The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner

The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner is the third studio album by Ben Folds Five, released April 27, 1999. It was their last studio album before breaking up in 2000. The title of the album refers to a name used, as teenagers, by the band's drummer Darren Jessee and his friends, on fake IDs. The band were unaware of the existence of the real Reinhold Messner, the first man to climb Mount Everest solo, and the first to do so without the aid of bottled oxygen, until work on the album had already progressed; they were informed of his existence in 1999 during an interview with DJ Bruce Warren of WXPN radio. In the record's liner notes, Messner is thanked for his understanding and cooperation. He later contacted the band to let them...