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The tracks "Rain", "Forget It" and "Follow" were all co-written by the guitarist and vocalist of [[The Smashing Pumpkins]], [[Billy Corgan]]. Ben Burnley and Billy Corgan's collaboration took place for six days in December. Burnley admitted he was, at first, nervous to work with Corgan, but later felt comfortable and called the experience one of the highlights of his career.<ref name="Breaking Benjamin and Billy Corgan">{{cite web|title=Breaking Benjamin Poised To Break Big|publisher=MTV|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1489392/20040713/breaking_benjamin.jhtml|accessdate=2007-12-13}}</ref> Later in 2004, the band released the ''So Cold EP''.
The tracks "Rain", "Forget It" and "Follow" were all co-written by the guitarist and vocalist of [[The Smashing Pumpkins]], [[Billy Corgan]]. Ben Burnley and Billy Corgan's collaboration took place for six days in December. Burnley admitted he was, at first, nervous to work with Corgan, but later felt comfortable and called the experience one of the highlights of his career.<ref name="Breaking Benjamin and Billy Corgan">{{cite web|title=Breaking Benjamin Poised To Break Big|publisher=MTV|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1489392/20040713/breaking_benjamin.jhtml|accessdate=2007-12-13}}</ref> Later in 2004, the band released the ''So Cold EP''.

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=== ''Halo 2 Original Soundtrack'' ===

⚫
The track "Blow Me Away" appears on the [[Halo 2 Original Soundtrack|Original Soundrack]] for the video game "[[Halo 2]]." The song is presently also used as the entrance music for relief pitcher Heath Bell of the San Diego Padres.<ref>http://www.operationsports.com/forums/sounds-show/402651-closer-entrance-music-list.html, accessed Aug. 20, 2010. A video of Bell's entrance to a Padres game appears at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAH_kvYxNHE&feature=related, also accessed on Aug. 20, 2010. A video referencing the track as being from the album is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJJnqcWtd1A, also accessed August 20, 2010.</ref>


===''Phobia''===
===''Phobia''===
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During the summer Ben played two solo acoustic shows with friend Aaron Bruch who is the bass player of Chad Szeliga's side project [[OurAfter (band)|OurAfter]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}} This was the first time "Forget It" and "Follow" were actually performed live. Benjamin also did some covers of [[Tool]], [[Queen (band)|Queen]], [[Michael Jackson]], [[Alice in Chains]] and [[Cyndi Lauper]].<ref>[http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/burnley-benjamin/2010/house-of-blues-atlantic-city-nj-bd4717a.html Burnley, Benjamin Concert at House of Blues, Atlantic City, NJ, USA Setlist on July 10, 2010]</ref>
During the summer Ben played two solo acoustic shows with friend Aaron Bruch who is the bass player of Chad Szeliga's side project [[OurAfter (band)|OurAfter]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}} This was the first time "Forget It" and "Follow" were actually performed live. Benjamin also did some covers of [[Tool]], [[Queen (band)|Queen]], [[Michael Jackson]], [[Alice in Chains]] and [[Cyndi Lauper]].<ref>[http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/burnley-benjamin/2010/house-of-blues-atlantic-city-nj-bd4717a.html Burnley, Benjamin Concert at House of Blues, Atlantic City, NJ, USA Setlist on July 10, 2010]</ref>

⚫
=== ''Halo 2 Original Soundtrack'' ===

⚫
The track "Blow Me Away" appears on the Original Soundrack for the video game "Halo 2." The song is presently also used as the entrance music for relief pitcher Heath Bell of the San Diego Padres.<ref>http://www.operationsports.com/forums/sounds-show/402651-closer-entrance-music-list.html, accessed Aug. 20, 2010. A video of Bell's entrance to a Padres game appears at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAH_kvYxNHE&feature=related, also accessed on Aug. 20, 2010. A video referencing the track as being from the album is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJJnqcWtd1A, also accessed August 20, 2010.</ref>


