Why I hate Adam Duritz from Counting Crows

Counting Crows are a genre-resisting band that draw elements from grunge, folk rock and country music. They released their first album, August and Everything After, in 1993. It was quite successful in the U.S. and internationally, and yielded the band's most prolific single, Mr. Jones. The band has since released three more studio albums, two live performance albums and a greatest hits. The fifth album is now being developed. Over time, and depending on where you'd draw the boundaries, the number of members in the band have varied from five to seven. Adam Duritz, the lead singer and lyricist, is pretty much a central icon of the band's identity.

Counting Crows have been charged with being a 'slow' band, or a 'lazy' band. They have released a studio album every three or four years. Most of the time this seems to be because Adam Duritz is a rather emotionally frail character, who finds touring and the musical production process taxing and challenging. This kind of frailty I would not hold against anybody. Hell, if I were famous, I'd probably struggle with the enormity of the responsibility too.

Mr. Duritz found himself feeling a lot of pressure while touring after the release of August. After Kurt Cobain died, he thought, for whatever reason, that he might go the same way. He has also, in recent years, experienced a protracted depressive episode that he is now gradually recovering from. This is also something I'd never hold against anybody.

What I tend to hold against people are character flaws, and depression and sensitivity are not character flaws. What I have a problem with is Mr. Duritz's barely concealed contempt for his fan base and his lack of appreciation for the wealth and comfortable lifestyle that they've provided him. Allow me to illustrate.

In a blog posted to the official Counting Crows website (in December I believe), Mr. Duritz told his message board-dwelling fans something to the effect that 'some of you are f**king awful people'. This initially seems fair enough, given that there has been a lot of bitching and moaning on these message boards. I've not participated in it myself, but I've flicked through some of the threads and I see what he means.

Nonetheless, it begs the question: what makes the fans of a band disrespectful? Hardcore fans of some bands will psychologically adhere to their movements like little nazis, even if they make bad musical choices. This isn't the case for the Crows in either respect. They've consistently produced excellent music for about fifteen years, but their fans often show little respect. This little puzzle seems answerable by one simple hypothesis, that, once I'd realised it, seemed hard to refute: A BAND WILL RECEIVE ABOUT AS MUCH RESPECT FROM ITS FANS AS IT GIVES. Hell, just think of Pearl Jam. Two hours plus for a concert and endless bootlegs, as well as a hardworking ethic that drives them to create the best music possible. Their many hardcore fans are obsessive.

So what's disrespectful about Adam's behaviour? Consider a song called Have You Seen Me Lately from the second album, Recovering the Satellites. Adam sings 'Get away from me/this isn't gonna be easy/but I don't need you/believe me/you got a piece of me.../but I don't need anyone'. A reliable source has quoted Adam as saying that this is about how his fans don't understand him. So: he doesn't need his fans? He doesn't need them? If it weren't for his fans, he'd probably be working in an office or factory somewhere, or be a musician that constantly struggles to make a living. If he wishes he were in either position, it was his fault for getting signed in the first place. Sorry buddy, but fans are what you get when you earn lots of money in the music industry.

Moreover, he's stated that he does not find the music-making process enjoyable. Aside from this being a strangely plaintive thing to say, I must ask: why's he doing it in the first place? I don't doubt that he has enough money to retire - which is almost what he's done anyway, at the speed with which the band releases albums. Studios are generally pretty stingy, but Counting Crows are such a big band that I sincerely doubt that Mr. Duritz is not very comfortably off. Furthermore, when a fan on the message board accused the band of being lazy, Adam replied in a blog that it was really none of the fan's business. This is a pretty strong indication of a lack of respect.

All the guy wants is love. That's the way it seems to me, anyway. That's something I also understand on a very personal level, but what I can't understand is the way that, through so much of his behaviour and his expression, he seems to whine about how nobody understands him, how his fans don't understand him, and all he wants is the same damn thing that almost every person in the western world wants (if they haven't got it), but is apparently unique to his oh-so-sorrowful situation: love.

Why does this piss me off so much? This is a guy that doesn't know what he's got and won't take responsibility for his fans. I don't want to be the fan of a band whose lead singer seems to have no respect for his fans and won't understand that even if they don't understand him, they've bought the music that the band's produced because they enjoy it and respect his work as a musician. But I am a fan.

All of this being said, I think that Counting Crows are, musically, a brilliant band. Their music charts emotional territories that few bands can wander into. Duritz usually weaves his sorrow into his lyrics subtly enough to maintain a strong melancholic harmony without resorting to annoying pseudo-emotion. I would suggest that anyone interested in light rock of the '90s check out any of their studio albums.

Next post I want to talk about school shootings. Anyone sensitive to such material has been warned.