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Pop Rock Whores: The Long Winters vs. Counting Crows
The first time I listened to the Long Winters I thought of Counting Crows. Maybe that’s because Counting Crows’ song “A Long December” was floating around in my head, or maybe because the Long Winters’ singer John Roderick’s voice shares an accentless, quickly excitable quality with Adam Duritz’s. Or perhaps it was because both bands are absolute whores for instantly catchy anthems that go from zero to 60 in about the time it takes to plug in an electric guitar.
But there are high-class whores and there are 10-dollars-a-throw whores. If you’ll excuse the completely outdated The Catcher in the Rye reference, tell me: Which would you prefer to spend time with?
Many people have seen similarities between these two bands, but before getting further into that let’s backtrack for a second. For the unfamiliar, the Long Winters are a power pop/indie rock group out of Seattle with three fantastic, full-length albums on Barsuk under their belt. Lead singer, guitarist, and group mastermind Roderick is older than your typical indie rock darling (39, I believe) and has none of the class guilt or shoegazing qualities associated with the genre. He’s a hell of a fun guy to talk to, and a bantering, quipping machine in concert. He even writes a weekly column for Seattle Weekly’s blog, which, I hate to say, is funnier and more insightful than anything I write. The group’s latest album, 2006’s Putting the Days to Bed, is a stellar follow-up to its masterpiece from three years earlier, When I Pretend to Fall. The band is currently in the process of putting together its next CD, but it’s taking its sweet time, isn’t it?
For those unfamiliar with the Counting Crows, apparently you have never attended a high school prom or tuned an FM radio dial. You’re forgiven for thinking the group disbanded shortly after releasing “Mr. Jones”—that ode to Bob Dylan off its debut August and Everything After, which I associate with Mad Dog 20/20, hand jobs, and totaling my parents’ Volkswagen Jetta in 11th grade—but, in fact, the band soldiers on well into its second decade. Its latest, Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, was just released on Geffen. I don’t like it, but then again I knew I wouldn’t because I haven’t liked any Crows albums since August. (George Bush might accuse me of harboring “the soft bigotry of low expectations.”)
The third track, “Los Angeles”, contains a cringe-worthy chorus in which Duritz tries to make us feel sorry for him because he’s slept with Gwen Stefani and Christina Applegate. “If you see that movie star and me / If you should see my picture in a magazine / Or if you fall asleep while you’re watching TV / Well honey, I’m just trying to make some sense of Los Angeles.” (The similarities between Duritz and Sideshow Bob have been widely noted, but whenever I see Duritz with a Hollywood hottie I think of the website Hot Chicks with Douchebags.)
Roderick wants to be liked, and so does Duritz, but the two men go about it in completely different ways, which is why the popular Counting Crows/Long Winters comparison is completely off base. (Roderick apparently feels the same way: “Most musicians are timid about posting responses to online reviews for obvious reasons,” he told the website Ashcan Rantings. “No one wants to get into a flame war with a writer over his/her review. But wouldn’t it be great if people really did respond to reviews of their stuff? Like: ‘What? Are you crazy? I don’t sound anything like Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows! Why do people keep saying this?’”)
Although his band is nowhere near as popular as the Crows, Roderick still tries to reach as many people as possible by penning lyrics that speak to universal truths, to situations and feelings we’ve all experienced. And he does it in new and compelling ways.
“You were hurt so you got hard / You were cursed and scolded and scared,” he sings on “Scared Straight”, a song about a troubled relationship. “You were searched for, then ignored / You want to burn the liars? / You’ll set us both on fire / You’re faking, so I’m pretend sleeping / Waiting for this to be fun / It’s true little miss mean mini-bar guard / We’re gonna have to try something new.”
Man, I’m tearing up as I transcribe this. (Shhh.) But haven’t we all been there? Haven’t we all tried to fit a square relationship into a round hole? Okay, so that’s a terrible metaphor, but you get what I’m saying.
