In 1994, Friends made its television debut on NBC and turned all six of its lead actors into extremely famous people seemingly overnight, with Jennifer Aniston being its real breakout star. One year later, when Aniston and Rachel Green, the character she played on the beloved sitcom, got a haircut, millions of women were begging their hairstylists to give them “The Rachel,” too. Basically, Friends was the biggest thing on television, and news that one of its stars bought an apple at the grocery store could be teased out into a 2,500-word front-page feature. Yet Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz claims he had no idea who the hell Aniston was when they started dating in 1995.
Honestly, the timeline here seems suspicious. But ET had the opportunity to sneak a peek at Dark Side of the ’90s, VICE TV’s new docuseries, and shared Duritz’s comments on how he first met Aniston and how they got together. The story goes like this: The Counting Crows found fame the same year that Johnny Depp opened The Viper Room, which became a celebrity hotspot. It was one of Duritz’s favorite haunts, and he admitted that he could be found there almost every night. And that is where he met the Friends star (who, remember, was starring on Friends at that time, so was already a mega-celebrity).
“A bunch of my friends lied to me and told me she had a crush on me,” Duritz explained. “Those same friends lied to her and told her I had a crush on her. I honestly had no idea who she was, I had been on the road during all of Friends. I had never seen it, I don’t think.”
Maybe it was Duritz’s lack of being wowed by the superstar that was part of the attraction, as they were definitely considered an oddball mix at the time. “It didn’t last very long, but she’s a nice girl,” Duritz said of their short-lived romance.
Oddly, for someone who didn’t watch Friends, Duritz certainly had an affinity for its female stars. In 1997, he and Courteney Cox also had a brief romance after Cox appeared in the band’s music video for “A Long December.”
The ‘90s were weird, man.
(Via ET)