While many people might think it's silly to write an obituary/tribute to a group of men who I only met a handful of times and can never really claim to have known, those people have never been touched by music in a way I consider myself beyond lucky to have experienced.

Music that influences how you dress, how you think, how you see the world, but perhaps most importantly how you listen to music to begin with. Music that moves you in the deepest part of your soul. Music that changes your life.

The Black Crowes were that band for me.

I bought every album since 1992 on the day it was released. I saw them live 39 times across 11 different states and 22 years. Taped and traded hundreds of bootleg tapes. They were my fucking band from the time I was in high school through my 20's, 30's and now as I fast approach 40.

It would be pointless to even try and list all the music I would never have been exposed to if it weren't for the Black Crowes. A third of my record collection wouldn't exist. That's probably been the greatest gift. That, and the countless friendships I've made online and in the real world. It felt like a community because it really was a community.

All bands break up. It's inevitable. It's also 99% inevitable they'll get back together. A band like the Black Crowes shouldn't break up over money though. That's the saddest part of all. A band that's spent a quarter of a century branding themselves as the last purveyors of integrity go out over shares and percentage points like they're a fucking corporation.

Corporations don't have souls. I don't want to believe the Crowes never did. I refuse to. At least let me hang onto that...