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Ben Folds Five are just... so very... indescribably great.
If you haven't heard them (why are you here), you're 'missing the war'... uh, I mean missing a lot.
They are responsible for songs such as the blissful (one-dimensional) Kate, the bitterly triumphant One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces, the sad, slow, depressing Evaporated and the sarcastic, classic-from-the-moment-it-was-written Underground.
The band consists of Ben Folds on piano and vocals, Darren Jessee on the drums and Robert Sledge playing the bass guitar.
The band came together back in 1994 out of the wrecks of various semi-sucessful North Carlolina bands. They unfortunately enjoy making up stories about how the band actually started, so it's hard to find out the truth, but the general story usually goes something like the following:
Ben moved to Chapel Hill from Winston-Salem. While he was there, he ran into Darren (who he knew vaguely from other bands). They met up with Robert, and decided to make a band. They kept it piano/bass/drums because they wanted to do something different.
Other versions include the, uh... interesting variations, involving baby oil, Christian rock, gay discos and who knows what else. Needless to say, these are not true.
Their first single was the Jackson Cannery single, released only on 7" vinyl. The b-side was the demo of Eddie Walker, This Is Your Life. (Jackson Cannery appeared in a different version on the first album. The 7" version was released on Naked Baby Photos, along with different version of Eddie Walker.)
After their first single, they recorded a self-titled album on Caroline Records, an indie rock label. It was released in 1995. There were a few singles released off the album - Uncle Walter, Underground and Philosophy. Underground was a pretty big alternative hit worldwide.
For their second album, Whatever and Ever Amen, they created a studio in Ben's Chapel Hill home and recorded the album there. It was released in 1997 on Epic/550 Music, a division of Sony. There were lots of singles released off this album, including Brick, their biggest hit to date. They also released Kate and Battle of Who Could Care Less as singles, and also the alternative hits Song For The Dumped and One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces. In Australia, the Brick single went gold, and achieved position 12 in the Triple J Hottest 100 for 1998. This is a pretty good accomplishment, especially when you consider that position one was taken by the most overplayed song of 1998 - Offspring's Pretty Fly (For A White Guy).
Their third album was a compilation released to meet contract agreements with Caroline Records, called Naked Baby Photos. It was released in early 1998. It contained many previously unreleased demo versions, b-sides, live songs, and even one cover. There weren't any singles off this album.
In late 1998, Ben released a solo album under the name Fear Of Pop - Volume I. It contains the much publicised In Love, on which Star Trek's William Shatner performed spoken word over Ben's music. There was a vinyl single for In Love, containing remixes of the song. The other songs on the album are totally different to the style of Ben Folds Five, more electronically styled than Ben's usual piano thumping style. Click here to visit Fear of Pop's official website.
Their most recent album, the strangely titled The Unauthorised Biography Of Reinhold Messner, is much more ballady than any of the previous albums, but it still has its moments. It was released in 1999 on Epic/550 Music. The first single was Army, which enjoyed success on the Australian radio station Triple J , as have many of their previous songs, especially Brick and Song For The Dumped. The second single from The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, Don't Change Your Plans, is also enjoying moderate success on the airwaves.
Ben Folds Five are acclaimed for their energetic live shows. On at least one, if not more, occasions throughout the show, Ben will jump up and down on his piano, or even throw the stool at it. Robert jumps around a whole lot, and usually during Song For The Dumped, he'll rip out his bass lead and stick it into his palm just for the fun of it.
In interviews, they'll rarely answer a question truthfully, preferring instead to make up total lies and trying to fool the interviewers. They'll switch places with each other or even other reporters on occasion, and in one of their more famous TV appearances, on the Australian music show Recovery, they went in wigs and Ben wore a pink fur jacket. Their whole objective is to make up so many lies about themselves that no one really knows the truth, because they're trying to get away from the obvious questions and answers - why they're called five when there are only three, why they don't have a guitar in their band, and lately, who the hell Reinhold Messner is (he's a mountain climber).