Musical Analysis Paper

My name is Chase Langford, and I will be doing my Musical Analysis

Presentation on Breaking Benjamin. My hope today, is that I will be able to

show how Breaking Benjamin has been a staple in American Hard rock for

the past 15 years. I am confident that after my presentation if you have any

hesitations about hard rock, you will have a better understanding, and a

greater inclination to listen to hard rock. Breaking Benjamin is a staple in

mainstream hard rock in todays music world.

Breaking Benjamin is a hard rock band that was formed in

Pennsylvania in 1999. The band was formed by lead vocalist and rhythm

guitar player, Benjamin Burnley. Originally, the band was a cover band that

primarily covered songs from Nirvana and the Beatles. When the band was

first formed their name was Plan 9, a reference to Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Unfortunately, many people misunderstood and would frequently refer to

them as Planet 9. Because of this, the band decided that it was time for a

change. Towards the beginning of the bands organization, the band was

doing a small gig at a local bar, and as they were exiting the stage, Ben

Burnley (lead vocalist, and rhythm guitar) tipped over the microphone and

broke it. The owner of the bar, went up after and said, thank you Benjamin

for breaking my microphone. At that moment the band would take the name

Breaking Benjamin after that small experience.

 The band became relevant in 2002 when a local radio DJ discovered

the groups track known as Polyamorous. When the DJ discovered this song

he put it into the rotation of music for the radio station. After awhile their

song, became the number one requested song by listeners. It was at that

point that the DJ, Freddi Fabbri, financed the bands first eponymous EP.

Shortly after its release all 2,000 copies were purchased. Shortly thereafter,

the band signed with Hollywood Records and went onto record their first full

length major-label record known as, Saturate.

In 2004 the band gained publicity by having its song Blow Me Away,

premier in the video game Halo 2. Just a few years later, in 2007, the band

also had a song appear in National Treasure 2. This was great for the band

and provided a great opportunity for the band to gain a fair amount of

publicity. (Book, Ryan)

In 2004, the band released its second full length record known as, We

Are Not Alone. The album featured hits like: So Cold, Sooner or Later, Follow,

and Firefly. The album was a huge success and opened the doors of

possibilities for Breaking Benjamin. Because of the success they had, they

were able to co-headline with bands like; Three Days Grace, Seether,

Evanescence. This continued to help the band grow in popularity with every

single day.

Although Breaking Benjamin was having success from an outside

perspective, on the inside things were not so pleasant. The original drummer

of Breaking Benjamin, Jeremy Hummerl, requested a paternity leave to be

with his first child that had just been born. While on Paternity leave,

Benjamin Burnley called Jeremy Hummel to inform him that his services were

no longer required. Because of this Jeremy, filed a lawsuit claiming wrongful

termination and lack of compensation for profits. The lawsuit was settled on

an undisclosed amount in April 2006.

The band didnt let this hold them back from accomplishing all that

they had to do. The band replaced Jeremy, with drummer with Shaun Faust.

In 2006 the band released Phobia, their third full length album. The album

was well received and continued to rocket the bands popularity. In 2009

Dear Agony, was released. This was the first album that Benjamin Burnley

had written completely sober. The reason for this change, is because

Benjamin Burnley hit a medical trial, that forced him to make a decision. It

was either continue to drink, and lose his life. Or, give up drinking and try to

make up for all the damage that his alcoholism had done to him. Benjamin

Burnley, started drinking in his late teens, and after years of heavy drinking

the damage had caught up to him. He did make the decision to give up

alcohol and even though it was tough, it has helped him in many ways

including his music writing and composing abilities.

After Dear Agony released a fallout happened with the band and

caused a falling out to occur. Unfortunately, a hard time for myself and

thousands and thousands of people across the globe. For four years,

Breaking Benjamin was no more, but in August 2014 the band announced

via, Facebook that they had come back together. Shortly thereafter in 2015
the band released its most recent album, Dark Before Dawn. Which was

received to an exponential amount of praise and excitement. (Wiederhorn)

Breaking Benjamin has now had three records go Platinum, with two

records going Gold. Beyond that, the band has had many singles reach such

high standards.

Benjamin Burnley was born in 1978 and from a very young age loved

music. In his teenage years Benjamin Burnley taught himself the guitar by

playing along to Nirvana songs. He continued to develop a love for music

that would have him become a confident guitar player and a novice music

writer and composer. As he continued practice, and gain experience through

trial and error he would become one of the most talented hard rock music

writers and composers of recent time. Although a talented musician and

composer, Benjamin does have personal struggles that have both hindered

aspects of his music career, and inspired some of his greatest music.

Ben Burnley has a phobia of death, because of this he fears driving in

cars and will not do it unless he absolutely has to. Also with his phobia, he

has a phobia of flying. This phobia had prevented Breaking Benjamin from

touring outside of the US until 2015 when the band took a ferry to Europe.

