Album · Dave Matthews Band
Before These Crowded Streets by Dave Matthews Band
Before These Crowded Streets is an album by Dave Matthews Band, released in 1998. 3 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 65 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Crush”, on 40 lists with a best position of #19.
Before These Crowded Streets, Dave Matthews Band's third album, came out on RCA on April 28, 1998, and it's the moment the Charlottesville jam band went looking for shadows. Steve Lillywhite produced, at The Plant in Sausalito and Electric Lady in New York, and the songs coil into darker textures and knottier arrangements, with polyrhythms and Middle Eastern scales snaking through them. Tim Reynolds plays guitar on every track, and Béla Fleck, Alanis Morissette and the Kronos Quartet all drop by. The title comes from a line in "The Dreaming Tree".
Matthews aims higher lyrically, too: "Don't Drink the Water" is a brooding reckoning with the slaughter of Native Americans, and "The Last Stop" takes on war, while "Crush" is a slinky, late-night groove. It entered the Billboard 200 at number one with 421,000 sold in its first week, ending the Titanic soundtrack's 16-week reign at the top.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Before These Crowded Streets on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crush | 40 | #19 | – | 1998–2022 | |
| 2 | Stay (Wasting Time) | 12 | #34 | – | 1998–2016 | |
| 3 | Don't Drink the Water | 13 | #26 | – | 1998–2021 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.