Having achieved worldwide popularity with his band’s first album, Duritz fails as a songwriter nowadays because he seems obsessed with trying to recapture that mass appeal. He sounds like he’s gunning for people who aren’t really paying attention, for diners at Planet Hollywood or Hard Rock Café. Thus, in order to speak to such a large, mentally deficient segment of the population, he writes lyrics that are as bland and vague as possible.
On the Crows’ new song “Cowboys”, for example, he sings, “This is a list of what I should have been but I’m not / This is a list of the things that I should have seen but I’m not seeing / The look in your eyes as his fingertips slid down your neck and made you shiver / I’m just turning away from where I should have been because I am not anything.”
Clearly a pandering attempt to appeal to the listener’s self-doubt, the song derails about halfway through, and by the end I, for one, have no idea what the hell he’s talking about. Maybe that’s just because I don’t have a cuckolding fetish—as he seems to be watching his girl get 
with another guy—but more likely it’s because what he’s saying just isn’t believable. You’re not anything? A couple songs ago you were bragging about all the actresses you’ve banged. I mean, Christina Applegate may look a little weird since she had her face lifted, but she’s not nothing.
Apparently Duritz suffers from depression and even a type of multiple personality disorder. Perhaps if he concentrated on writing songs more from the heart, instead of trying to write what he thinks his audience wants him to write, he would be better able to come to terms with himself.
In a way, Roderick fills the Barack Obama role, as his words have universal appeal, while Duritz fills in for Hillary Clinton, who was prone to pandering during the campaign. And just as Obama walked off with the Democratic Party nomination, you would be wise to choose John Roderick and the Long Winters as your pop rock band of choice.
As for me, I should probably stop mocking people who suffer from depression and multiple personality disorders.
Watch: Counting Crows [at youtube.com]
Watch: Long Winters [at youtube.com]
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28 Comments
I am not here to try to defend Counting Crows but one thing is clear. You know a lot more about Long Winters then you do Counting Crows. You like one and dont like them being compared to the other. You naturally think your song’s lyrics are much better then that of Cowboys but intentionally pick a vauge lyric of the Crows and a specific one of the Winters. You can find examples of both in both artists I’m sure. Not to mention saying that “we’ve all been there” which seems as much like general mass appeal as your complaints against Counting Crows.
I’m just saying you have a huge love of one of the bands and thats all. It’s sad that you must be dissing something outside your tastes just to prove that your fav is so much better. Their is a huge bias there and this article is pathetic for it.
That’s all.
Hey, everybody’s got their own tastes in music. That’s fine. But what you’ve written here about the Counting Crows is almost complete ignorance. In particular, you have an astounding ignorance about writing, which is hilarious, since it’s something you take Duritz to task for.
It might come as a shock to you, but not *all* songs are necessarily about the writer him/herself. Sometimes, they create characters. To take any band’s music and automatically think the lead singer is singing about themselves shows a very shallow understanding of music and songwriting.
Do you really think Duritz stands on window ledges of tall buildings, contemplating whether or not he can fly?
Now, don’t get me wrong: There are some serious missteps on the new CD, (”On a Tuesday in Amsterdam Long Ago” springs immediately to mind) but if you’re going to rip apart a song for bad writing, don’t you think it’s appropriate to understand the song — or at least something about songwriting — first?
Ironically, you notice the references to movies stars in Duritz’s songs without noticing the more important point he’s making about the lifestyle: All that stuff by itself is meaningless and empty. No one would feel sorry for themselves for having such things, and he doesn’t. What he recognizes (and you don’t, apparently) is that those things can’t really make you happy.
I’m confused. Are you saying Rodney Winters only charges you 10 bucks for a hand job? Cool.
