MetaChat - Does anyone in the world hate Ben Folds?

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16 September 2007

Does anyone in the world hate Ben Folds? Okay, I must admit that the only thing I know about the guy is that he had a moderately popular song in the cashing-in-on-'alternative' '90s years. So I did some very cursory research.→[More:] Ben Folds had a group that simultaneously had a jokey name and was named after himself. He's recorded with William Shatner and 'Weird Al' Yankovic, and he also did four songs on the Over the Hedge soundtrack. He was the first person to broadcast a live concert via MySpace. He released a DVD of himself playing with a second-rate symphony orchestra (no offense to the fine people of Western Australia). During the finale of his concerts he often throws his stool at the piano (his piano stool, unfortunately).

What's to like?

post by: box at: 13:40 | 24 comments

He gets a pass from me for the Shatner album alone, which was hysterical.

posted by King of Prontopia 16 September | 13:43

I don't see anything to hate there.

Not much to like, but not to hate either.

posted by CitrusFreak12 16 September | 14:08

I can't actually remember a Ben Folds song so I can't really hate him or like him.

posted by arse_hat 16 September | 14:16

Eh, he's OK. The whole ironic shtick has worn thin over the years, but he knows how to write a song and play piano, I gotta admit.

posted by jonmc 16 September | 14:37

From what little I've listened to, there's not much to like. Boring music for boring college students who are preparing to head off to boring lives with boring jobs and boring families in boring suburbs. Which, granted, can be said about many other bands whose stickers adorn cars in campus parking lots across the country, and at least this little Ben Folds Five man isn't actively offensive.

posted by cmonkey 16 September | 14:40

Okay. I hate him. Always have. He never did it for me.

So there.

posted by Doohickie 16 September | 15:04

Also, he rips off Elton John waaaay too much, without Elton's sincerity.

posted by jonmc 16 September | 15:08

I like him a lot- more for his solo stuff than the Ben Folds Five era. "Rockin' The Suburbs" is some really excellent power-pop. (The whole album.)

posted by BoringPostcards 16 September | 15:11

His last album, Songs For Silverman, was patchy, but as BP says, Rockin' The Suberbs was a great album. The Ben Folds Five stuff was, on the whole, pretty strong as well.

posted by TheDonF 16 September | 15:16

I like Ben Folds. (With the natural exception of "Brick" of course.) His songs are fun to sing along to.

And I'm going to have to disagree with you, cmonkey. I live a boring life in the boring suburbs, but the vast majority of the people in my area/demographic have no freakin' idea who Ben Folds is.

posted by jrossi4r 16 September | 16:02

I hated the name of the band. I didn't realize at first that "Folds" is his last name, so I would read it as a verb, and every time I heard or saw it my brain went "five what? Folds five WHAT?"

posted by JanetLand 16 September | 16:13

I haven't heard much from him, but what I heard sounded like Elton John or Jerry Lee Lewis on a mediocre night.

posted by mischief 16 September | 16:47

I really like Brick.

posted by seanyboy 16 September | 17:14

I didn't get Ben Folds until I heard his cover of "Bitches Ain't Shit" - which I quite like. I like a few of his songs and some of his other covers.

posted by fluffy battle kitten 16 September | 17:32

I like his music. He's always sounded like kinda a jerk though.

posted by grouse 16 September | 18:28

My reaction to the entire Ben Folds oeuvre:

"Okay, ha. ha. I get it. Next."

There's not enough time to devote any serious listening hours to this guy.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 16 September | 18:54

His own music: meh. However, he gets a pass from me for getting Shatner to cover "Common People". That was borderline genius.

posted by bmarkey 16 September | 20:02

I think the problem isn't that people don't have much to hate him FOR. His music and personality don't inspire deep enough emotion in people for them to feel extremes about him. He's... fine. Palatable. He doesn't inspire ire or nausea. He's no Avril Levigne or Slim Shady.

And also? Yep, what everyone else said about Common People. I just listened to that today. Can't help myself: I still love it.

posted by miss lynnster 16 September | 20:13

Almost the whole album with he did with Shatner was brilliant. His other music, that I've heard, hasn't done much for me.

posted by DarkForest 16 September | 20:53

What DarkForest said. Has Been and especially "Common People" are fantastic, the uber-ironic "Bitchs Aint Shit" also, but I can't think of anything else by him I've really liked.

He's no Jack Johnson, though, and for that we thank him.

He really must have been pretty influential in the rebirth of the melodic pop song (along with a few others like Jeff Buckley and Jon Brion), giving us Sufjan Stevens and Jonathon Coulton among others.

posted by stilicho 16 September | 23:14

The person who posted that to AskMe must belong to some off-shoot of Opus Dei which demands self-flagellation through internet forums. To quote a comment from the original thread:

You can be assured that anytime you post the question: 'Does my favorite band suck?' on the internet, someone will answer 'yes'.

I always cringe when someone brings up a band, movie or book I like on Metafilter because I know someone will come along to say it sucks and that I suck for liking it. It's painful. I tried to avoided a recent thread about Ted Leo because I couldn't stand to see the random "Ted Leo? Are you serious?" style of comments. Thankfully it didn't happen in that particular thread.

posted by mullacc 16 September | 23:22

To be fair to Sufjan Stevens, he's a one-off. An anomaly. There are only two other people who write similar music (minimalism giants Steven Reich and Phillip Glass) although what they do with said style is "concert music" rather than "popular music".

It's unfair to mention him in the same breath as Folds. Folds, at his best, is a rocknroller who beats on a piano. Stevens, at his best, is a minimalist composer for small orchestra (who happens to sing).

posted by chuckdarwin 17 September | 05:56

A couple people I know really like him. What I've heard, I didn't much like. I thought it was a little precious, not to mention whitebread.

posted by matildaben 17 September | 09:53

I've never actually listened to his music. This might have something to do with the fact that his name brings to mind the image of a foreskin. (why? I have no idea)

posted by pieisexactlythree 17 September | 14:28

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