Michael Bluejay's guide to

I made this logo as a gift for the band. It reads the same upside-down as rightside up.
I was proud that when I gave it to Robert at a show in Apr. 1997, he remarked, "That's fucked up!"
Contact  |  BF5 home  |  Michael Bluejay home

Last update: September 26, 2012

This site was selected as the MacroMusic
Noteworthy Site of the day on Feb. 12, 1999.

Ben Folds Five news

Sept. 2012.  The newly-reunited Ben Folds Five releases a new album, The Sound of the Life of the Mind, and launches their first tour in over a decade.  The Magical Armchair has the tour dates.

Stuff on this site

Ben Folds Five FAQ

MP3 of me sitting in with BF5 on "Best Imitation of Myself"

• Order albums and sheet music

Chord charts for some songs

• My lousy MIDI recording of Best Imitation

Similarities between BF5 songs and other songs

• A Who's Who Guide to Ben Folds Five

Interviews with the band from the 1990s

• BF5 Haikus

• Picture of my BF5 tattoo

• The piano market (piano stocks)

• BF5's shows in Austin

• SXSW 1996 concert photos

Other sites

The band's official site

Magical Armchair (well-known fansite)

Wikipedia article about the band

Lyrics at BestLyrics.com

Misheard lyrics

Ragogna interview, Oct. 2012. Excellent interview with Ben; touches on some technical aspects of the music as well as the meaning behind some of the lyrics.

BF5 All Together Now. Japanese fan site, in English & Japanese.  Doesn't seem to have been updated since 2000, but has some cool GIF animations of the band.

The Strangest Thing.  This large fansite died in 2002, but here's the archive.

1997 interview

Hotel Lights.  Darren Jessee's critically-acclaimed other band

ChuckFolds.com.  Ben's brother's site about his own music

Phil's Finest Hour was an Australian band with a BF5-like sound.  Unfortunately they seemed to have disappeared, and I can't find any recordings of them listed anywhere.

Ben Folds Five timeline

1966. Ben born on Sept. 12.

Mid-1980s.  If the song "Army" is truly autobiographical, Ben works at Chik-Fil-A, contemplates joining the army, and plays in an unsuccessful band.

~1987-90.  Ben forms Majosha with Millard Powers.  Band wins a "Battle of the Bands" contest.

1994. Band forms in Chapel Hill, NC, with Folds, Darren Jessee on drums, and Robert Sledge on bass guitar.

1995. Debut eponymous album on Caroline Records. "Underground" is a semi-hit single.

1996. The band gets a large following in Japan, courtesy of a Japanese TV drama in which one of the characters is a big fan, but gets a lot less attention the U.S.

1997. Second album, Whatever and Ever Amen. The single "Brick" launches the band to stardom, and "Song for the Dumped" and "Battle of Who Could Care Less" hits the Top 25.

1998. Ben releases his first solo album, Fear of Pop, though Ben Folds Five is still going strong.

1999. Third album, The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner. "Army" charts in the Top 20.

2000.  The band breaks up amicably in October.  The bandmembers' projects post-breakup aren't detailed here; instead see the Wikipedia articles about Ben, Darren, and Robert.)

2005. A remastered and expanded edition of Whatever and Ever Amen is released, including seven new bonus tracks.

2008. The band reunites for a single show in Chapel Hill. (NME)

2011. The band reunites to record three new songs for the compilation album The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective.

2012. The band releases their fourth studio album, The Sound of the Life of the Mind, and begins their first tour in over a decade.


The Piano Market

Ben's Pianos. Ben started playing a Baldwin in BF5, then moved on to a Steinway starting with Whatever and Ever Amen.  Both of these companies were publicly traded in the U.S. stock market, but Baldwin eventually faced financial problems and got de-listed.

Here's how piano stocks were doing compared to the overall market at the end of 2000:

 Price on Price on
1/1/00 12/21/00 % change
Baldwin $8.50 $2.38 -72%
Steinway $20.63 $17.94 -13%
S&P 500 (market avg) 1469.25 1274.86 -13%

Current Prices.  Yahoo has the current stock price of Steinway.

Baldwin tanks.  AFter I made the table above, Baldwin did even worse, going to $1.50 a share in 2-01, and then filed for bankruptcy protection in Summer 2001! Here's the chart through late 2000:

Bluejay's Investments. I invested in both Baldwin & Steinway and made money on both of them. (I was even able to make money on Baldwin because I bought on the dips and sold on the surges.)

On 4-20-00, I bought 450 shares of Steinway at $19.81/share. On 6-20-00 after the price plumetted, I bought another 600 shares at $14.94. I sold both batches in late summer for about $18.10/share, losing $814 on the first batch, and making $1894 on the second batch, for a profit of $1080.

On 11-20-00 I bought Baldwin at $2.75 and sold just one week later at $3.75! This netted me about $1200 after several small losses I'd had with Baldwin (buying and then selling when the price went down a little.) If I'd held onto Baldwin I would have lost my ass -- it went down to $1.50 on 2-01, and then eventually Baldwin was de-listed.  Ouch.

Listen to free samples

Listen to the samples of the entire Ben Folds Five catalog on iTunes for free

Ben Folds Five (1995)
1. Jackson Cannery
2. Philosophy
3. Julianne
4. Where's Summer B.?
5. Alice Childress
6. Underground
7. Sports & Wine
8. Uncle Walter
9. Best Imitation of Myself
10. Video
11. The Last Polka
12. Boxing

Whatever & Ever Amen (1997)
1. One Angry Dwarf & 200 Solemn Faces
2. Fair
3. Brick
4. Song for the Dumped
5. Selfless, Cold and Composed
6. Kate
7. Smoke
8. Cigarette
9. Steven's Last Night in Town
10. Battle of Who Could Care Less
11. Missing the War
12. Evaporated

Bonus tracks: (on the re-released version) 13. Video Killed the Radio Star
14. For All the Pretty People
15. Mitchell Lane
16. Theme from Dr. Pyser
17. Air
18. She Don't Use Jelly
19. Song for the Dumped (Japanese)

The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner (1999)
1. Narcolepsy
2. Don't Change Your Plans
3. Mess
4. Magic
5. Hospital Song
6. Army
7. Your Redneck Past
8. Your Most Valuable Possession
9. Regrets
10. Jane
11. Lullabye

The Sound of the Life of the Mind (2012)
1. Erase Me
2. Michael Praytor, Five Years Later
3. Sky High
4. The Sound of the Life of the Mind
5. On Being Frank
6. Draw a Crowd
7. Do it Anyway
8. Hold That Thought
9. Away When You Were Here
10. Thank You for Breaking My Heart

Ben, Darren, and Robert rode bicycles in the Uncle Walter video.  If you ride a bike, check out my guide to How to Not Get Hit By Cars.


Ben told me in 1998 that Darren Jessee (BF5's drummer) is a vegetarian.  Vegetarianism and even veganism are a lot more common now than they were in the 90s, so props to Jessee for being ahead of the curve on that one.  Other vegetarian musicians include as Paul McCartney, Prince, Madonna, Natalie Merchant, and a host of others (including many you've never heard of, like me).  Get the scoop on meatless diets on my Vegetarian Guide site.