The Counting Crows are type of a post-grunge band, if you happen to actually give it some thought. The alt-rock heroes didn’t put their first album out till 1993, and apparently, they took a fairly stark directional pivot in the mid-90s as a result of the tragedy that was Kurt Cobain’s death.
In an October 2025 editorial for The Guardian, Counting Crows members Adam Duritz (vocals) and David Immerglück (multi-instrumentalist) opened up about the band’s early days. They even shared a little about recording their hit tune, “Mr. Jones”, and the way it was a lewd studio word from producer T Bone Burnett that gave the tune its really feel.
In his portion of the editorial, Immerglück supplied some perception into the band’s mindset, following the demise of Nirvana’s frontman, which had a profound affect on music and tradition total.
“Counting Crows was in some ways a reaction to grunge,” Immerglück defined. “Kurt Cobain killing himself was like its final act. Everyone was on heroin. The object was obliteration, not mind expansion. The nihilism had gone too far; the pendulum swung to something more human and more emotional. Counting Crows was folk and rock with a heavy dose of Van Morrison soul.”
David Immerglück grew to become a everlasting member of the Counting Crows in 1999
Going on to speak about the recording of Mr. Jones, Immerglück confessed, “The song never gets old. Sometimes, on stage, when I am rocking out with Adam, I will remember that moment when he played me the demo of the song. It’s insane.”
He additionally shared the notorious word he received from Burnett whereas they had been recording “Mr. Jones for the Counting Crows’ debut album, August and Everything After.
“T Bone cued me in to play my guitar behind the tempo of the drums,” Immerglück recalled. “He said: ‘If you rush ahead of the drums, you sound like an adolescent j***ing off too quickly.’ He’s got the southern accent because he’s from Texas, and his advice was just to imagine that you’ve put your feet up on the mixing board and chewing gum while you’re playing.”
For his half, Duriotz, the tune’s author, says that he thinks “it’s one of the best things I’ve ever written.” He added, “We played ‘Round Here’ on Saturday Night Live in 1994, and the record jumped 40 spots a week for five or six weeks. After that, ‘Mr Jones’ became a big deal.”
