Breaking Benjamin
We Are Not Alone
Hollywood
The following is not an actual conversation between the bandmates of Breaking Benjamin. It is just what I think went on during the recording of their second album, We Are Not Alone.
“Okay guys we’re back to record our second album, what should it sound like?” “Well, how about we make it sound just like our last album?” “That was the plan, but we can’t be too blatant about it.” “How about you go find some out-of-work, yet prominent songwriter and do some writing together, since you are the lead singer and songwriter and we are essentially session players.” “Brilliant! Who should I get?” “How about Billy Corgan? You could create something similar to the Pumpkins in their heyday.” “I was thinking more like the aftermath of Zwan.” “Ok, whatever. You are the Benjamin in Breaking Benjamin.”
Six months later:
“Well Billy and I wrote two songs, the melancholy ‘Forget It’ and the infinitely sad ballad ‘Rain.’ What do you think?” “Slow and boring.” “These are lame. But since Corgan can help us sell records, we’ll use them.”
Six months after that:
“All right, we now have the two songs Billy and I did, the lead single ‘So Cold’ and the straight-ahead nu-metal ‘Follow.’ What do you think?” “I think we better hurry up and get this album out.” “Okay, let’s throw in a few more songs that are darker and have unnecessary yelling, so our fans don’t think that we’ve gone soft.” “How many?” “How about seven? Eight if you include ‘So Cold,’ the only decent song besides that ballad ‘Rain,’ which has lyrics a preschooler could have written. How much did we pay Corgan again?” “Can it. If we make the album roughly 40 minutes and throw on some extras for the computer, then we can justify the $17.98 price.” “Fantastic, we can sucker our fans into buying something worthless and the extras will make it seem like they got a bargain.” “Fabulous, let’s throw together the majority of this album.”
And that is my take on the making of Breaking Benjamin’s generic, slapped together sophomore effort, We Are Not Alone.
Breaking Benjamin: http://www.breakingbenjamin.com
