I'ma let you finish but Ben Folds Five are one of the greatest bands of all time

I was considering doing an entire post dedicated to music that isn't so well known but is really good and well worth a listen, the focus being on the band Ben Folds Five, but then I realised that I love them too much to dedicate just a fifth of a post to them. My favourite bands are The Beatles and The Smiths, but Ben Folds Five are way up there and sometimes they're equal to The Beatles to me, which is a sweeping statement to make but that's how good they are, seriously.

I first listened to Ben Folds Five when I was about five years old and I think the song that stuck with me most at that age was Jackson Cannery, although I didn't know it was called that for years, I just called it the 'stop the bus' song because the first line of the song is 'stop the bus'. I majorly got into Ben Folds Five (opposed to just knowing a few songs) when I was about ten or eleven years old, and when I was sixteen I was lucky enough to see Ben Folds Five live as they reunited for a tour and a new album.

Ben Folds Five are by far one of the best bands of all time, Ben Folds' solo work is pretty awesome too. Ben Folds Five set out to prove you don't need a guitar for rock music and so the piano is the focus in their music, for a pianist obviously this is a selling point, but their songs are genuinely so so good. If you keep on reading, I'll give y'all a breakdown of my favourites (for which reasons) because I love all of their songs, they're one of the few groups who don't have any rubbish songs, it's really quite a strange thing.

I know Rockin' the Suburbs isn't a Ben Folds Five album, but I couldn't leave it out as it's probably one of my all-time favourite albums and it's still Ben Folds so y'know it's not a completely artist.

THE SAD SONGS:

1. Boxing
2. Brick
3. Smoke
4. Missing the War
5. Evaporated
6. Mess
7. Thank You for Breaking My Heart

THE 'I'M DOING ME SO P*SS OFF' SONGS:

1. Philosophy
2. Underground
3. One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces*
4. Draw a Crowd
5. Do It Anyway

THE SING IT OUT LOUD SONGS:

1. Jackson Cannery
2. Philosophy (again, seriously amazing amazing song)
3. Where's Summer B?
4. Underground (another repeat, versatile band man)
5. Sports & Wine
6. Uncle Walter
7. Best Imitation of Myself**
8. Video
9. The Last Polka
10. One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solem Faces
11. Song for the Dumped
12. Kate
13. Battle of Who Could Care Less
14. Army
15. Erase Me
16. Michael Praytor, Five Years Later
17. The Sound of the Life of the Mind
18. Draw a Crowd
19. Do It Anyway

I could pretty easily do the same thing for Ben Folds' solo work, but I think Ben Folds Five are marginally better at least for me and I wouldn't want to overwhelm you with good music.

Who's your favourite band/artist?

*If I ever became famous this would be the song I'd sing to my high school buddies
**Fun fact, my Tumblr username came from this song - see if you can spot it

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Ten things and ten blogs #3

one.

Big day in the beauty world for Bess - I bought my first MAC lipstick! I got it in the shade 'Taupe' and I think I'm going to get a lot of wear out of it, the cheapskate in me (and my purse) was telling me no but my heart was telling me yes.

two.
The lovely Hazel Hayes of the YouTube channel ChewingSand uploaded a video about voting which I think every person, mostly young people around 18-25, should watch. I only turned 18 in November but I've always been very annoyed at the prospect of people not using their vote, so if you're sceptical about the parties or if you're just not sure about whether to vote or not. Watch the video, at least you'll be a little bit more informed on how much your vote matters.

three.
I did my first outfit post (here) and it was honestly one of the most nerve-racking things I've ever done, I have a really really bad body image (for reasons I won't go into here, but may talk about in a future post) but I really wanted to start doing outfit posts on here to incorporate more of the fashion part of 'fashion, beauty and an existential crisis', so I braved it - personal goal achieved!

four.
Having not done a great deal of work through half-term (I did some, but does the homework ever end with A levels?) I decided I needed to just sit down and work, work, work. I caught up on the Great British Bake Off Comic Relief Special to pump myself up for work, and after about two hours of scrolling aimlessly through Tumblr, I decided to do some Philosophy homework whilst watching Cinderella. It's never been my favourite Disney film and it's one that I've neglected through the years, but I was in the mood for Disney and for some reason, in the mood for Cinderella, so I watched it and it was good. In the same day, I went on to watch Mulan and Mulan 2 so you can tell I'm living the high life here. The next day, I watched Emperor's New Groove too - there is no stopping me.

five.
Blur released the video for their new song Go Out because their new album The Magic Whip* has been announced to come out in April (are you as excited as I am???) I quite like the new song, it sounds similar to some of the other stuff they've done but a bit Oasis-esque which is ironic given that Oasis was Blur's rival in the Battle of Britpop. Perhaps not as catchy as Parklife or There's No Other Way, but I quite like it and I'm looking forward to the new album.

six.
I went to my friend's 18th birthday party, which was comprised of two sections. The first part was playing The Hunger Games in a big field, we were put into districts with one other person, I was in district 4. It was very muddy but a lot of fun. Then we went back to my friend's house and had pizza and listened to music and stuff, I'd be lying if I said there wasn't alcohol. I'd also be lying if I said I hadn't drank a lot but y'know #YOLO

seven.
I'll be one of the first to say that Glee used to be great, y'know it made fun of itself and it was generally really good up until about series 4-5. I didn't even finish series 5 although I was obsessed from series 1-3, seriously obsessed (we're talkin' 200% gleek), but series 6 is really really good. I wanted to watch it because it's the last series but I'm actually really enjoying it, plus you've got trans representation in it! Like seriously finally a big show talking about trans people - this is important folks. Plus Klaine and Britanna getting married - can I get a hells friggin yeah?

eight.
I'm sure you've all heard of what happened between Zendaya Coleman and Giulana Rancic but I just have to say again that Zendaya's response to Giulana's racist comments was so articulate and gosh just damn girl protect the POCs.

nine.
My Philosophy teacher provided an interesting twist on the existential crisis that I've been suffering with since the age of 12 today, he said existential crisis' happen as a result of the realisation that you have too much freedom and you have to make a decision regarding your life and, like in Bill and Ted, 'all we are is dust in the wind, dude' but my teacher said this can be a good thing, I forgot why, I couldn't see how my permanent state of existential crisis could be a good thing but y'know it's a different twist on it I guess.

ten.
I've fallen in love with Ben Folds Five all over again, like I never went off them and they've been one of my favourite bands for as long as I can remember and I'm pretty certain I listen to them every day, but I've been listening to their live performance albums on Spotify and their Naked Baby Photos album a lot and I just think they're so so good - if you've never listened to Ben Folds Five, do yourself a favour and give into the wimp rock piano music, you won't regret it.

blogs.
Makeup Savvy
Hello November
Dainty Ditsy
LJLV
Bethany Worrall
That Northern Girl
Bed in the Kitchen
Feel Bella
Rosie Louise Love
Ellabooxo

What's the best thing that's happened to you in the past couple of weeks?

*Not some sort of bondage situation, I'm guessing

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