How Counting Crows' Sleeper Debut Album Helped Define a New Era of 90s Rock

In 1993, Bay Area folk-rockers Counting Crows released their epochal first album, August and Everything After, but it didn't land on the charts until the following January. Looking back 25 years later, the remarkable thing is not that the Crows took so long to gain traction, but that they cracked the top of the charts that grunge acts like Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and Pearl Jam had dominated for so long.

Fronted by the dreadlocked and endearingly nerdy Adam Duritz, Counting Crows couldn't have been further removed from the primal roar of Generation Grunge. While most of the era's big bands sounded like they'd stolen the Black Sabbath and Black Flag records from their older siblings' collections, the Crows seemed like they'd gone straight for their parents' classic-rock stash. References to Bob Dylan, The Band, The Byrds, and Van Morrison were tossed around repeatedly when music critics started reaching for comparisons. And while the Crows were just as enamored with and influenced by more contemporary bands like R.E.M., the boomer-friendly analogies weren't entirely off-base. It's tough not to call to mind Van Morrison's Brown-Eyed Girl, when Duritz lays into that sha-la-la refrain on the album's first single, Mr. Jones.

Despite the album coming out in September, that single wasn't released until December, making the Crows' success a slow burn. Of course, once Mr. Jones was released, that Morrison-esque hook helped drive the tune all the way to No. 5. And by the time '94 rolled around, the momentum propelled August and Everything After high into the charts too, where it reached No. 4 and eventually turned platinum seven times over.

Photos by Danny Clinch

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