On May 18, 2017, Soundgarden and Audioslave singer Chris Cornell tragically took his own life aged 52. When news began filtering through of Chris' passing, Metal Hammer began working on a special feature to honour the beloved frontman, reaching out to many of his friends and peers to pay tribute to a truly generational talent.
One of those friends was Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington - a man who looked up to Chris, had toured with him, and who had sung live with him at numerous shows prior to his passing. Chester had even been invited to sing at Chris’s funeral service at Hollywood Forever Cemetery on May 26, 2017, and it was only one week later that he spoke to Hammer about his memories of the Soundgarden man and their close friendship. Though it was clearly hard for him to talk about, Chester was gracious, generous with his time and thanked us for “taking the time to write a nice piece on someone who’s contributed so much to so many people’s lives”.
