Album
Hard Candy
Hard Candy is the fourth studio album by Counting Crows, following August and Everything After, Recovering the Satellites and This Desert Life. It came out on Geffen on 7 July 2002 and sits in rock, alternative rock, pop rock and soft rock territory. It was also the last of their albums before Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings arrived in 2008.
The record is probably best remembered for its hidden track, a cover of Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi", which became one of the band's biggest radio hits. A version with Vanessa Carlton on vocals was added to the film Two Weeks Notice and topped the VH-1 charts and spent time at the top of American Top 40. Later pressings were revised to list the song. "Holiday in Spain" was also redone as an English and Dutch duet with the band BLØF, and it went to number one in the Netherlands.
Hard Candy: tracklist, credits and charts
14 tracks · 58:31Tracklist
- 1Hard CandyDuritz, Gillingham, Vickrey4:21
- 2American GirlsAdam Duritz4:32
- 3Good TimeAdam Duritz4:24
- 4If I Could Give All My Love -or- Richard Manuel Is DeadDuritz, Gillingham, Immerglück, Malley, Vickrey3:53
- 5Goodnight L.A.Adam Duritz4:18
- 6Butterfly in ReverseAdams, Duritz, Gillingham2:48
- 7MiamiDuritz, Gillingham, Immerglück5:01
- 8New FrontierAdam Duritz3:51
- 9CarriageAdam Duritz4:05
- 10Black and BlueAdam Duritz3:53
- 11Why Should You Come When I Call?Adam Duritz and Charlie Gillingham4:38
- 12Up All Night (Frankie Miller Goes to Hollywood)Adam Duritz5:08
- 13Holiday in SpainAdam Duritz3:51
- 14Big Yellow TaxiJoni Mitchell3:48
- Produced by
- Steve Lillywhite
- Label
- Geffen
- Length
- 58:31
Line-up
- Dave Gibbs · background vocals · guest
- Matthew Sweet · background vocals · guest
- Sheryl Crow · background vocals · guest
- Jacqueline Brand · violin · guest
- Carole Castillo · viola · guest
- Mario DeLeon · violin · guest
- Brian Dembow · viola · guest
- Karen Elaine–Bakunin · viola · guest
- Steve Erdody · cello · guest
- Richard Feves · bass · guest
- Alan Grunfeld · violin · guest
- Jerry Hey · flugelhorn · guest
- Paula Hochhalter · cello · guest
- Karen Jones · violin · guest
- Natalie Leggett · violin · guest
- Liane Mautner · violin · guest
- Ed Meares · bass · guest
- Ralph Morrison · violin · guest
- Robin Olson · violin · guest
- Sara Parkins · violin · guest
- Katia Popov · violin · guest
- John Scanlon · viola · guest
- Tina Soule · cello · guest
- Cécilia Tsan · cello · guest
- Josefina Vergara · violin · guest
- Ken Yorke · violin · guest
- Ryan Adams · background vocals · guest
- Andre Carter · trumpet · guest
- Leona Naess · background vocals · guest
- Ethan Johns · congas, percussion · guest
Singles
- “American Girls” · 13 May 2002
- “Miami” · 9 July 2002
- “Big Yellow Taxi” · 11 November 2002
- “If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)” · 16 June 2003
Peak chart positions
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 · 2002 | 5 |
| UK Albums Chart · 2002 | 9 |
| Ireland 2 · 2002 | 4 |
| Scottish Albums · 2002 | 5 |
| Dutch Albums · 2002 | 10 |
| Australian Albums (ARIA) · 2002 | 13 |
| Belgian Albums (Flanders) · 2002 | 14 |
| New Zealand Albums · 2002 | 15 |
| Norwegian Albums · 2002 | 16 |
| Swedish Albums · 2002 | 19 |
All 16 charts
| Danish Albums · 2002 | 20 |
| German Albums · 2002 | 28 |
| Swiss Albums · 2002 | 39 |
| Austrian Albums · 2002 | 42 |
| Italian Albums · 2002 | 49 |
| French Albums · 2002 | 126 |
Certifications
| Region | Certification |
|---|---|
| Australia · 2003 | Gold |
| New Zealand · 2003 | Gold |
| United Kingdom · 2003 | Gold |
| United States · 2002 | Gold |
From MusicBrainz, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Only what the sources record is shown.
