SOILS ON FIRE
They flew into the flames, but burned the wings. They saw nothing but a bright light, but it blinded them. We present to your attention an overview of the brightest rock musicians who left the world in 2016-2018.
CHESTER BENNINGTON
He is like a bare nerve, a stretched string of emotions. Chester Bennington, frontman of the American nu metal / rock band Linkin Park.
His voice, screaming, wild, but at the same time gentle and beautiful, escapes as if from darkness, but at the same time pulls you there. It has everything: the pain that gnaws at the soul, and the escape from the terrible reality, and the fall into darkness. Deep shades of strong feelings and they are reflected in all texts.
“I see you are falling down. You are nearing the end of your life. I leave with emptiness inside. That words cannot heal You will never know. That bound my heart in ice Ten thousand promises are gone. Ten thousand ways to live ... "- Chester sings in the single" Powerless "/" Helpless "(album" Living Things ", 2012) .
Here it is, the harsh reality, you come face to face with it and nothing, it seems, can save you. You alone stand above the abyss: either retreat back, or fall down.
You alone stand above the abyss: either retreat back, or fall down. The vocalist himself, it seems, walked on the edge of a knife and only crazy music gave him the strength not to fall down, but still nothing kept him on the ground. A long struggle with alcohol and drug addiction, experienced sexual abuse in childhood - all this breaks out of the music and it seems to burn you.
Linkin Park goes their way: the wild expression of the album "Hybrid Theory" (2000), the heavy symphony "Meteora" (2003), the gentle and powerful "Minutes To Midnight" (2007), the unusually experimental "A Thousand Suns "(2010), hysterical" Living Things "(2012), insane " The Hunting Party " (2014 g.) and "One More Light" (May 19, 2017), tired, as if on its last legs. What if it symbolizes imminent death?
All the music reflects Bennington's life in a struggle with himself, from which he must be tired. Chester is found hanged at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California, on July 20, 2017 (the official version is suicide) on the birthday of his friend Chris Cornell, vocalist of the rock band Soundgarden (he hanged himself in a hotel room in Detroit after a concert groups on May 18, 2017 - ed.) . According to the website polit.info, citing foreign media outlets, on July 20 , the group planned a photo session, for her sake Chester came from vacation, leaving his family. He was in a great mood - nothing seemed to bode well. Perhaps someone knew that he would be home alone. Fans believe he could have been killed. The voice of a whole generation of 2000s, desperate, hysterical, falls silent forever, but continues to sound in the souls of fans.
CHRIS CORNELL
He is a dark grunge sun (a direction in rock music, a "Seattle sound" that developed from hardcore punk in the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, primarily in Seattle - author's note), the depressing voice of the riot, Chris Cornell, frontman of the groups Soundgarden, Audioslave and Temple of the Dog (1990-1992).
The music of his main band, Soundgarden, is always different contradictory moods of autumn, they fight with each other: from deep melancholy, pain to stress on the border with suicide. Together they are a war against a world far from ideal, "dirt" from which one wants to be cleansed (in translation from English, grunge is literally dirt - ed.).
Cornell's deep, hoarse, lyrical baritone, calls you into the darkness, "get bogged down in black days" (single "Fell On Black Days" from the album "Superunknown" 1994 - ed.), See "a black hole in the sun" (song "Black Hole Sun", the same disc).
The psychedelic video for the latest single is shrouded in a dark atmosphere and paranoia: they slowly but surely suck you into nowhere, like a dark hole. It seems to burst out of gray clouds and, like a whirlwind, takes with it everything unnecessary, empty, but there is still no hope for the best. Cornell stands amid this madness, and his darkly beautiful vocals sound like a hymn to a tired soul that has turned
black paints (the color itself appears more than once in the names of songs and in the lyrics - author's note). How does he really feel?
“I woke up just like any other day. If not for the voice in my head. He told me to seize the day, pull the trigger, throw the blade. And watch the spinning heads ... " - The Day I Tried To Live (1994)
Each song contains a deep trace of depression and despair. They were probably his companions. It is known that Cornell suffered from depression in his youth and did not even go out on the street for about a year, playing the guitar and drums. On May 18, 2017, at a Detroit hotel after a Soundgarden concert, he was found hanged. According to darkside.ru, citing family lawyer Kirk Pasik, Chris previously suffered from addiction and had to take antivan. He could have consumed a larger dose than was necessary. The family believes that Chris committed suicide without realizing his actions, and that these drugs or some other substance may have prompted him to do so. " Talking to his wife from the room, he repeats several times that he is simply tired. Is it possible that now he has finally found peace from the struggle with himself? Also, according to polit.info, immediately after Cornell's death, information appeared in the media that forensic experts found fractured ribs in him, but this was not included in official documents.
As they write on the same site with a link to the portal neonnettle.com, both Bennington and Cornell regularly performed at charity concerts and raised money for foundations to protect children from pedophilia and for organizations that fight the sale of children. The musicians managed to uncover the criminal scheme and find evidence of which of the high-ranking US officials organized the traffic for the sale of children from other countries. Chris and Chester wanted to release this data before they died .
ALIA STANBRIDGE
She is the nightingale that sings in the night. A fragile angel with a black and white wing. Alia Stanbridge, vocalist of the Swedish doom / gothic band Trees of Eternity.
The band's music is a slow dive into beautiful but so frightening darkness. Mysterious creatures live there, trees weave bizarre patterns from their branches. You find yourself in a mysterious world and Alia's voice sounds there, magical, enchanting - it seems to come from the afterlife, combines both life and death in itself. This is one of the main themes of the vocalist's songs: they beautifully intertwine ups and downs, dreams and the reality that kills them. It turns out such an unusual pattern that you cannot help but admire.
