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Breaking Benjamin

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Breaking Benjamin

Breaking Benjamin is an American alternative metal band from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Band history

They were From Wilkes Barre Pennslyvania. 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 Records 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. The following single "Skin" was also released from Saturate, although it fared worse than "Polyamorous" and received even less airplay."Skin" was also performed live on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show. "Medicate" was also released as a single, to little commercial success and airplay. Saturate has gone on to sell over 300,000 copies.

Breaking Benjamin released their second 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 garnered little radio play and had no video created for it. Another song off of "We Are Not Alone", "Sooner or Later", had a video created for it and got a fair amount of radio play. 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 Bungie's 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 asked for more than $8 million in damages. A message was released October 25, 2006 on the bands official website stating that the band and Hummel had come to agreement on the lawsuit.

The band released their third album, Phobia, on August 8, 2006; the album debuted at number two on the Billboard album 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 two on the Mainstream Rock chart. 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. Soon after, the band announced on their Myspace page and during a live performance that "Breath" will be the next single.

In the fall of 2006 the band began a tour opening for Godsmack for the IV tour, hitting up mostly eastern and Ohio Valley venues, and soon moving out west, still in support of the Phobia album. Several of the shows had been canceled, or turned into Breaking Benjamin headliners due to scheduling conflicts. Many of Breaking Benjamin's tour dates from December 3rd have been rescheduled due to illness in the band's ranks. All dates were rescheduled as the band announced another headlining leg before going on a Nationwide tour with Three Days Grace and Nickelback.

On March 4, 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 of 2007, advertised as "The Homecoming". Footage of the band's live Stabler Arena performance of "Breath" comprises the song's music video[1].

On April 17th, 2007, Breaking Benjamin re-released the album Phobia. The album featured a DVD with about an hour of their Stabler Arena concert footage.

The band recently obtained their first number 1 billboard single with "Breath."

They are currently touring in the United States with Three Days Grace, Red and Puddle of Mudd.

Members

Current

Former

  • Jeremy Hummel - Drums
  • Jonathan Price - Bass

Temporary

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

Year Title Chart positions Album
US Hot 100 US Mainstream Rock US Modern Rock US Pop 100 US Digital Tracks CAN Canadian Top 33
2002 "Polyamorous" - #19 #31 - - #17 Saturate
2003 "Skin" - #24 #37 - - #26 Saturate
2003 "Medicate" - #28 #44 - - - Saturate
2004 "So Cold" #76 #2 #3 - - #3 We Are Not Alone
2005 "Sooner or Later" #99 #2 #7 - - #18 We Are Not Alone 2006 "The Diary Of Jane" - - - - - - Phobia
2007 "Breath" #84 #1 #3 #1 - - #24 Phobia

Trivia

  • 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 microphone to the ground, breaking it. The person who owned the microphone came onstage and said, 'Thanks to Benjamin for breaking my fucking mic.'
  • According to the band, the Breaking Benjamin logo, a celtic knot, was found in a tattoo book.
  • During live shows, the band has been known to frequently cover Nirvana, Tool, and on more recent tours Deftones, and Nine Inch Nails songs.
  • The first single from the band's second release We Are Not Alone, "So Cold", spent 37 weeks in the top 20 of the Billboard charts (as of February 3, 2005).
  • Breaking Benjamin had written 2 other songs before they were finally combined to become So Cold. The first was Inertia, then Always. Both were never released, but have been played live.
  • 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 Original Soundtrack: Volume One.They also played it at their concert in St.Louis last night.
  • Breaking Benjamin contributed a cover of Queen's "Who Wants to Live Forever" to Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen.
  • The band never travels outside of the U.S. and Canada due to Ben Burnley's fear of flying (though he said he would love to play outside the states and will go as far as a boat will take him). This is referenced in the song "Break My Fall" off of We Are Not Alone
  • At live performances, Breaking Benjamin often plays a brief sound clip of the Wicked Witch of the West prior to playing Home, which has its lyrics largely influenced by The Wizard of Oz (1939 film).
  • Singer Ben Burnley says he taught himself to play guitar by listening to Nirvana's "Nevermind."
  • The band was planning on releasing a studio version of their cover of "Enjoy the Silence" along with "Ladybug" on the European version of Saturate. However, the European version was never released.
  • Ben Burnley has consistently stated that although originally from PA, St. Louis, MO is their "home away from home". He has called the city the band's second home and continues to draw incredible amounts of support from the fans there.

Filmography

  • "Wish I May" was played in the credits of the movie Wrong Turn
  • "So Cold" was made a music video for the movie Hellboy
  • "Polyamorous" was featured briefly in an episode of "8 Simple Rules"
  • "Polyamorous" has a music video for the videogame Run Like Hell
  • "Polyamorous" and "Firefly" were featured in the videogames WWE Day of Reckoning, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw, and WWE Wrestlemania 21.
  • "The Diary of Jane" was featured in the video game NASCAR 07
  • "The Diary of Jane" was also used in a commercial for the FOX television show Bones.
  • "The Diary of Jane" and "The Diary of Jane acoustic" was used in the Portuguese TV show Vingança
  • "Blow Me Away" was written for the videogame soundtrack Halo 2 vol. 1
  • "Breakdown" was featured in a commercial for the ABC Family movie The Hollow
  • "Forget It" was featured in an episode of the TV show Smallville
  • "Forget It" was also featured in the movie American Pie Presents Band Camp
  • "Forget It" was also featured briefly in the background at one scene of the movie National Treasure and the song is mentioned while credit is given to the band members and Billy Corgan (who helped co-write it) in the ending credits
  • "Natural Life" was featured in the video game MX Unleashed
  • "Sooner or Later" was played briefly on an episode of Summerland
  • "Breath" was played briefly during the pre-show for Super Bowl XLI
  • "Sooner or Later" was played briefly on an episode of Beyond The Break
  • "Breath" was also played during the Best Damn Sports Show Period’s ‘NCAA Tournament Top Plays’ segment
  • "Breath" was played briefly during breaks of the 2006-2007 televised Major League Gaming's tournament of 'Halo 2' on the cable network USA.
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