Songfacts®:

• The lead single from DMB's Crash album, this funky number examines greed and wastefulness, when too much is never enough. Matthews explained to The Boston Globe: "It's where excess has taken over, where your appetite has taken control of the narrator. As opposed to enjoying life, it's devouring life, which seems to be a common theme in the world - certainly in America, where we do just that - eat too much, drink too much, consume too much, and preach too much."
• DMB typically play their songs live long before they release them. They introduced "Too Much" in concert late in 1995 and released it on their album Crash in April 1996. When the band formed, Dave Matthews wrote most of the songs solo, but that album had songwriting contributions from all the members - "Too Much" is credited to all five of them.
• "Too Much" is a good description for how some listeners felt in the summer of 1996 when the song was getting lots of airplay. Soon after the band formed in 1991 they amassed a bunch of original songs that they honed at their many concerts. They released an independent album in 1993 and put out their first major-label album, Under the Table and Dreaming, in 1994 on RCA Records. The label deployed the songs "What Would You Say" and "Ants Marching" to radio stations in 1995. Pop radio stations were soft targets - in an effort to please as many listeners as possible ("pop" is short for "popular," after all), many of them avoided hip-hop and rock, which left them with the likes of Sheryl Crow, Hootie & the Blowfish and... Dave Matthews Band. Program directors loved the DMB songs because they were upbeat and catchy, not likely to turn anyone off. "Satellite," also from the album, was still getting played in 1996 when "Too Much" was introduced, followed by "So Much To Say." You can't blame the band for having a bunch of songs people like, but most weren't aware of the years they spent working them up before they were released.
  
  Around this time, DMB concerts were a mix of loyal fans from before their fame and newcomers hoping to hear the radio hits and often leaving disappointed when they didn't. But many of those fresh faces became longtime fans, joining the legions that made sure every album the band released (all seven of them) from 1998-2018 debuted at #1.
• The band performed "Too Much," along with "So Much To Say," on Saturday Night Live on April 20, 1996. They also played the song on May 17, 1996 on The Late Show with David Letterman.
• Dave Matthews Band played a little of "Too Much" when they were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2024. They were the last act inducted that night; they sent everyone home by playing a cover of "Burning Down The House" by Talking Heads. When that band entered the Rock Hall in 2002, "Burning Down The House" was the last song in their set. It ended up being the last song they ever played together.