Spin Top 40


May 1998 issue of Spin


Ben Folds Five achieved position 40 in the Spin Top 40. I'm not sure if that's good or bad - good if they made it or bad that they only just made it. The only other band I found of interest in the whole thing was Belle and Sebastian, who were somewhere in the 30's, but I can't remember precisely where. Ani DiFranco was also somewhere in there, nearer to the top I think.


The piano man moves from indie culthood to those nice black turtlenecks

Spin: Are you ready to break the champagne now that-after playing small clubs for a decade- Whatever and Ever Amen, your second album, has gone Gold?

Ben Folds: I don’t even know - I’ve been on vacation on Australia. It was pretty cool to come back and have a couple of plaques. I’m just trying to decide what I want to do next.

Isn’t that the decision already made? Hasn’t your hit single Brick made you a burgenoing pop star, turtlenecked behind a piano bench in your video, an unslick heir to Elton John and Billy Joel?

That’s what I’m trying to think about now. Everyone’s got their calling about what they’re supposed to do, but I can’t tell if that’s what I’m supposed to do-or if I have a choice. Do I let people down and go score independent films? Can I do that?

You could. Don’t you like performing?

Yeah, I do. And then I hate it. It feels like you’re pursuing a political career out there on the road. Like you’re going out and garnering support somehow.

There must be benefits from waging that campaign.

I make a living. And I’ve always felt at home with a bit of leadership thing going on.

Ben Folds, student council president?

No, I was never into stuff like that. But I usually end up the king of my own little room.

People picture you sitting there, jamming Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, right?

I probably couldn’t name five pieces of music by either. I appreciate the form and craft of that stuff, but it’s never been something I sat down listened to.

What did you listen to as a kid?

I grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and my father restored houses. A lot of times he worked on rental properties in the bad section of town. At the end of the month, people would just fucking leave-they’d be, like, gone. There’d be no furniture, but a bunch of records would be laying on the floor. Inevitably, they’d be Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, James Brown, Sam and Dave, Ike and Tina Turner. That is all I ever heard, plus some more modern stuff, like Earth, Wind and Fire and Sly Stone.

No Jerry Lee Lewis?

Maybe it’s a generational thing, but when people would give me one of his singles, I’d say, "Well, that’s okay. But ‘Gratitude’ by Earth, Wind and Fire kicks my ass."

Your own music isn’t R&B-slick.

I imply a lot of bass, drums, guitar, and other kinds of loud instruments when I sit down at the piano. I tend to create a lot of noise with my left hand-technically wrong notes, not harmonically correct.

Do you always wear a turtleneck when you play?

No, I hate ‘em. I’ve never worn a turtleneck, except for that "Brick" video. They feel like shit.