I’ve been wanting to feature a Linkin Park track as the Song of the Day for a while. The timing never seemed right. I wanted to write a long post about Chester Bennington and his legacy and how he impacted my own life. I wanted to talk about the song, “One More Light,” and touch on the direct connection it has to depression and suicide. But I got stuck.

Even two months after his death, fans are still pouring out their love and appreciation for the musician. It’s, unfortunately, not uncommon for artists to take their own lives, but I’ve never witnessed such a reaction from a fanbase before. People who you never knew listened to Linkin Park are coming out to share their own stories of how their music has affected their lives.

Chester’s legacy lives on. Linkin Park broke records by claiming 23 spots on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs chart after their lead singer’s death. That’s two more than David Bowie after his own passing in 2016. They were also the first band to take numbers one, two and three in the Top Rock Albums list simultaneously, with One More Light, Hybrid Theory and Meteora.

It makes sense. Linkin Park broke the mold. There wasn’t, and still isn’t, a band out there like them. The partnership between Chester and Mike Shinoda was too good to be true. They brought to life a little known genre called rap-rock, writing lyrics for a generation of young people who felt they had no voice.

And now we’re uniting to keep the light alive.

It’s amazing how something so beautiful can come from something so tragic.

As I mentioned, I really thought I was going to be writing about “One More Light.” But the longer I put it off, the more I realized I wanted to highlight Chester on his own. In my opinion, there’s no better acapella track than “POWERLESS” from LIVING THINGS: Acapellas and Instrumentals.

The emotion in his voice is so raw, even solo. But when the second chorus hits and we hear his voice layered in a three-part harmony, his pain is echoed into your chest. The shouts of “powerless” at the end twist the dagger.

So as we remember Chester on this two-month anniversary of his passing, give “POWERLESS – Acapella” a listen. And if you’ve got the time, revisit the rest of the album.

Get the tissues ready.

Featured image courtesy of Wikimedia.