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.


Before Emailing Me...

Most of the mail I get is from people asking questions that are already answered on this site, or are things I can't help you with, so please check the following first. :)
  1. Are you emailing me to ask for information without first reading the FAQ? If so, then please read the FAQ first.
  2. Are you emailing me to ask me about the availability sheet music or chord charts, or help playing a particular song?  If so, then please see the sheet music page instead.
  3. Do you want to know when BF5 is playing in your town?  See Frank's list of tour dates instead.
  4. Are you writing to ask for "more information" about the band? If so, please consider that if I had the information you're looking for, it would already be on this site.
  5. Do you want contact info for the band members?  I don't have it. Celebrities obviously don't make their contact info easy to find.
  6. Do you want me to relay some important message of yours to the band? (Such as, "Let them know that Petey in Oshkosh thinks they're really great!")  Even if I had some kind of special connection with the band (I don't), I wouldn't care to act as the world's personal messenger.

If you don't fall into the above categories, then here is my contact page.