Counting Crows - August And Everything After

[Blackbookpress1984]

So,

Recently, 33 1/3 drafted an open call for submissions for new books in their series. I am thinking about applying to do a book on Counting Crows' August And Everything After, seeing as this album has always been a personal favorite of mine, and very close to me. I'm hoping that other people out there (here) might be willing to share some of their thoughts on this album and get some conversation going.

For me it was the first 30 seconds of music, before the lyrics even started in Round here that got me hooked. The music itself we so surreal, that thinking of it now makes the hairs on my arms and neck stand up as I wait for the vocals to kick in. They Adam starts singing, and as I visualize the lyrics, all I can see in my mind is White. It's like all of those scenes from the movies when the characters are waking up from a near death experience... And it's perfect.

[elevenism]

this record holds a lot of memories for me.

i am willing to help. what exactly do you need?

[Jinsai]

Anna Begins is the worst song ever written. Really. That is a very bad song. Look at the lyrics, listen to the music. I will run out of anywhere I'm at screaming if that song is playing. This band has moments that are convincing, but only if you're not really paying attention or you're too young to realize that their brand of sentimentality is some really contrived bullshit. One listen to Anna Begins and you know you're dealing with a bunch of assholes who are completely milking you.

"her kindness bangs a gong. It's moving me alongggggg"

The fact that the album that's on is one of the ten best selling albums of all time is a travesty.

[elevenism]

@Jinsai , i LIKED that song! i was like 13, but i liked it a lot. i like the syncopation of the words and the exaggerated pronunciation.

that whole record reminds me of my first dates and first kisses and such.

I didn't get into any of their subsequent albums though, so maybe that proves your "too young to realize..." theory.

But yeah man, i owned the fucking T shirt in the 8th grade!

If it's so bad, why do you know the words to it so well? I didn't remember that line

As far as their record sales being a travesty, well, they must have done SOMETHING right.
They tapped into something that damn near everyone liked. Hootie and the Blowfish did it too. We can talk shit all we want, but those motherfuckers got RICH.

People like us don't have the same musical tastes as the masses.
In MY perfect world, Rasputina would be in the top ten. So would Boards of Canada and The Old 97s, and NIN of course.
and Jinsai and Just Like You Imagined would have big fat record deals.

But it just don't be like that.

[Jinsai]

If it's so bad, why do you know the words to it so well? I didn't remember that line

That was kind of a revelatory moment for me.... I was finding their music mostly inoffensive, maybe melodramatic and self indulgent, but inoffensive... and then suddenly "HER KINDNESS BANGS A GONG. IT'S MOVING ME ALONG" happened, and I was so repulsed I actually screamed.

[Jinsai]

Did you get your ass kicked to this song in high school or something? Jesus

That's an interesting image... sensitive bullies listening to the fucking Counting Crows while they beat people up?

No, I hate the song because it sucks and it has the lyric "her kindness bangs a gong, it's moving me along," which is stupid and indefensible. I get it, you have your "guilty pleasure" band. Sorry, I think it sucks. We disagree.

I'm being hyperbolic with "worst song ever." But it is REALLY, really bad. I can really not care much about anything else I've heard from them. The last song I think I heard from them was something from Shrek. Mostly I'm indifferent, but that Anna Begins song is a special perfect storm of awful.

[Maximilian]

I've used the phrase "I am not overly concerned" many times in my life because I heard it in that song, but I totally agree with the concept of just hating a song for whatever reason, whatever it may be. I have a few songs like that myself.

[aggroculture]

I really hate Blur's "Song 2" because a bully at college used to blast the song whenever I came to his corridor to use the phone (it was the "heaviest" song he had, which I always thought pathetic). It was his way of protesting that I shouldn't be using the phone in his corridor, and I've never been able to like anything by Damon Albarn since then.

As for Counting Crows, Mr Jones is a good song; the sappy, sentimental ballad shit like Round Here is just awful and totally put me off the band.

@Blackbookpress1984 I don't mean to be negative about your 33 1/3 proposal BUT: when I did one a few years ago they got like nearly 800 applications, and they offered 18 contracts: that's like a 2% success rate. Also, I would say that August and Everything After is not quite their thing: they tend to go for critically-acclaimed albums, rather than smash hits; this is just my 2c. You are probably better off approaching another publisher directly, one that specializes in books about popular albums. My case has something of a silver lining: I got together with two people who had proposed to 33 1/3 on the same album as me, and now we have a contract for a book written by the three of us.

[Blackbookpress1984]

big thanks to @Jinsai for stepping in to a nice conversation about music and being a total asshole. Thanks man. couldn't you have just kept your mouth shut? I mean, i hate a lot of things discussed on this board, but I don't bashing what other people like just to make myself feel better. Keep it up man, you got a great future here. #troll

[Jinsai]

big thanks to @Jinsai for stepping in to a nice conversation about music and being a total asshole. Thanks man. couldn't you have just kept your mouth shut? I mean, i hate a lot of things discussed on this board, but I don't bashing what other people like just to make myself feel better. Keep it up man, you got a great future here. #troll

I expressed extreme dislike for ONE SONG. That's not trolling, and I don't get how offering that opinion makes me a "total asshole." I could bash a lot of other things about the band that I don't like, but I didn't. Maybe when you're writing the 33 1/3 book, you can take some negative opinions into consideration.

[Jinsai]

lyrics/songwriting that fall somewhere on my subpar level

We're not just talking "subpar." The over earnest delivery of "HER KINDNESS BANGS A GONG, IT'S MOVING ME ALONG" isn't just "subpar."

Seriously though, how much longer do you want to continue having a conversation with me about this song and how much I hate it?

[Maximilian]

Listening to it again, it's a nice track with a great chilled-out vibe, despite not being great in the lyrics department.

Now to cue up to "Long December" ....

[kel]

at 14 in the middle of alternative nation, the counting crows had their place among what i thought was cool at the time. "mr. jones" and "round here" are classics, perfectly welcome every so often on 90's stations. "omaha" was pretty good, too.

i even liked the second album when it came out, wrote a review of it in the school paper. other than the abysmal "a long december," i can't remember any other track.

i associate them now with shrek. *shrug*.

edit: i do remember buying the second album at sam goody ON SALE for $16.99!

nuts. you can find a ton of copies at any hastings now for $.49.

2nd edit: all that said, 'august ...'was a pivotal album, like the first cranberries record and other stuff that came out at that time. regardless of what they are now, it kinda deserves this attention, i guess. best of luck.