Counting Crows

Counting Crows Artistfacts

  • 1991-
    Adam DuritzVocals, piano, harmonica1991-
    David BrysonGuitar, vocals1991-
    Dan VickreyGuitar1991-
    Matt MalleyBass, vocals1991-2005
    Charlie GillinghamKeyboards, vocals1991-
    Steve BowmanDrums1991-1994
    Ben MizeDrums1994-2002
    Jim BogiosDrums2002-
    David ImmerglückGuitar, vocals1999-
    Millard PowersBass2005-
  • They began in 1990 as just Adam Duritz and David Bryson playing acoustic shows together in the San Francisco area. Duritz later joined a band called the Himalayans, but continued to work with Bryson. In 1993, they formed Counting Crows and were signed to Geffen Records after playing some shows in Northern California.
  • T-Bone Burnett, much admired by Duritz, produced their first album. The connection was Bonnie Simmons, a San Francisco DJ who was friends with both Burnett and the band. She sent Burnett their demo and he agreed to produce it.
  • In an era when alternative rock and hip-hop were polarizing Top 40 radio, Counting Crows fit the pop middle ground with their traditional, rootsy sound. Many stations put them in hot rotation (along with another Crow: Sheryl), since they had a sound that was contemporary but unlikely to alienate core listeners.
  • At the dawn of the internet, Duritz was active on AOL message boards, where he would connect with fans (who didn't always believe it was him). He embraced social media, quickly amassing over a million followers on Twitter.
  • Counting Crows are big fans of the pre-new wave band Big Star, and once opened for Big Star under the name the Shatners. That was going to be the name of the band before they came up with Counting Crows.
  • The band's name is "Counting Crows" not "The Counting Crows." It refers to a phrase "Counting Crows" which means pointless, like "that is about as pointless as counting crow." In other words, Adam and his buddies are not Crows. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Robb - Pittsburgh, PA
  • Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz was born in Baltimore to parents who were both doctors. "We were always moving, so I didn't know a lot of people," he recalled to The Daily Telegraph, "so instead I was always reading - I read 180 books in my first grade and 218 in my second grade."
  • Duritz suffers from a mental condition called Dissociative Disorder. "It makes the world seem like it's not real, as if things aren't taking place," he explained to Men's Health.
  • Duritz dated several actresses after the band took off. He had never seen the show friends, but dated two actresses from the show: Courtney Cox and Jennifer Aniston. He was also linked to Mary Louise Parker, Samantha Mathis and Emmy Rossum. Christina Applegate was his landlord when he moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles, but they never dated.

    His most publicized relationship was with Aniston, but Adam claims that they were dating for just over two weeks, and the tabloid coverage was stifling. Still, Duritz claims that he prefers actresses because they understand his lifestyle and he admires their work. "I'm really attracted to the artist in them," he says.
  • Along with No Doubt and Green Day, they were one of the popular bands of the mid-'90s that didn't always release their hit songs as singles in America. This strategy kept songs like "Mr. Jones" off the Hot 100 (Billboard rules dictated that a song had to be released as a single to chart), but it goosed sales of their albums, which were driven by radio play.
  • When he was a student at the University of California, Duritz roomed with Dave Immergluck, who was in the band Camper Van Beethoven. He played guitar, mandolin and other instruments on Counting Crows debut album, and has been a steady contributor to the band - both touring and recording - ever since.
  • The band got a huge boost when they performed on Saturday Night Live on January 15, 1994. They were never invited back on the show, although Duritz was lampooned during the November 16, 2013 episode where one of the cast members portrayed him pitching a "worst cover songs" CD. The bit opens with a jukebox playing Counting Crows version of "Big Yellow Taxi," and the Duritz doppelgänger declaring, "Sometimes even the greatest singers make mistakes. What if you could get all those mistakes on one album?"
  • Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz tended bar at Los Angeles' famed Viper Lounge throughout the entirety of the band's peak of fame. He initially went there after a friend called and asked him to work the bar for the 21st birthday of supermodel Kate Moss. The lounge was to be closed to the public that night, and everyone attending would be a friend of Moss.

    Duritz had been feeling uncomfortable with his fame and the way people were reacting to him back home in Berkeley, and after bartending Moss' birthday he found himself feeling more at ease in Los Angeles than he had in a while. So he decided not only to make Los Angeles his home but also to continue working at the Viper.

    When Duritz shared this story during his 2021 appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, he didn't specify if he was on payroll, collecting tips, or doing it for free. Regarding his motives, he only joked, "It was less crowded on that side of the bar." We worked the Viper throughout the explosive fame that came from August and Everything After and while writing the band's second album, Recovering the Satellites, in a rented bungalow in Laurel Canyon.

Comments: 2

  • Phil from DallasCounting Crows is my band. This is the story of my life.
  • Dennis from So Cal DesertWhat does the SNL skit supposed to mean
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