Having performed with other bands over the years, nothing compared to when Chester Bennington took the stage with Linkin Park. Selling over 100 million albums, the band went on to gain high praise from the music industry. But it all came crashing down in July 2017 when Bennington decided to take his own life. Decided to take a break, Linkin Park recently surfaced with a new singer Emily Armstrong. With fans sharing their thoughts on the new lineup, Bennington’s mother, Susan Eubanks, was more than a little confused.
Sharing her thoughts to Rolling Stone magazine, Eubanks held nothing back when she started to criticize Linkin Park. “I feel betrayed. They told me that if they were ever going to do something, they would let me know. They didn’t let me know, and they probably knew that I [wasn’t] going to be very happy. I’m very upset about it.” She continued, “I feel like they’re trying very hard to erase the past. They’re performing songs that Chester sang. And I don’t know how the fans are taking it, but I know how I take it. And having [Armstrong] singing my son’s songs is hurtful.”
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With Mike Shinoda helping form the band during the late 1990s, Eubanks explained how he constantly wanted to replace Bennington with a female. “Mike told Chester one time that he thought singing these songs would be better with a girl, because he often put Chester down. Chester called me and said, ‘He thinks that they’re going to replace me with a girl.’ And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And he said Mike told him at rehearsal that, ‘If you decide you’re leaving, we’re going to replace you with a girl.’ And Chester was dumbfounded and hurt.”
Susan Eubanks Believes Band Is Failing Where Chester Bennington Succeeded
Only wanting them to reach out to her and prepare Bennington’s family for the news, Eubanks insisted, “I’m not OK with this, to have somebody replace him and try to do what he did. I don’t think that there’s anybody in the world that has the same voice. And when I heard that, I was just so repelled that no, they’re trying to do exactly what Chester did, but they’re not succeeding at it.”
With Eubanks feeling betrayed by Linkin Park, she concluded, “If I could tell the band members anything it’s that I feel betrayed. You made a promise to me that you would let us know and you didn’t. If you were going to do this, this is the wrong way to do it.”
(Photo by Chiaki Nozu/WireImage)
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