Changes in Band Lineups and the Ubiquity of Songwriters

Search the music of Ben Burnley, Jasen Rauch, and Rob Graves at www.freegalmusic.com with your library card number and PIN.

Major hard rock act Breaking Benjamin went through an unfortunate situation a few years ago – while on personal hiatus in 2011, lead singer and founder Ben Burnley sued his own bassist, Mark Klepaski, and guitarist, Aaron Fink, for collaborating with another artist in remixing an early Breaking Benjamin track, “Blow Me Away”, apparently without his permission. What happened next was the disintegration of one of the most popular mainstream rock acts today: Burnley eventually fired his two bandmates and gained complete control of the rights to the band after the lawsuit ended in 2013.

Already, the many, many Breaking Benjamin fans around the world were pretty saddened to hear the news that half of their favorite band had been essentially fired by their own lead singer.

We had hopes that the true band would stay together. Chad Szeliga, the drummer, stuck around for a little bit longer after that, promising the return of Breaking Benjamin, but left of his own accord in 2013 after Burnley had been given exclusive rights. The reason he gave was for “creative differences”.

After that second shock, we all wondered if Breaking Benjamin was over. Or, more correctly, how could this not be the end of Breaking Benjamin? Could they ever come back?

Legends, Icons and Rebels

The other day I came across a terrific coffee table book in the library. "Legends, Icons and Rebels" covers amazing artists like Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin, The Beatles, Louis Armstrong, Bob Marley, Buddy Holly, Joni Mitchell, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, Curtis Mayfield, Billie Holiday, Little Richard, Hank Williams, Frank Sinatra, Marvin Gaye, Carole King, Sam Cooke, Louis Jordan, The Beach Boys, Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, Patsy Cline, Otis Redding, Nat King Cole, Stevie Wonder, and Bob Dylan.

The book comes with two CD'S that feature all of the aforementioned artists. The layout and look of the book is fantastic! Very vibrant and cool. Kind of like a picture book for adults. This is the type of book perfect for a rainy day like today. To order this book , Please click here.

Thanks for reading.

-Fred

Faithless on Freegal

Faithless was a successful and much-acclaimed UK dance group active in the 1990s and 2000s. Fronted by Maxi Jazz, one of the smoothest rappers you're likely to hear, Faithless produced electronic music highlighted by intelligent lyrics which took on contemporary political and social issues, at times stirring up some controversy.  In 2006 MTV refused to play the video for "Bombs," a single released by the band which was pointedly critical of US and UK military involvement in Iraq.  A trilogy of animated videos Faithless released in support of their last album, The Dance, also generated some internet buzz with its erotic and psychedelic imagery.

During their 15 year career, Faithless frequently used noteworthy vocalists as a counterpoint to Maxi Jazz's rapping, among them Boy George, Cat Power, Dido and Robert Smith.  The instrumentation in Faithless's music was created largely by Rollo Armstrong (Dido's older brother) along with a female DJ (a rare thing in the male-dominated world of the disk jockey) named Sister Bliss.  Since they recorded all but their final album on Sony (or one of its affiliates), Freegal offers us a nearly complete collection of their music.  Read on for a quick tour of highlights from the band's releases on our download service.