Crowded House


Crowded House are an Australian and New Zealand rock band, formed in 1985 in Melbourne, Australia. The founding members were Neil Finn and Paul Hester, who were both former members of Split Enz, and Nick Seymour. Later band members included Finn's brother Tim, who was also formerly in Split Enz; sons Liam and Elroy; as well as Americans Mark Hart and Matt Sherrod. Neil Finn and Seymour are the sole constant members.
Originally active from 1985 to 1996, Crowded House had consistent commercial and critical success in Australia and New Zealand. They achieved success in the United States with their self-titled debut album, which provided the Top Ten hits "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Something So Strong". Further international success came in the UK, mainland Europe and South Africa in the early 1990s with their third and fourth albums and the compilation album Recurring Dream, which included the hits "Fall at Your Feet", "Weather with You", "Distant Sun", "Locked Out", "Instinct" and "Not the Girl You Think You Are". Neil and Tim Finn were each awarded an OBE in June 1993 for their contributions to the music of New Zealand.
Crowded House disbanded in 1996 following several farewell concerts that year, including the "Farewell to the World" concerts in Melbourne and Sydney. Hester died by suicide in 2005. A year later, the group re-formed with drummer Matt Sherrod and released two further albums, each of which reached number one in Australia. The band went on another hiatus, and reunited in 2020 with a new line-up featuring Neil Finn, Nick Seymour, Mitchell Froom and Finn's sons Liam and Elroy. Their most recent album, Gravity Stairs, was released in 2024.
As of 2021, Crowded House have sold over 15 million albums worldwide. In November 2016, the band was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

History

Neil Finn and drummer Paul Hester were both former members of New Zealand band Split Enz, which spent part of 1975–76 in Australia and several years in England. Neil Finn is the younger brother of Split Enz founding member Tim Finn, who joined Crowded House in 1990 on vocals, guitars and keyboards for the album Woodface. Bassist Nick Seymour is the younger brother of singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Seymour of Australian rock group Hunters & Collectors.

Formation and name change (1984–1986)

Finn and Hester decided to form a new band during the first Split Enz farewell tour, "Enz with a Bang", in late 1984. Seymour approached Finn during the afterparty for the Melbourne show and asked if he could audition for the new band. The Mullanes formed in Melbourne in early 1985 with Finn, Hester, Seymour and guitarist Craig Hooper and first performed on 11 June. They secured a record contract with Capitol Records, but Hooper left the band before the remaining trio moved to Los Angeles to record their debut album.
At Capitol's behest, the band's name was changed to Crowded House, which alluded to the lack of space at the small Hollywood Hills house they shared during the recording of the album Crowded House. Former Split Enz keyboardist Eddie Rayner produced the track "Can't Carry On" and was asked to join the band. He toured with them in 1988, but was unable to become a full member due to family commitments.

Early albums (1986–1990)

Thanks to their Split Enz connection, the newly formed Crowded House had an established Australasian fanbase. They began by playing at festivals in Australia and New Zealand and released their debut album, Crowded House, in August 1986. Capitol Records initially failed to see the band's potential and gave them only low-key promotion, forcing the band to play at small venues to try to gain attention. The album's first single, "Mean to Me", reached the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart top 30 in June. It failed to chart in the US, but moderate American airplay introduced US listeners to the group.
The next single, "Don't Dream It's Over", was released in October 1986 and proved an international hit, reaching number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one in Canada. New Zealand radio stations initially gave the song little support until months later when it became internationally successful. Ultimately, the song reached number one on the New Zealand singles chart and number eight in Australia. It remains the group's most commercially successful song.
In March 1987 the group were awarded "Best New Talent", along with "Song of the Year" and "Best Video" awards for "Don't Dream It's Over", at the inaugural ARIA Music Awards. The video also earned the group the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist that year. The song has often been covered by other artists and gave Paul Young a hit single in 1991. It was also used for a New Zealand Tourism Board advertisement in its "100% Pure New Zealand" worldwide promotion from October 2005. In May 2001, "Don't Dream it's Over" was voted seventh in a poll of the best Australian songs of all time by the Australasian Performing Right Association.
In June 1987, nearly a year after its release, Crowded House finally reached number one on the Kent Music Report Album Charts. It also reached number three in New Zealand and number twelve in the US. The follow-up to "Don't Dream it's Over", "Something So Strong", was another global hit, reaching the Top 10 in New Zealand, the United States and Canada. "World Where You Live" and "Now We're Getting Somewhere" were also released as singles with chart success.
As the band's primary songwriter, Neil Finn was under pressure to create a second album to match their debut and the band joked that one potential title for the new release was Mediocre Follow-Up. Eventually titled Temple of Low Men, their second album was released in July 1988 with strong promotion by Capitol Records. The album did not fare as well as their debut in the US, only reaching number 40 and selling around 200,000 copies, but it achieved Australasian success, reaching number one in Australia and number two in New Zealand. The first single, "Better Be Home Soon", peaked at number two on both Australian and New Zealand singles charts and reached the top 50 in the US. The following four singles were less successful.
Crowded House undertook a short tour of Australia and Canada to promote the album, with Eddie Rayner on keyboards. Multi-instrumentalist Mark Hart, who would eventually become a full band member, replaced Rayner in January 1989. After the tour, Finn fired Seymour from the band. Music journalist Ed Nimmervoll claimed that Seymour's temporary departure was because Finn blamed him for causing his writer's block; however, Finn cited "artistic differences" as the reason. Seymour said that after a month he contacted Finn and they agreed that he would return to the band.

