Counting Crows Perform Live on GMA

Aug. 29 -- They've sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, but who's counting?

The Counting Crows are too busy right now packing in the crowds on a summer tour with John Mayer. The band stopped by Bryant Park in New York to join Good Morning America's summer concert series.

The Crows have always been known as a deep band, with their songs of alienation, loneliness and lost love. Now, lead singer Adam Duritz said the band is lightening up the mood.

Their latest album, Hard Candy, includes "Big Yellow Taxi," a remake of the Joni Mitchell classic. It has been a top 10 smash for the band, and is now No. 7 on the contemporary charts.

"For the new album, I really wanted songs that you can't get out of your head, not just mood pieces," Duritz said in a release on his new album. "People began taking melody for granted when they started thinking of songwriters as poets. Well poetry is great, and I read poetry, but I haven't the slightest interest in being a poet. I'm a songwriter, and I want to engrave my songs in people's heads."

The Counting Crows got its start in 1989, when singer Duritz and guitarist David Bryson were introduced by a mutual musician friend, and began writing songs together and playing at small clubs and coffeehouses.

In 1992, the band signed with Geffen Records and the next winter released their debut album, August and Everything After, which quickly drew critical acclaim.

Rolling Stone gave it four stars and called it "one of the best rock releases of the year." The band won the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist in a Video, for one of their hit songs, "Mr. Jones." By 1996, it was certified as seven-times platinum.

Their 1996 follow-up, Recovering the Satellites went double platinum, and This Desert Life, released in 1999, was certified platinum.