The geek shall inherit the Earth, and while many heart-on-sleeve composers opt for the overly schmaltzy approach to their music that instantly translates into phones aloft and swaying back and forth, former Nashville resident Ben Folds never subscribed to that approach, which may mean that although he’s never going to soundtrack any NFL playoff broadcasts, he’ll have a dedicated fanbase. While his music can be overly schmaltzy at times, like “The Luckiest,” which, unsurprisingly, found its way into a Richard Curtis movie, there’s always been that duality between him and his output. Firmly starting as a sardonic people observer with unique character studies from his first album with Ben Folds Five, his sense of introspection took an interesting turn when his biggest hit with The Five, “Brick,” an autobiographical tale of undergoing an abortion at 16. It seems that this was what the masses demanded.
Look on many music torrent sites, and he’s there, but never in the same league as the big hitters. If anything, Ben Folds’ career has been representative of any artist playing the long game. Having been around long enough to influence countless artists who have gone on to sell double or even triple his best efforts (even before selling out stadiums, John Mayer was a devoted Ben Folds Five advocate who was actually that annoying kid who sold counterfeit copies of live gigs before the internet became a thing)! Yet he never hit the mainstream like he should have. Perhaps this is because a lot of his output can, for better or worse, be considered derivative of the “man with the piano” that came before him. While there is a throughline to Todd Rundgren or indeed the very earliest Elton John output, this is an unfair comparison and, in fact, should be dismissed entirely. He is a man who has forever followed his nose and hasn’t had major record company backing to facilitate it.
It’s not uncommon to see him leading songwriting workshops or taking up a position as the artistic advisor for the Kennedy Center. For many musicians who are stuck with minimal streaming numbers and are grinding their teeth at the prospect of having to do a real job, he is someone who is the very definition of someone who has done everything you can to make a fully-fledged living in music. When the streaming numbers are minimal, he’s always found a way to do what he cares about.
If anything, he is the talisman for the underachiever, and while this is somewhat relying on his mid-’90s shtick, he has become the elder statesman for the geek who is still playing the first three Ben Folds Five efforts and never moved on, but you can also see his inherent playfulness in countless bands that followed. However, his palette has continued to expand because he followed his nose. Working with chamber pop collective yMusic, making appearances on talent shows, and even releasing an album of acapella efforts, there’s not been the sign of someone trying to earn a crust but someone genuinely interested in every aspect of music. And this is something that musicians who have spent countless hours at home with a beat throbbing from a machine can learn a lot from. Popular? Never. Enduring? Definitely.
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