Shrek 2: Help Or Hurt Counting Crows?

[singingsparrow]

Discussion of this song inspired me to start this poll.

We have seen Smash Mouth topple from the radar ever since going multi-platinum off "Astro Lounge", beginning with the critically loathed cover of "I'm A Beliver" by Neil Diamond, a lead single from the Shrek soundtrack.

Now, Counting Crows have stepped up to the Shrek II plate, delivering a punch bowl of pop of their own. Their last album "Hard Candy" sold about 700,000 copies, with their debut album among the strongest rock debuts with sales over 5.4 million domestically.

Undoubtedly "Accidentally In Love" will be one of the most talked about hits of the summer. But in the long term, what next?

Will Counting Crows fall like Smash Mouth, are they too established to fall, or will this, in fact, give them a huge boost commerically for their next album?

Sincerely,
Noah Eaton

[Deleted]

Smash Mouth were a terrible group who released the worst single of their career as the lead single from a monster summer hit film.

Counting Crows song is getting mixed reviews which is a lot better than Smash Mouth got.  This song is just nowhere as cheesy as "I'm A Believe".

I don't think it will help or hurt them. It's just another hit to mark them down for.

[singingsparrow]

My thought is that it'll actually help them a lot.

Even on Triple A it's charting well. It's in the Top 5 there, an indication they're not only forgiven for releasing their poppiest single yet, they're lovin' it.

This will open up Counting Crows to a whole new audience, a younger audience. Kids growing up will recognize Duritz's voice and smile.

Critical acclaim may be the only thing working against the Crows now. After being hailed as the next Bob Dylan, Adam Duritz, who still gets generally favorable reviews, has seen a weakening of acclaim. There are some critics who can't take the "strawberry ice cream" lyric seriously.

But Adam said so himself. He wants to be more of a songwriter, not a poet. And he's doing his job by writing a song that'll be remembered always, especially in a hit motion picture.

Unless Adam does want to get poetical again, younger crowds are going to be finding their way to the Crows by their next album, and for the first time they may actually break the downward decline in sales each album.

Sincerely,
Noah Eaton

[chebingeo]

At this point, CC have nothing to lose.

[mst3k]

chebingeo said:

At this point, CC have nothing to lose. 

Agreed. After "Big Yellow Taxi", they really can't go any worse.

[Walking Contradiction]

Hey, I like Smash Mouth...sure, their music's a little cheesy, but it's fun and I like that retro sound they have.

as for the Counting Crows...I'm all for "Accidentally In Love" being a hit, but some of you are making it sound like they're about to completely sell out and I certainly hope that doesn't happen

[Ragin]

I think the Counting Crows as of this moment are practically living off of critical acclaim, as Smashmouth was after Fush Yu Mang. I think it will hurt them overall. This song will be a hit, but if they keep attempting to follow it up with more pop, they'll end up just like Smashmouth. Once that happened to Smashmouth even a truly excellent pop album (Get the Picture?) couldn't get the time of day. I expect that to happen to the Counting Crows if they don't take their time to make a solid album.

Personally, I think the weak self-titled album for Smashmouth hurt them more than their cover of "I'm a Believer" That album sucked and with critics dissing them at the same time, they were doomed.

[Miguelín]

I love the band. "Accidentaly in love" & "Big yellow taxi" are some of their worst songs ("Big yellow taxi" the worst IMO), but they will help them to sell more albums. The rest of their material is much better than these two hits.

[jimmy74747]

Short Term- Help. A song from the biggest movie of the year can get them acclaim that this song wouldn't otherwise have.

Long Term - Hurt. They're singing on a cartoon movie.

[smadavid]

Counting Crows has faced a sort of identity crisis over the last few years -- their core market (alternative radio) evolved away from its roots in the late 90s, and they no longer had a 'home' at radio. Their last hit, Hanginaround, still followed the formula of alternative crossing-over to Pop / AC.

Basically their best shot was to aim quarely for Hot A/C. They attempted this with American Girls, got some play (peaked at #23 if i remember correctly), but found it pretty difficult to break back in after several years away from the format. In the end persistance paid off, and they've now had two big hits at the format -- Big Yellow Taxi (#4) and Accidentally In Love (#8 and climbing).

So yeah, they alienated some of ther core audience, and it hurts them in that respect. But so far as radio goes, this does nothing but help them. They now have a couple songs that will likely be getting some level of recurrent play when their next album comes out, keeping them in the minds of program directors and consumers. A much better position than they were in when Hard Candy came out.

[The Music Man]

The difference between Smash Mouth and Counting Crows is that the former followed up that awful remake of I'm A Believer with more beyond-cheesy pop crap. Holiday In My Head? You Are My Number One? Seriously...they didn't lose their credibility as a good band because they were on the Shrek soundtrack. They lost it because they continued to suck long after that movie was through.

Accidentally In Love will, if anything, be helped by being featured in one of the hottest movies of the summer. Counting Crows has an established base at Triple A and Hot AC radio and as long as they don't start producing garbage like Smash Mouth, I wouldn't say this is the end for them. Pop radio may not embrace them for keeping their music the way it has been, but I don't think it really matters for them.

Keep in mind that being on a soundtrack for a movie that is aimed towards younger audiences isn't necessarily the kiss of death to an artist's career that everyone makes it out to be. OutKast was on the Scooby-Doo soundtrack, and they didn't exactly flop after, LOL...Hell, even Spider-Man was somewhat younger-leaning, but was a movie adults could enjoy (somewhat similar to Shrek 2) and its lead single (Hero by Chad Kroeger) was a massive hit. Just because it happened to Smash Mouth doesn't mean it has to happen to everyone else.

[No Brake$]

Musicman, couldnt agree with you more.