A Salute to Ben Folds

Today marks the second of five installments of Letters to Pilky's first Recognition Week, where we here at LtP recognize those who, well, deserve recognition.


The greatest rock pianist since Billy Joel is this man:

Insert joke about illegal pirating of music here.

Ben Folds is a man that I don't think gets enough love.  With guitar-based music dominating the rock scene for most of the '80s and '90s, Ben Folds has been able to have quite the career through his piano-based music (which my iTunes tells me is either Soft Rock (Rockin' the Suburbs), Rock (Songs for Silverman, Way to Normal), or Alternative & Punk (Supersunnyspeedgraphic), but I'm pretty sure I'd throw Jazz in there too).  Not only is he unique in this regard, but he has also managed to avoid conformity in pretty much every regard.  Folds is quoted as saying that, "Rock and roll is - and should be - a kid's place," and from my experience as a fan I can say pretty confidently that he has stuck to this statement throughout his career.  (In fact, his music keeps getting more and more "out there," as opposed to heading towards any one distinct subgroup in the rock and roll field)  The only other artist that I would group in the alternative/rock/soft rock piano field would be Ben Kweller, and he and Ben Folds collaborated (along with Ben Lee) on a tour through Australia in what may go down in history as the second greatest "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" musical effort, only behind Billy Joel and Elton John's recent tour.  They labeled themselves "The Bens" (so uncreative it almost seems creative) and even put out an EP, labeled (wait for it)...(seriously, this is brilliant)..."The Bens" (I know, incredible).  All kidding aside though, I dare you to dislike this song: Bruised - The Bens.  That's our boy on bass in the beginning, Ben Lee on guitar, and Kweller on the drums, and they sound pretty good, but when Folds shifts to the piano, to quote AnotherRainyDay11's (could they have chosen a more emo name?) comment, "it is pure magic."

Seemed like a good time for a watercolor.  Props to Jay Montgomery, whoever you are.

The cool thing about piano music is that there are so many more options than a guitar.  You can play up to ten individual notes, or one or two chords and a note, or two chords, or one power chord, all at the same time.  Plus there's a huge range, and you can have a definite melody while still providing a harmonic bass line.  Killer, brah.  (Speaking of such, Ben Folds would probably appreciate this.  Otherwise, how could he possibly explain this video?)  Anyway, this harmony is what Folds' music is all about.  He rarely has exceptionally powerful lyrics and even though he has the potential to turn into a jam artist, he hasn't taken advantage of that.  Start listening to this: Late - Ben Folds.  There are about 4-5 things going on musically all at once.  Folds voice, the bass, the bass line on the piano, the piano melody, and even the drums, which seem to be doing more than accompanying him, all create some serious depth to the song.  Now try this one:  Army - Ben Folds (Live).  He even describes the multiple musical lines going on at once at the beginning of the song.  "But Young William," you say, "Every band has multiple instruments.  How can you say that Ben Folds is any better than anyone else?"  Good question.

Here's Ben Folds' answer:  "White people don't sing together very often, and when they do, it's about the celebrity of the song.  The singing at my shows is about harmony."

Black people, on the other hand, do sing together well, and often, and with stellar harmony.

 Here's my answer:  Ben Folds puts everything together at once.  While other bands might have great solos with not much going on in the background, Folds has figured out a style that seems to combine a bunch of solos.  Listen to this: Fair - Ben Folds Five.  Besides having one of the best album covers ever, it has a gazillion different things that by themselves could all be solid solos, but they're all layered on top of each other.  There's piano, bass, jazz drumming, a fricken xylophone, Folds lead singing, the background harmony singing, electric guitar, and probably some other stuff that I missed.  If you focus on a different instrument every time the song will still be interesting every time, which is very cool.  This is why Ben Folds is a type of utility artist.  His music can be played in just about any situation, can be featured or be background noise, and falls into a bunch of genres, so it's really hard to dislike everything that he does.  Very few artists are this versatile.  I'm not a great musical historian, but I'd consider myself decent, and I believe that there was nobody like Ben Folds before him, and I have a hard time believing that anyone will be able to replicate his style after him.  He's very free-flowing, doesn't really care what other people think about him (Always Someone Cooler Than You - Ben Folds), and is a master of about 47 different instruments (not really, but close).  So here's to you, Ben Folds.  Thanks for not conforming.  Thanks for not giving a shit about what we think.  Thanks for bringing back music in an age of synthetic pop.  Most of all, thanks for reminding us that, "the piano is just a different animal.  It's expensive, it's big, it's heavy, and it doesn't fit in the mix easily.  Everyone grew up with a piano in their living room, so rocking out on the piano was accessible - it wasn't an upper-class thing.  Now pianos have become very much a piece of furniture."  Hopefully there's some young bespectacled rebel doing just that right now.