61.7
Popularity (0–100, vs the whole vault)
4.4k
ListenBrainz listeners
33k
Wikipedia views, last 12 months
2.2k
Deezer fans (all editions)
Released the same week
Also released on 7 July
Every year →
More from Counting Crows
Full discography →
August and Everything After
1993
Recovering the Satellites
1996
Across a Wire: Live in New York City
1998
This Desert Life
1999
Films About Ghosts: The Best Of…
2003
New Amsterdam: Live at Heineken Music Hall February 4–6, 2003
2006
Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
2008
iTunes Live From SoHo
2008
Aural 6
2008
August and Everything After: Live at Town Hall
2011
Underwater Sunshine (or What We Did on Our Summer Vacation)
2012
Echoes of the Outlaw Roadshow
2013
Somewhere Under Wonderland
2014
Butter Miracle, Suite One
2021
Butter Miracle: The Complete Sweets!
2025
Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately? (songs from the HBO original documentary)
2025
The best of 2002
All of 2002 →
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Reanimation
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Heathen Chemistry
Oasis · 2002
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Sum 41 · 2002
Sea Change
Beck · 2002
Untouchables
Korn · 2002
More on Geffen
The label →
Appetite for Destruction
Guns N’ Roses · 1987
Use Your Illusion II
Guns N’ Roses · 1991
Pinkerton
Weezer · 1996
“The Spaghetti Incident?”
Guns N’ Roses · 1993
On Tour Now!
Guns N’ Roses · 1991
blink‐182
blink‐182 · 2003
G N’ R Lies
Guns N’ Roses · 1988
Weezer
Weezer · 2001
Permanent Vacation
Aerosmith · 1987
Pump
Aerosmith · 1989
August and Everything After
Counting Crows · 1993
Get a Grip
Aerosmith · 1993
Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia + musicbrainz
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 7 July 2002 | |
| Wikipedia infobox | 7 July 2002 | |
| Wikidata | 2002 | |
| US release | 9 July 2002 | earliest US date |
| UK / Europe release | 8 July 2002 | earliest UK or European date |
18 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | JP | Geffen | 4988005307095 | other |
| 2002 | US | Geffen | other | |
| 7 July 2002 | AU | Geffen | 0606949336820 | other |
| 8 July 2002 | GB | Geffen | 606949336622 | other |
| 9 July 2002 | AU | Geffen | 606949336820 | other |
| 9 July 2002 | US | Geffen | 606949335625 | other |
| 9 July 2002 | US | Geffen | 606949335625 | other |
| 9 July 2002 | US | Geffen | 606949335625 | other |
| 2003 | AU | Geffen | 606949355920 | other |
| 2003 | ZA | Geffen | 6009143029934 | other |
| January 2003 | NL | Geffen | 606949355920 | other |
| 10 January 2003 | GB | Geffen | 606949356026 | other |
| 20 January 2003 | XW | Geffen | 606949355920 | other |
| 21 January 2003 | DE | Geffen | 606949355920 | other |
| 14 February 2003 | JP | Geffen | 4988005328380 | other |
| 1 January 2014 | US | Geffen | 602537988693 | other |
| 12 August 2014 | XW | Geffen | 602577854293 | other |
| — | — | — | other |
Cover art sources
coverartarchive · cropped: cropped from 1613x1600 to 1600x1600
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| coverartarchive ✓ | 1613×1600 | cropped: cropped from 1613x1600 to 1600x1600 |
| deezer | 1200×1200 | upscaled |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |