stayc main image

BET CEO says network has 'suspended' Soul Train and Hip-Hop Awards

August 11, 2025

The Soul Train Awards and Hip-Hop Awards, two cornerstone events celebrating Black music and culture, have been suspended by BET. The news was confirmed by BET CEO Scott Mills in an interview with...

Read more
stayc main image

GloRilla Goes Gospel: Why Her Kirk Franklin Collab Is Causing a Ruckus

August 11, 2025

When Memphis rapper GloRilla's October 2024 debut album Glorious, one track left everyone talking; "Rain Down on Me," featuring gospel heavyweights Kirk Franklin, Maverick City Music, Kierra...

Read more
stayc main image

Machine Gun Kelly Reveals Taylor Swift’s Candid Super Bowl Moment as Chiefs’ Dreams Crumbled!

August 11, 2025

When the Kansas City Chiefs' three-peat dreams collapsed at Super Bowl LIX, the real drama wasn't just on the field it was in Travis Kelce's VIP box where Taylor Swift and Machine Gun Kelly were...

Read more
stayc main image

Jelly Roll, Jonas Brothers, & More Unite for Stand Up To Cancer’s Nashville Debut Special!

August 10, 2025

In a powerful fusion of music and philanthropy, some of today’s most celebrated artists are stepping onto the stage not just to perform, but to make a difference. Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) returns...

Read more
stayc main image

A long time coming,’ Canadian artists applaud first-ever Latin category in 2026 Juno Awards

August 10, 2025

The Juno Awards are officially recognizing the powerful rise of Latin music in Canada. Starting in 2026, the annual awards ceremony will feature a brand-new category: Latin Music Recording of the...

Read more
stayc main image

Laufey & Clairo Just Dropped the Hottest Swiftie Takes (Literally) with Battle Spicy Wings on ‘Hot Ones Versus’

August 7, 2025

Read more
stayc main image

“I Hated Music”: Yvette Young Gets Candid About Burnout & Tour Pressures

August 7, 2025

Guitarist, songwriter, and frontwoman of Covet, Yvette Young, is known for her intricate tapping technique, genre-bending sound, that creates a calm presence. But in a new interview, the math rock...

Read more
stayc main image

Is Contemporary Christian Music, CCM, Just Secular in Disguise?

August 7, 2025

A June 13, 2025, Baptist News Global article highlights the long-standing conflicts between traditional Black gospel music and contemporary Christian music (CCM), which are exacerbated by racial...

Read more
stayc main image

What Really Led to Zak Starkey’s Confusing ‘Firing’ from The Who

August 7, 2025

In April 2025, The Who unexpectedly fired long‑time drummer Zak Starkey during a Royal Albert Hall show, reportedly over performance issues. Starkey, son of Beatles legend Ringo Starr, had been...

Read more
stayc main image

MTV VMAs snubs and shocks: See who was left out of nominations

August 7, 2025

The 2025 MTV Video Music Award nominations have been announced, boasting a diverse lineup with 33 first-time nominees. Pop icons Taylor Swift and Beyoncé even earned artist of the year nods without...

Read more
stayc main image

Can a Christian Rapper Go Viral Without Compromise? DC3 Just Did

August 7, 2025

From church pews in Northampton to crowds in Zimbabwe, DC3 is more than just a popular TikTok artist; he is a devout musician who is setting a new standard for UK rap. Through ingenious videos...

Read more
stayc main image

KATSEYE Makes History at Lollapalooza 2025 With Record-Breaking Festival Debut

August 7, 2025

Under the blazing Chicago sun, HYBE’s rising stars KATSEYE and BOYNEXTDOOR didn’t just perform at Lollapalooza—they owned it. From viral on-stage chemistry to career-defining sets, the two groups...

Read more

Linkin Park: The AMV Band Is Alive and Well Despite Everything

stayc main image

The silence that followed my mother’s words felt like the weight of the world pressing in on me. I was 17, but in that moment, I felt small, like that eight-year-old kid again, curled up in my bedroom, hoping for one of Linkin Park’s songs to drift through the radio. I wasn’t prepared for it — the loss, the finality of it. Chester's voice had been with me for so long, a soundtrack to the most formative years of my life. He was the one who let me know that it was okay to feel broken, to feel angry, to feel like the world wasn’t always a place that made sense.

Even as I locked myself away from the world outside, memories flooded my mind. The countless hours I’d spent with Meteora, rewinding that scratched CD, listening to every note of “Numb” as if it was the only thing that understood me. I remembered the first time I saw them live, at the 2012 Honda Civic Tour. I can still hear the raw energy of Chester’s screams echoing in my head, the crowd chanting in unison. I’ll never get that moment again. And that hurt, in a way that no words could fully describe.

But the strangest thing of all was how vivid the AMVs were in my mind. The ones on YouTube, the ones that were sometimes poorly made but somehow made me feel something deeper than I had expected. Linkin Park’s music, paired with chaotic, animated visuals, became a kind of collective experience for me and millions of others. Those AMVs weren’t just fan-made videos; they were an extension of the emotions that Chester’s voice unlocked in us. And now, as I replay those memories, it hits me again — the loss. The sense that something irreplaceable is gone.

Chester’s death was more than the loss of a musician; it felt like the end of an era. He wasn’t just the voice of Linkin Park, he was the voice of a generation. His music was the bridge for so many of us, a connection between the raw intensity of rock and the vulnerability of human emotion. And even now, years after his passing, that connection remains. The music lives on, and so does his voice — in every lyric, in every AMV, in every memory.

But I still wish I could hear him sing "In The End" just one more time.

Linkin Park: The AMV Band Is Alive and Well Despite Everythinglinkin-park-the-amv-band-is-alive-and-well-despite-everythingMuhammad SiddiquiJul 31, 2025The silence that followed my mother’s words felt like the weight of the world pressing in on me. I was 17, but in that moment, I felt small, like that eight-year-old kid again, curled up in my...