“Watch the colors disappear with the sun. The season of dark darkness is coming again. Damned by repetitive cycles, reborn to die ... "- The Eye of Night (" Eye of the Night "album "Hour of the Nightingale" (2016)
For Aliya, darkness is an inspiration, a source where she takes her strength. Like an eternity that is painted in the color of the night (the theme of the night is one of the main ones in the texts of the pechens and their names "Black Ocean" / "Black Ocean", "Gallows Bird" / "Bird on the Gallows", "The Passage" / "Pass" - author's note), she calls to her. The melodies themselves, full-bodied, heavy, but at the same time gentle, are like eternity with its range of experiences, subtle thoughts. All of them are the soul of Alia. She transfers her pain and hope to music, fills it to the brim with harmony. Life itself is gradually leaving the singer - she dies of cancer on April 18, 2016 at the age of 39. According to the materials of her mother, published on the website orbitwithgillian.com on June 10, 2016, Aliya had problems with her lungs for a long time:
“..But wherever we find joy and soft peace (we are talking about the last vacation with her mother in Thailand - Aliya did not like winter, cold, because her lungs did not accept it, - author's note), what was separated from your illness, which lingered and lurked in anticipation, and played games, and disappeared, and returned again, and again left, and returned again, took you out of life. "
She, enchanted by darkness, portends death, but it seems that she rises above her, like a nightingale - above the earth, and her voice sounds like eternity in the night.
DAVID BOWEY
He is a space prince, rushing on a star along the milky way. His music is like a journey through the universe. David Bowie, British rock musician, actor, artist.
A master of outrageousness, he created his own unique style, easily mixed psychedelics in it (the musical direction of the mid-1960s, at its core: experiments with consciousness, mysticism and fantasies - ed.), And theatrical performances, and glamorous rock with its bright colors, images.
Bowie, like a chameleon, or maybe an alien "man who fell to Earth"? ("The Man Who Fell to Earth" - British sci-fi film, a 1976 drama directed by Nicholas Rogue, as an alien - David Bowie - ed.) Here he is, a pale youth with red hair, takes you into unknown space to the melody of a guitar (single "Space Oddity" 1969) or a bright androgynous (a man who simultaneously shows both feminine and masculine features in appearance, behavior, etc. - author's note) from the glam-rock "Life on Mars "(1971). Or even a tired hero who survives the apocalypse ("Diamond Dogs" album, released on May 28, 1974 - author's note).
His voice, hypnotic, sounds like it comes from another world somewhere beyond our understanding. Calm, deep the baritone softly envelops your soul and, it seems, remains in it forever, just as the music remains.
The latest Blackstar album (released on January 8, 2016) looks like revelation before death. Music that takes you into the darkness of the night, but it seems to be a saving darkness. In it, you can finally find freedom and peace. Bowie studies the darkness, but it doesn't seem to scare him. The musician seems to be defying death:
“By the time I got to New York. I lived like a king. Then I spent all my money. I was looking for your ass. Either this path or none. You know I'll be free. Just like this bluebird. Doesn't that sound like me? " - sings Bowie in the single "Lazarus".
He rebelled all his life, until his last days. After a year and a half battling stomach cancer, he died on January 8, 2016 at the age of 69. According to RIA Novosti with reference to Ivo Van Hove (theater director from Belgium, worked with a musician on the musical Lazarus, the premiere took place on 12.12.2015 in New York - ed.) Bowie continued to work even on his deathbed. This was a man who fights. He fought like a lion and continued to be creative no matter what. The space prince left this the world, but has always been out of this world. Now he continues his stellar an odyssey, an eternal wanderer, but already somewhere outside our universe.
DOLORES O'RIORDAN
She is the cocky voice of rebellion. She exposes our vices, the hard reality around us. Dolores O'Riordan, composer, songwriter and vocalist of the Irish rock band The Cranberries and DARK What if it's an angel who came to earth to punish sinners?
The music of the band is a deep revelation and you do not expect this, the acuteness of feelings about how imperfect this world and people are. Simple but powerful thoughts about life that come from the soul itself. The disruptive and powerful Promises (1999 Bury the Hatchet album - author's note) is about broken promises and words that don't mean anything. Fragile "When You're gone" (disc "To the Faithful Departed", 1996), in which the pain of parting sounds. Or the outrageous Astral Projection (Roses, 2012), where reality and illusion are one.
Powerful yet gentle rock songs seem to capture the free spirit of Irish folk music. It sounds unusual, light, as if in a chant. Likewise, The Cranberries' music is originality and originality, and O'Riordan's vocals are something that cannot be forgotten.
It sounds like a bolt from the blue. Strong like a whirlwind and at the same time delicate like a rose petal. Dolores resembles an elf from the magical forest of Dark Hedges (Northern Ireland). He is fragile in appearance, but strong in soul, a warrior in life, as the vocalist was.
As a child, she was sexually violence, suffered from anorexia, depression and even wanted to commit suicide. According to bbc.com, all her life she felt emotional swings. She had bipolar disorder and easily went from incredibly elated to terribly depressed. According to her, many creative people face this, especially in the first half of their lives. It becomes very difficult, so it is important to do something all the time, otherwise you can go crazy. This is probably why she got songs.
Dolores was found dead in a room at the Hilton Park Lane, London, January 18, 2018. According to mk.ru, nothing foreshadowed tragic events, the vocalist was "full of life", the musicians released a new disc and were going on a concert tour in 2017. (it had to be canceled due to O'Riordan's back problems). She also planned to record a new version of the song "Zombie" (single from The Cranberries 1994). But this was not destined to come true. The audacious voice of rebellion has ceased, but it will always be in our hearts.
Dedicated to Chester Bennington. RIP 20.07.2017
Text prepared by: Natalia Pushchinskaya