==Members==
==Members==

Revision as of 09:09, 24 August 2010

Breaking Benjamin

Breaking Benjamin is an American rock band from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, consisting of Benjamin Burnley, Aaron Fink, Mark Klepaski and Chad Szeliga. The band has released four albums to date. Their music is most often classified as alternative rock,[2][3][4] and post-grunge.[2][5][6][dead link]

History

Formation

Formed in 1998 by vocalist Benjamin Burnley and drummer Jeremy Hummel, Breaking Benjamin quickly garnered a strong local following in their home state of Pennsylvania. The band derived their name from an incident when Burnley was covering a Nirvana song during an open mic night at a club. He kicked the microphone stand over, breaking it. The person who owned the microphone came on stage and said, "I'd like to thank Benjamin for breaking my fucking microphone."[7] In 1999 the band changed its name shortly to "Plan 9" then in late 2001, 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. According to the band, the Breaking Benjamin logo is a variation of the Celtic knot, with four interlocking "B"s.[citation needed] The logo is tattooed on the left wrist of Burnley, Fink, and Klepaski, and the right wrist of Szeliga.[citation needed]

Saturate

Breaking Benjamin signed to Hollywood Records in early 2002 after the success of an independently-released, self-titled EP, which sold all 2,000 copies that were manufactured. The band then released their full-length, major-label debut, Saturate, on August 27, 2002. The album peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers Chart and at 136 on the Billboard Top 200.[8]

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 three different versions for "Polyamorous": one that had all live-action footage, and one that had footage of the video game Run Like Hell. The third was a variation of the non-live action video, but instead of scenes from Run Like Hell, it has scenes of people in flirtatious acts.

The second single from Saturate was "Skin", which fared even worse than "Polyamorous". Burnley has been known to state his disdain for the song during live performances and has the crowd sing the words as the band plays. This is due to Hollywood Records choosing it as the main single instead of the band's choice, "Medicate".

They had planned on releasing a studio version of their cover of "Enjoy the Silence" along with "Lady Bug" on the European version of Saturate. However, the European version was never released. "Lady Bug" was eventually released on the "So Cold EP", and on the Japanese version of We Are Not Alone.

We Are Not Alone

Breaking Benjamin released their second album, We Are Not Alone, on June 29, 2004. The album featured the lead off single "So Cold", which reached number two on the United States Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. The band had two music videos made for "So Cold," one of which was a promotional video for the movie Hellboy. "So Cold" spent 37 weeks in the top 20 of the Billboard charts (as of February 3, 2005). The commercial success of "So Cold" led to We Are Not Alone debuting at number 20 on the Billboard 200 selling 48,000 copies in its first week and achieving platinum status in late 2005.[citation needed]

Also released as singles from the album were "Sooner or Later" and a re-recorded, full band version of "Rain", which was featured on later pressings of the album. A music video was made for "Sooner or Later" as it got a fair amount of radio play reaching number two on the Mainstream Rock Charts. The track was also performed live on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno".[9]

During a tour in support of "We Are Not Alone" Aaron Fink's father Gary Fincke, joined the band on tour, whose music collection is what originally sparked Aaron's interest in music.[citation needed]

Kevin Soffera was the drummer that Jeremy suggested as a fill in while was unable to play with the band due to the birth of his child. Kevin filled in for Jeremy from August until September 2004. Kevin appears on the recordings of The Conan O’Brien show and The Carson Daly Show as well as on the So Cold EP performing the songs Away and Breakdown.[10] In September 2004, drummer, and founding member of Breaking Benjamin, Jeremy Hummel was fired. 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 asked for more than $8 million in damages. An article was released October 25, 2006, stating that Hummel does not receive any payments from the making of We Are Not Alone in which he co-authored.[11] After Kevin was finished with his duties as a fill-in for Jeremy, the band brought Ben "B.C." Vaught into the band to fill in as their drummer. B.C. was with the band until the band hired Chad Szeliga in early 2005.[12] The track "Firefly" was featured in the "Smackdown Vs. Raw" video game, released on November 2004.

