May 2017. The release of Linkin Park’s seventh album – their first in three years – was fast approaching. That meant interviews – lots of interviews. For Chester, the scrutiny being heaped upon his band’s drastic new direction had begun to chafe. Had the group once accused of being a ‘boy band’ made a full-blown pop album? Why was it so different? What was their reason for the change? It was the latter line of inquiry that brought things to a head in an interview with industry magazine Music Week, when Chester was asked how he’d respond to those suggesting Linkin Park had ‘sold out.’ “If you’re saying we’re doing what we’re doing for a commercial or monetary reason, trying to make success out of some formula… then stab yourself in the face,” the singer fired back with a cack...