Beyond this Benjamin Burnley also had a problem with alcohol. Before the

release of Dear Agony, Ben had found out that his alcoholism had taken a

sever toll on his body and that he would have to choose to give it up. Luckily

he was able to do this, and it has benefited his health and also his music

writing abilities. (Wiederhorn)

 Jason Rach was born in 1981, and like Ben loved music since he was a

little child. Also in his childhood, Jason was born and raised to be a strong

Christian. Because of this much of the music that Jason grew up playing was

Christian oriented music. This led him to even start writing Christian rock

music. This helped propel him to an elite music writer, and even helped him

land a spot as the lead guitarist for the band Red. Although, at the prospect

of being the lead guitar player for Breaking Benjamin, Jason decided that he

would leave Red, but continue to help them by writing music for them. He

has continued to do this, and even at this time is responsible for writing one

of Reds greatest hits.

Aaron Burch was born in 1978 in Tennessee. While growing up, he

always wanted to be a guitar player, but with some loving encouragement

from his father Aaron began to play the bass. Luckily for him he became a

prominent bass player and teamed up with Benjamin Burnley to help form

Breaking Benjamin. He has helped make Breaking Benjamin become what it

is today, especially with his ability to help write music, sing backup vocals,

and help the chemistry for the band.

Shaun Foist, was the replacement drummer for Jeremy Hammel after

the falling out between Jeremy and Breaking Benjamin. Shaun Foist grew up

in a very musically oriented home. Shauns father was Bill Foist who played

in many rock bands during the 1970s and early 80s this caused for a young

Shaun to grow up idolizing the drums. He would often times go down into the

basement and stare in amazement at his fathers drum set. His father helped
him to learn the basics of drums and then let Shaun learn the drums on his

own. Shaun practiced day and night and loved every minute of it. Because of

this, Shaun toured with Alice Cooper, and Marilyn Manson as an opening

drum act for the two artists. This gave Shaun a deep love for drumming and

seized the opportunity to be the drummer for Breaking Benjamin. While

Shaun Foist is not traveling with Breaking Benjamin, he enjoys teaching drum

lessons. He actually has his own website where you can sign up for lessons

that he teaches you via Skype. I found this to be very interesting and great

for a man of his caliber to take the time to teach anyone that was interested.

Rain is a song that came out on Breaking Benjamins second album. It

was written by Benjamin Burnley and produced by David Bendeth. Under

Hollywood Records, this song became a hit! It was able to reach 23 on US

Mainstream Rock Billboard, this was an indicator at how well Breaking

Benjamin was making a name for itself.

Rain is one of Breaking Benjamins slower songs that carries a powerful

message. Rain is talking about the serious side of depression and how often

like rain, with depression, a dark cloud often continues to follow you and the

dark gloomy cloud is not quick to leave. In the song Ben (the singer) asks

often times for the rain to go away, unfortunately though it continues to stay

and be a prominent part of his life that he must learn to deal with this. I

found this so interesting, because Benjamin Burnley later revealed that

about the same time that he wrote this song, he was suffering with

depression and would often times try to drink himself to death. In this next
slide you will see how this song breaks down and how the music really brings

so much emotion to the forefront. (Bowar)

Diary of Jane, like Rain has some very deep emotional tones to it.

However, it is a masterpiece of a composition of music. Diary of Jane was

released in 2006 and reached number one on three rock charts. Because of

its success it certified double platinum in 2015. With those facts, it is easy to

see that Diary of Jane was by far the most successful single that Breaking

Benjamin has released.

Diary of Jane was written by Benjamin Burnley, and was released by

Hollywood Records. The song is about a man whose girlfriend/wife/love

interest has recently passed away. He stumbles across her diary and tries to

find himself buried in the pages. He searches through and sees the good and

bad times that they had. Some of the pages he has to look away or even

burn because there were times that he did not treat her like he should have.

However, he continues to look through the Diary of Jane looking for

confirmation that she loved him just as much as he loved her. This truly is a

powerful song that is both beautiful and meaningful. Not exactly what you

would expect from a hard rock band, but a song that shows how much of a

variety Breaking Benjamin has to offer. (Craft)

The last song that we will look at is Sooner or Later. This was released

on their first full album, Saturate in 2004. It reached 99 on the US Billboard

Hot 100, which was huge for Breaking Benjamin as they were still on their

path to relevance in the rock world. This song is much more rock than the
other two songs that we have listened to, but that shouldn'tt take away from

what Benjamin Burnley was trying to accomplish when he wrote this song.

This song is about relationships, not quite like the last song (Diary of

Jane) that we looked at. Rather, this song is about a couple that was madly in

love, but unfortunately one person in the couple found someone that they

love even more. Of course this left the loan man out (Ben Burnley) heart

broken. Rather than be angry and seek out revenge, the love that this person

has for his long lost love is still very much prevalent and real. So, Ben tells

his lost love that even though he is heartbroken that at any time she can call

his name and he will be there to help her out. Even if she throws her life

away, and she ends up hating the guy he will always love her and be there

for her. A very powerful song about love and the effects it can have on

people. (Miranda)

In these three songs, I hope that I have shown you just how enjoyable

Breaking Benjamin is to listen to. I hope that if you had any hesitations or

doubts about hard rock, that now you see a wider musical spectrum and can

see what a variety of artists truly has to offer in the scheme of it all. Thank

you.