[paddy_m]

Ben probably wouldn't be offended by that. He described Ben Folds Five as "punk rock for sissies". Further he said that he was always compared to Billy Joel, but hadn't heard him until he was much older, he always cited Elton John as an influence.

[spudlyo]

Feh, more music about middle class white boy pain. I like his older stuff, but producers with computers fix all his shitty tracks these days.

Seriously though, it's often fraught with peril to try to compare two artists directly, especially across time, styles, and genres. For me, I just try to weigh how much enjoyment their respective catalogs have given me, and I've enjoyed the hell out of both Ben Folds and Beach Boys records. It's all good.