Early 1990s (1991–1994)

Crowded House took a break after the Canadian leg of the Temple of Low Men tour. Neil Finn and his brother Tim recorded songs they had co-written for their own album, Finn. Following the recording sessions with Tim, Neil began writing and recording a third Crowded House album with Hester and Seymour, but these tracks were rejected by the record company, so Neil asked Tim if Crowded House could use the Finn songs. Tim jokingly agreed on the proviso that he become a member, which Neil apparently took literally. With Tim as an official member, the band returned to the studio.
The new tracks, as well as some from the previously rejected recordings were combined to make Woodface, which was released in July 1991. The album features eight tracks co-written by Neil and Tim, which feature the brothers harmonising on lead vocals, except on the sombre "All I Ask" on which Tim sang lead. The track was later used on AIDS awareness commercials in Australia. Five of the album's tracks were Neil's solo compositions and two were by Hester, the exuberant "Italian Plastic", which became a crowd favourite at concerts, and the hidden track "I'm Still Here".
"Chocolate Cake", a humorous comment on American excesses that was not taken well by some US critics and sections of the American public was released in June 1991 as the first single. It failed to chart in the US; however, it reached number two on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song peaked at number seven in New Zealand and reached the top 20 in Australia. The second single, "Fall at Your Feet", was less successful in Australia and New Zealand but did at least reach the US Hot 100. The album reached number one in New Zealand, number two in Australia, number six in the UK and made the top 20 in several other European countries. The third single from Woodface, "Weather With You", peaked at No. 7 in early 1992 giving the band their highest UK chart placement. By contrast, the album had limited success in the US, only reaching number 83 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart and selling 225,000 copies.
Despite the success of the album, Tim Finn left Crowded House suddenly part-way through the UK leg of the Woodface tour, a few hours before the band were due to play at King Tut's Club in Glasgow on 1 November 1991. Neil Finn noted that "on stage, it just didn't feel right for us or him. We're very off-the-cuff and conversational, whereas Tim is into creating a spectacle and the two approaches don't gel all that well... We'd all open our mouths at the same time and then stop and go, Oh, after you. From Tim's point of view it was quite a relief to put it all on the table, I think. For half the set he was standing there with his acoustic guitar, not really feeling part of it." Paul Hester commented that "both sides felt good about parting before it could get ugly".
Performances on the UK tour, at the Town and Country Club in London, were recorded live and given a limited release in Australia, while individual songs from those shows were released as B-sides of singles in some countries. In June 1993 the New Zealand government recommended that the Queen award an OBE to Neil and Tim Finn for their contribution to the music of New Zealand.
For their fourth album, Together Alone, Crowded House used producer Martin Glover and invited touring musician Mark Hart to become a permanent band member. The album was recorded at Karekare Beach, New Zealand, which gave its name to the opening track, "Kare Kare". The album was released in October 1993 and sold well internationally on the strength of lead single "Distant Sun" and follow-up "Private Universe". It topped the New Zealand Album Chart, reached number 2 in Australia and number 4 in the UK. "Locked Out" was the album's first US single and received airplay on MTV and VH1. This track and "My Sharona" by the Knack, which were both included on the soundtrack of the film Reality Bites, were bundled together on a jukebox single to promote the film soundtrack.