Ben Folds Five: The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner

NOW THAT they have your attention, Ben Folds Five want you to feel their pain. Although the Chapel Hill, North Carolina, drums-bass-piano combo rose through the indie-rock ranks as dweeby wise-asses, the bordering-on-novelty schtick was merely a crowd-pleasing diversion from the band's true calling: contemplative excursions into meticulously crafty balladry. Proof positive was 1997's monstro crossover hit ‘Brick’, where Folds wore his Elton John obsession prominently on his black turtleneck.