Adam actually has stood on cliffs and dared himself to jump.. and then was upset that he didn’t. I cant defend Adam and his wallowing, but I can tell you that his introspection spoke to most of us Gen X’ers in a way nobody ever had including young Mr. Cobain. Your dissection if Cowboys is so weakly contrived I cannot imagine what you were getting at. The song is what Adam imagined it would be like to let all your walls crumble and to become a senseless murderer.. murdering people just for the thrill, or imagined thrill of taking the life of another. It is an examination of Adam’s own worst self. I know several of his friends and he has been there more than once. He almost pulled a Brian Wilson in 2005.
You also missed something else about Counting Crows. Of all the cheesy ass rock bands out there, Counting Crows has something on them all. Adam and the other guys (the other guys are really great people, by the way) have found a way to write pop songs that have the darkest of under currents. You feel happy while being sucked a million miles below the street. I am sure that is why Adam and David Lowery still are great friends (notwithstanding the fact that a member of Camper Van Beethoven has expressed to me that he hates Counting Crows). It may be also what draws the fans of Counting Crows to Adam. He is one of the darkest motherfuckers on the planet, but he still finds a way to be hopeful and jaunty.. even when Mr. Lincoln head is bleeding on the front row…
On the guitarists in Counting Crows.. Since I know them.. Immergluck has been nominated for several awards and he plays Mandolin and Pedal Steel with the band. You want to hear him play some guitar centric rock and roll.. Check out Monks of Doom (Pitch-a-Tent) or you can check out http://www.myspace.com/gliderwithjimandimmy. Guaranteed if you are a guitar guy, Glider will flip you out. Secondly, you have a shitty ear. Yea, power pop structure.. got it. Listen more closely. Dan Vickrey is one of the best country rock players out there and David Bryson is not just a guitar guy… he plays as tight as the meters and he writes and arranges all those not hit Counting Crows songs that are brilliant (I wish I was a Girl, Amy Hit the Atmosphere, Another Horsedreamers Blues, Ballet D’Or). And, for the record.. Tuesday’s is probably the most authentic Adam Duritz song on the whole record. Sundays is brilliant.. Immergluck does some truly sick shit on there.
Hmmm, just a little biased aren’t we. I guess I don’t see how saying: “If you see that movie star and me / If you should see my picture in a magazine / Or if you fall asleep while you’re watching TV / Well honey, I’m just trying to make some sense of Los Angeles.” is any different from “This is a list of what I should have been but I’m not / This is a list of the things that I should have seen but I’m not seeing / The look in your eyes as his fingertips slid down your neck and made you shiver / I’m just turning away from where I should have been because I am not anything.” is any different from “You were hurt so you got hard / You were cursed and scolded and scared,” “You were searched for, then ignored / You want to burn the liars? / You’ll set us both on fire / You’re faking, so I’m pretend sleeping / Waiting for this to be fun / It’s true little miss mean mini-bar guard / We’re gonna have to try something new.”
It all comes back to the listener, the music is simply a mirror, a lyric that’s a deep insight to one person is a vague cloud of gas to another. Don’t compare bands with a few phrases. At least you didn’t mention LSD at all, kudos on that.
this article is fucking rubbish
I think this writer is just hung up on Christina Applegate and not music.
@ Erika Herzog
Good points you bring up…. not. No one is flaming Long Winters! They are probably great musicians who deserve as much sucess as Counting Crows. What most of us ‘asshat’ commenters are saying is just that writing an article like this is just stupid. He wants to let the world know how good Long Winters are? Write about them. All he does instead is trash a musician that he doesnt appreciate as much. Nobody will ever be suprised that there is music someone doesnt like, it’s just that the fact that he needs to attack a group he doesnt understand just to say that Long Winters is better. It come across as a bias (and duh, it is), but ruins any credibility to the writing.
Okay this band has at least 3 guitarists on stage, right? Can anyone actualy name any of the guitarists? Why so many? Are these guys any good at all since they mostly play power pop chords that my guitar teacher knew when he was 12? Aside from that, how did you like “Shrek 2″? Every goddam 7 year old knows the Counting Crows song from that movie.Probably their biggest hit since their first album, right?