The tracks "Rain", "Forget It" and "Follow" were all co-written by the guitarist and vocalist of The Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan. Ben Burnley and Billy Corgan's collaboration took place for six days in December. Burnley admitted he was, at first, nervous to work with Corgan, but later felt comfortable and called the experience one of the highlights of his career.[13] Later in 2004, the band released the So Cold EP.

Halo 2 Original Soundtrack

The track "Blow Me Away" appears on the Original Soundrack for the video game "Halo 2." The song is presently also used as the entrance music for relief pitcher Heath Bell of the San Diego Padres.[14]

Phobia

Breaking Benjamin released Phobia on August 8, 2006, heading off the album with the single "The Diary of Jane", which made it to #4 on the U.S. Modern Rock Charts.

On February 11, 2007, HDNet premiered a one-hour show of the Breaking Benjamin concert in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania at Stabler Arena. This is also the concert that was included on the Phobia re-release DVD in April 2007, advertised as "The Homecoming". The band obtained their first number 1 billboard single with "Breath". Footage of the band's live Stabler Arena performance of "Breath" comprises the song's music video. On April 17, 2007, Breaking Benjamin re-released the album Phobia. The album featured a DVD with about an hour of their Stabler Arena concert footage. They completed a co-headlining tour in the United States with Three Days Grace and had Red and Puddle of Mudd as openers. The album re-entered the Billboard 100 at number 38 on May 5, 2007 with its reissue.

On June 29, 2007, the band appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and performed "Breath". On July 6, 2007, the band performed "Breath" again on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. The band did not perform as scheduled on July 9, 2007 at the Tabernacle in Atlanta due to an illness that Ben had. Two other concerts wrapping up their tour (in Myrtle Beach, SC on July 10 and Greensboro, NC on July 11) were canceled as well. On their website, they announced that Burnley was ill and unable to perform in Atlanta and at the two remaining shows. Rumors that the band was breaking up turned out to be false, as the band announced a 36-date fall 2007 tour with Three Days Grace, Seether, Skillet (first half) and Red (second half).

On May 21, 2009 Phobia reached RIAA Platinum status, selling over one million units in the U.S.[15]

Dear Agony

Breaking Benjamin performing in Fort Wayne, Indiana on 30 January 2010.

David Bendeth[16] who produced the band's last two studio efforts, We Are Not Alone and Phobia, produced Breaking Benjamin's 4th studio album, Dear Agony. On their MySpace blog, Breaking Benjamin stated, "We are busy crafting the new material and have several songs ready for the Bendeth production treatment." Jasen Rauch, guitarist for Red, co-wrote four of the new tracks including "I Will Not Bow", "Hopeless", "Lights Out" and "Without You".[17] On November 20, 2008, Burnley was interviewed on Cage Rattle and stated that he is writing so much for the new album that it is consuming his life.[citation needed] He also stated that he is getting no deadlines or pressure from the label on this album so he is taking his time.[18]

On July 14, the members of the band confirmed there are 11 songs on the new album. One of the track names is "What Lies Beneath", and on July 28, David Bendeth confirmed from a news article that Breaking Benjamin's first single, "I Will Not Bow" was released onto radio stations on August 17, and was released on iTunes on September 1. Then just after a few days it became one of the top ten selling songs on iTunes, along with the album Dear Agony.

On August 4, Breaking Benjamin's MySpace revealed the 4th album will be titled Dear Agony and that it would be released on September 29.[19]

On August 11, Breaking Benjamin's hometown radio station WBSX (97.9X) in Wilkes-Barre, PA debuted "I Will Not Bow". Due to the single being leaked, "I Will Not Bow" began streaming on their MySpace at 8PM eastern time on August 11.[20] A music video for the song "I Will Not Bow" premiered on their MySpace on Friday, August 21.[21]

On September 28, the album was officially released in Australia. On September 29, the album was officially released in the United States. Dear Agony purchased from Best Buy includes a bonus DVD of the band's six music videos, one of them being a previously-unreleased version of the video for "I Will Not Bow". The version on the DVD is of the band only and does not contain any footage from the film Surrogates, unlike the version released online.

