How?
Name Dropping (Update Jan 2003)
When describing any album, musician, or concert, comparisons are inevitable. In an effort to describe exactly how Ben Folds does or does not sound, a lot of names have been thrown around.
One musician is referenced more than any other, despite Ben's insistence that he has not been influenced by this individual:
Folds has been described as 'the Billy Joel of the Nineties, but with irony'...
– Observer, UKHis attempt to make rock 'n' roll without guitars was perhaps doomed from the start, achieving only an alternative-Billy-Joel style...
– Guardian, UKIn other words, if we're all in the mood for a melody, and Folds will still have us feeling all right.
– Creative Loafing...Billy Joel on a lot of drugs...
– ExponentBen Folds seems almost like a Gen-X Billy Joel (and I mean that in a good way) in the respect that he is above all a song writer.
– The OracleThat's right, Billy Joel. Ben is compared positively or negatively to Billy Joel a whopping 91 times in the archive! The score keeps on rising, because even when they're not stating that Ben sounds like Billy Joel, they are saying he does not sound like Billy or rehashing that he is often compared to Billy.
The first runner up: Interviewer Robert Pally of Fufkin.com who ends his interview by asking Ben a series of questions about Billy Joel. ("I read that he used to be a boxer!")
And the winner is...
Aaron Scott of Slant Magazine who manages to mention Joel seven times in one album review, plus at least one more implicit reference. That's a lot of Billy Joels!
Don't be fooled; Billy Joel is not the only basis of comparison or contrast. The following is a list of anyone and everyone referenced (in the archive) in an attempt to describe Ben's sound:
91 Billy Joel 6 Elvis Costello 2 Blink 182 63 Elton John 5 Barry Manilow 2 Harry Chapin 32 Randy Newman 5 Pete Townsend/The Who 2 Chicago 29 Brian Wilson/Beach Boys 4 John Cougar Mellencamp 2 Ben Kweller 19 Todd Rundgren 4 Bob Dylan 2 Jeff Lynne 15 Joe Jackson 4 Jellyfish 2 Nirvana/Kurt Cobain 10 Burt Bacharach 4 "punk bands" 2 Cole Porter 10 Paul Simon 4 Weird Al Yankovich 2 John Prine 10 Weezer 3 Pavement/Stephen Malkmus 2 Britney Spears 9 broadway/off-broadway 3 ELO 2 Elliot Smith 9 Jerry Lee Lewis 3 Fountains of Wayne 2 R&B 8 Queen 3 Vince Guaraldi 2 The Turtles 7 Barenaked Ladies/ Steven Page 3 Little Richard 2 Bernie Taupin 7 The Beatles 3 Bruce Springsteen 2 Rufus Wainwright 7 Paul McCartney 2 The Beastie Boys At this point, things get a little obscure. There is at least one mention in the archive to each of the following:
"1970s pop musicians who (a) played the ivories, (b) wrote songs about odd people and odd situations and (c) weren't Billy Joel." Abba (Benny Andersson) Dashboard Confessional Alicia Keys "rock" Air Supply Ray Davies BB King The Spice Girls Tori Amos Celine Dion Carole King Squeeze The B-52s The Doobie Brothers Liberace "soul" The Backstreet Boys Nick Drake Dave Matthews John Phillip Souza Beethoven "easy listening" Natalie Merchant Phil Spector Blues Traveler Steve Eggers Joni Mitchell Scott Stapp (Creed) "boy bands" Eminem Mormus Jim Steinman Jim Brickman Bill Evans N Sync Sting Jackson Browne The Flaming Lips New Pornographers Sugar Ray "cabaret" "folk" New Radicals Superchunk Chas and Dave Foo Fighters Harry Nilsson Supertramp Cherry Poppin' Daddies Frente Laura Nyro They Might Be Giants Alex Chilton Gershwin Gilbert O'Sullivan Thin Lizzy Harry Connick Jr. Glen Gould Pee Shy Tin Pan Alley Billy Corgan Jimmy Hendrix Oscar Peterson Velvet Crush Counting Crows The Hollies Tom Petty Loudin Wainwright Cristina Buddy Holly Glen Phillips Wheatus The Cure Bruce Hornsby The Pixies Wilco Evan Dando "indie rock" Prince Hawksley Workman Hal David Journey Rage Against the Machine Neil Young Warren Zevon All that, plus "1970s pop musicians who (a) played the ivories, (b) wrote songs about odd people and odd situations and (c) weren't Billy Joel."
The comparisons don't stop with other musicians. Ben is compared to:
- Writers such as Sherwood Anderson and Kurt Vonnegut
- Poets such as Edgar Lee Masters (2x)
- Filmmakers such as David Lynch and Baz Luhrmann & "a Michael Moore film festival"
- Television shows such as Hill Street Blues and Sesame Street
- Actors such as Jeff Bridges in Starman and Keanu Reeves doing Hamlet
- Plays such as Waiting for Godot
- Musicals such as Grease, Rent, and Cats
- An altar boy (2x)
- The energizer bunny
This is perhaps the most annoying comparison:
Like Kevin Spacey as the suburban dad in American Beauty, Suburbs begins to drag a bit at the halfway point.
– Niner (UNC-Charlotte)
benfolds.info
