
Deeper the faster you run
The more you try to escape, the worse it gets
It wont stop until you accept it
The only way out is to confront and own up to your mistakes
Accept everythng that you've done
Acknowledge and take responsibility for your actions
Contributed by Victoria Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@96wasif
True lyrics
There's no way to find out what's inside you
Until you fall into the hole
You dug for yourself while you slept here
Too young, too selfish, too cold
And when you find out what's been waiting
The moment you open your eyes
You'll see your true reflection
The very first time in your life
You cannot fight what's in you
This will not be goodnight
You cannot fight what's in you
This will not be goodnight
Cry to yourself
Nothing will help
It's to late to change what's been done
You do what you've always done best
You run
Into the hole you fall deeper
Deeper the faster you run
It won't stop until you accept it
Accept everything that you've done
You cannot fight what's in you
This will not be goodnight
You cannot fight what's in you
This will not be goodnight
Cry to yourself
Nothing will help
It's to late to change what's been done
You do what you've always done best
You run
@JL-
i'm still finding demos and unreleased songs of chester, this is simply sublime
@cristiandicaprio1730
gloomy tracks like this, Walking Dead and Hardly Breathe fit really well to his voice
@evanochoa4954
Rest in peace Chester :( one of the greatest voices ever to bless this earth
@Tha-Joker318
On EVERYThang πππππ
@hakimdu07
The greatest .
@C.A._Old
Masterpiece Diamond Of Era! Early 21th Century!
@corinnemoundras9108
Of course yesss, the best
@wayhaykid
The power of his voice seems to really test the limits of the microphone on the chorus lmao
@dambawwe
sing screaming isnt breaking the microphone ,you need voice control in order to pull it off and alot of fry to it
@Sickman7443
Wow, it's the first time I've heard this relic