The band co-headlined a January-February 2010 tour of the US with Three Days Grace and Flyleaf.[22]

On January 5, 2010, "Give Me a Sign" was released as the second single off of Dear Agony. Subsequently, the music video for "Give Me a Sign" was released on the band's MySpace page on March 10, 2010, which happened to be Ben Burnley's 32nd birthday.

As of February 16, 2010, Dear Agony has been certified Gold by the RIAA.

On June 15, 2010, the third single of Dear Agony, Lights Out, was released.

During the summer Ben played two solo acoustic shows with friend Aaron Bruch who is the bass player of Chad Szeliga's side project OurAfter.[citation needed] This was the first time "Forget It" and "Follow" were actually performed live. Benjamin also did some covers of Tool, Queen, Michael Jackson, Alice in Chains and Cyndi Lauper.[23]

Members

Current
Former[24]

Discography

Main article: Breaking Benjamin discography
Studio albums

References

  1. ^ http://www.shallowbay.com/forum/faq.php? faq=section_1#faq_question_2
  2. ^ a b Breaking Benjamin at MTV
  3. ^ Breaking Benjamin at Musicmight
  4. ^ Breaking Benjamin at IGN
  5. ^ allmusic ((( Breaking Benjamin > Overview )))
  6. ^ Breaking Benjamin at Rolling Stone Magazine
  7. ^ unknown, unknown (2008-08-20). "Breaking Benjamin AOL Sessions Interview". Retrieved 2010-03-03. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ 31 May 2006. "Breaking Benjamin (Sooner Or Later Live)". YouTube. Retrieved 2010-03-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ http://www.shallowbay.com/forum/faq.php?faq=section_6#faq_question_6_5
  10. ^ http://www.shallowbay.com/forum/faq.php?faq=section_1#faq_question_7
  11. ^ "Hummel Sues Breaking Benjamin". Ultimate Guitar.com. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
  12. ^ http://www.shallowbay.com/forum/faq.php?faq=section_1#faq_question_8
  13. ^ "Breaking Benjamin Poised To Break Big". MTV. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
  14. ^ http://www.operationsports.com/forums/sounds-show/402651-closer-entrance-music-list.html, accessed Aug. 20, 2010. A video of Bell's entrance to a Padres game appears at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAH_kvYxNHE&feature=related, also accessed on Aug. 20, 2010. A video referencing the track as being from the album is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJJnqcWtd1A, also accessed August 20, 2010.
  15. ^ "Gold & Platinum - March 01, 2010". RIAA. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
  16. ^ David Bendeth - Discography
  17. ^ Read Michael Lello's Blog Here. "EXCLUSIVE: Ben Burnley interview transcript | The Weekender, Northeast PA". Theweekender.com. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
  18. ^ "Album #4 Update - MySpace-blog | breaking benjamin blog van BREAKING BENJAMIN". Blogs.myspace.com. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
  19. ^ "Album #4 Title Revealed - MySpace-blog | breaking benjamin blog van BREAKING BENJAMIN". Blogs.myspace.com. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
  20. ^ "Breaking Benjamins New Single "I Will Not Bow" Stream 8pm east... - MySpace-blog | breaking benjamin blog van BREAKING BENJAMIN". Blogs.myspace.com. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
  21. ^ "Premiere for I WILL NOT BOW music video THIS FRIDAY! - MySpace-blog | breaking benjamin blog van BREAKING BENJAMIN". Blogs.myspace.com. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
  22. ^ Smith, Jay (December 7, 2009). "Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin Slot Co-Headline Run". Pollstar. Retrieved December 7, 2009.
  23. ^ Burnley, Benjamin Concert at House of Blues, Atlantic City, NJ, USA Setlist on July 10, 2010
  24. ^ http://www.shallowbay.com/forum/faq.php?faq=section_1#faq_question_2
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