I once read a good article. This one wasn’t it. Being familiar with both bands very little, this article strikes me as terrible. It’s got me thinking better than The Counting Crows then I had before, and worse of Lost Winters. I don’t care how good or bad either are but when you have nothing but attacks for Counting Crows you lose a lot of credibility to your over-bias. With little credibility, will I even trust that Long Winters are any good?
Horrible, horrible writing Ben. Complete garbage.
i saw a link to this posting at what you rightly say is a much better written blog than your own (john roderick’s blog at http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/reverb/john_roderick_reverb_residency/).
not to be a dick about it — and not to be asshats like the other commenters (who must be on the Counting Crows payroll or stuck in some bad music timewarp) — but this is the dumbest musican comparison i’ve seen in a good long while.
as i said on roderick’s site, comparing the two men is ridiculous. it is not even understandable, where the germ of this comes from. the only commonality is that roderick and the douche from the CC are white (and i’m not sure that the douche knows he is white, or has he got rid of his white boy dreads?)….
roderick is a hot (even with the teef) alaskan born insanely witty and talented musician who writes amazing songs. that duritz character is a hollywood star-f*cker (apparently) who i would be happy if he got on a vacation bus and never came back.
THESE TWO ARE NOT EVEN IN THE SAME PLANET OF TALENT.
grrr.
cowboys is meant to be surreal and unrational. mayber you can’t grasp that. and how can you say adam duritz has no nuances in his voice? listen to the sunday mornings half, and you’re just…wrong. and mr. jones is not about bob dylan, it’s about dreams. you are wrong. anyone who’s been around for over a decade has obviously done something right, wheather you like the music or not. and if you haven’t liked anything they’ve done since…the 90s, why bitch about it now? Stop listening to them if you don’t like them. Gah. The most un-constructive argument ever written.
this writer is an idiot – period
You clearly know nothing.
Cowboys is a song about a guy who’s mental state is spiraling downward fast and is contemplating (or has already committed) murder.
Your over-bias for The Long Winters completely destroys whatever you were trying to say with the article.
How can u compare a band u want to give handjobs to to a band u dislike?its just a recipie for a shite article before u start.im sure the long winters are a great band but to quote Adam Duritz ‘darling if its shit came out,then i suppose that its shit went in!’.
Worst article ever. The bias here is disgusting. I actually vomitted on myself after reading this.
I compared these two bands because everyone else has, and I wanted to show the comparison has no merit. Tim, if you’re vomiting on yourself that’s gross, and anon, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Are you saying that people who have bowel movements like to eat poop?
Well, iv read some articles in my time, but this one reli does take the piss. You are possibly the most bias author i have ever seen, and it would seem that just about everyone agrees with me. The Long Winters are probably great. You on the otherhand, are a wanker:)
Are you kidding? How can you say A. Duritz writes “bland, vague” lyrics – and for the masses?
These (in my opinion- of course) are anything but what you are referring to. I am not familiar with Long Winters… and will not say anything positive or negative about them- but PLEASE do not diss CC without actually KNOWING their music- which you clearly do not!!!
This article is a joke.
Counting Crows are about as played out as it gets. They were interesting for about one second, and a huge bland hit thereafter.
This is a totally unbiased, disintersted comment. Duritz takes a spill. Nothing more, nothing less: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ5o8JK38lk
omg i thought this article was hysterical…. i love adam duritz for all the wrong reasons and the cuckhold comment had me laughing out loud!
I liked Shrek 2 even if the rest of you didn’t. So there.
The NEW CRACKER ALBUM – Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey – feat. Adam Duritz, John Doe and Patterson Hood is set for release on May 5th 2009. Here is a link to some more info: http://www.429records.com/sites/429records/429details/d_cracker.asp
You got that point. Adam Duritz is a helluva demagogue.
Despite what this article says, I love Counting Crows and Adam for that matter! He hangs out with Cracker on their new record.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9lJrO3z5j4