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Breaking Benjamin

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Breaking Benjamin
File:Breakingben2006.jpg
Background information
OriginWilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA
Years active2000 – present
MembersBenjamin Burnley
Aaron Fink
Mark Klepaski
Chad Szeliga
Past membersJeremy Hummel

Breaking Benjamin is a platinum-selling post-grunge/alternative metal band from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Band history

Formed in 1998 by vocalist Benjamin Burnley and drummer Jeremy Hummel, Breaking Benjamin quickly garnered a strong local following. In 1999, the band briefly renamed themselves "Plan 9." In late 2000, after various line-up changes, the band changed its name back to "Breaking Benjamin" and two friends of Burnley, Aaron Fink and Mark Klepaski, left their previous band, Lifer, and joined the ranks of Breaking Benjamin as guitarist and bassist, respectively. Lifer was a band that gained brief mainstream attention because of their part in an MTV cover band contest that resulted in a record deal with Universal Records.

The band signed to Hollywood Records in 2001 after the success of an independently-released, self-titled EP, which sold all 2,000 copies that were manufactured. Hollywood released their full-length, major-label debut, Saturate, on August 27, 2002. The album's first single, "Polyamorous", received a fair amount of radio play, although it failed to reach mainstream audiences. A video was released in two different versions for Polyamorous: one that had all live-action footage, and one that had footage of the video game Run Like Hell; both videos can be seen on YouTube. A second single, "Medicate", was also released from Saturate, although it fared worse than "Polyamorous" and recieved even less airplay.

Breaking Benjamin released their sophomore album, We Are Not Alone, on June 29, 2004. The album featured the leadoff single "So Cold", which reached as high as number two on the United States Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. The band had two music videos made for the song, one of which was a promotional video made for the movie Hellboy. The commercial success of "So Cold" led to We Are Not Alone achieving platinum status in late 2005. Also released as singles from the album were "Sooner or Later" and a re- recorded version of "Rain", which was featured on later pressings of the album. While the former again got the band as high as number two on the Mainstream Rock chart and featured a music video, the latter garnerned little radio play and had no video created for it. Later in 2004, the band released the So Cold EP. The EP contained live recordings of We Are Not Alone's "So Cold" (an acoustic recording), "Breakdown", and "Away", as well as studio recordings of "Blow Me Away", a song that was featured in the videogame Halo 2 and "Lady Bug", an early fan favorite of the band's.

In September of 2004, drummer, and founding member of Breaking Benjamin, Jeremy Hummel was relieved of his duties in the band. Subsequently, on September 28, 2005, Hummel filed a federal lawsuit against the remaining members of Breaking Benjamin, as well as its management, claiming he was not paid for songs he helped write. Hummel's lawsuit asks for more than $8 million in damages. No further details on this lawsuit have been released.

The band released their third album, Phobia, on August 8, 2006. It gained a #2 spot on the Billboard charts. The first single, "The Diary of Jane" was released online on May 22, 2006 and later was released on the radio June 6, 2006. The music video for "The Diary Of Jane" premiered on Yahoo! Music on June 21st, 2006. The song has reached as high as number three on the Mainstream Rock chart. The second single off of the album has yet to be released, though frontman Ben Burnley indicated on RockLine that Phobia was written so that all the songs could stand as singles, each having an equal opportunity to be next.

Line-up

Former members

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

Year Title Chart positions Album
US Hot 100 US Modern Rock US Mainstream Rock
2002 "Polyamorous" - #31 #19 Saturate
2003 "Skin" - #37 #24 Saturate
2003 "Medicate" - - - Saturate
2004 "So Cold" #76 #3 #2 We Are Not Alone
2004 "Sooner or Later" #99 #7 #2 We Are Not Alone
2005 "Rain" - #39 #23 We Are Not Alone
2006 "The Diary of Jane" #50 #7 #3 Phobia

Miscellaneous

  • The name "Breaking Benjamin" comes from lead vocalist Benjamin Burnley's early solo experience. Burnley was covering a Nirvana song during an open-mic night at a club when he dropped the mic to the ground, breaking it. The person who owned the mic came onstage and said, 'Thanks to Benjamin for Breaking my fucking mic.'
  • During live shows, the band has been known to frequently cover Nirvana, Tool, Depeche Mode, and on more recent tours Deftones, and Nine Inch Nails songs.
  • The first single from the band's sophomore release We Are Not Alone, "So Cold", spent 37 weeks in the top 20 of the Billboard charts (as of February 3, 2005).
  • Burnley says that he taught himself the guitar by listening to Nirvana's Nevermind. He also explained in an on-air radio interview of the band (Tucson, Arizona station KFMA) that he's written most songs at least half-drunk, with one exception.
  • Aaron Fink pointed out that his father joined the band on tour, and that his father's music collection is what originally sparked his interest in music. Gary Fincke is a professor at Susquehanna University and wrote Amp'd: A Father's Backstage Pass about his travels with the band.
  • The band created an original cut for the immensely popular video game Halo 2 entitled "Blow Me Away", which can be heard on the So Cold EP & the Halo 2, Vol. 1 Soundtrack.
  • Paul Marino of the Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences produced, directed, and edited a music video to "So Cold" using the Source engine and Half-Life 2 content. This video is called "I'm Still Seeing Breen" and it is notable for its achievements with lip syncing. The video caused a stir at Valve and was even shown on MTV2's Video Mods.
  • In 2004 the band agreed to have two of their songs in the video games WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW for the PlayStation 2 and WWE Day of Reckoning for the Nintendo Gamecube. The songs that are featured in the games are "Firefly" and "Polyamorous".
  • Their new album Phobia is based on Ben's personal phobia of travel by plane and his slight social phobia. Guitarist Aaron Fink stated in an interview that they sent a hypnotist to Ben's house to rid him of his phobia. No positive results were reported. [citation needed]
  • They've been quoted (while on RockLine) as saying they'd like to go on tour with: Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, Tool, & Sevendust.
  • While there are multiple audio versions of the song "Polyamorous", There are two versions of the video. One contains footage of actual characters engaging in romantic activities while they are secretly being watched by a couple thanks to hidden cameras. The other version contains footage from the 2002 videogame Run Like Hell, in which their song is used. This second version is the one commonly seen on Television as it is the one preferred by Ben Burnley himself as he stated on RockLine.
  • They have had three of their videos edited to show footage of video gameplay/movie screenplay. These are Polyamorous (mentioned above), So Cold (Hellboy and Half-Life 2) and The Diary Of Jane (NASCAR 07)

See also


Breaking Benjamin
Benjamin Burnley | Aaron Fink | Mark Klepaski | Chad Szeliga
Breaking Benjamin Discography
Albums: "Saturate" | "We Are Not Alone" | "Phobia"
EPs: "Breaking Benjamin EP" | "Live EP" | "So Cold EP"
Singles: "Polyamorous" | "Skin" | "Medicate" | "So Cold" | "Sooner or Later" | "Rain" | "The Diary of Jane"
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