Counting Crows

One of the most rakishly earnest bands ever, Counting Crows hit big in 1993 with the proto-emo roots-pop chart-stormer August And Everything After. Singer Adam Duritz got a lot of guff for his eye-twitching swoon, but Counting Crows have stayed around longer than first seemed possible. The group re-emerged in 2008 with the downbeat double album Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, accompanied by a press blitz where Duritz downplayed his former freewheeling, Friends-cast-member-nailing, stud-muffin ways. (He even admitted that he wears a wig! Shocker!) The band’s back now with Underwater Sunshine, an ill-advised covers record where Duritz jams and warbles over The Faces’ “Ooh La La,” and Big Star’s “The Ballad Of El Goodo,” among other musical victims.

Updated 06/13/2012