In Defense of the Band: Jimmy Eat World
In which I defend my desire to listen to singers, musicians, artists, bands and groups that are pretty generally regarded as fucking lame.
I like Jimmy Eat World…alot. I have most of their recorded output. I even listen to Singles, the collection of their indie output, with some regularity. I know that they’re mainstream, whiny and the band that a lot of people bring up when they want to talk about shitty emo bands. But fuck it, I don’t care.
Despite starting out on indie labels, Jimmy Eat World never really seemed to care much about indie cred etc. They were playing emocore before anyone knew what that was and had pretty much abandoned it by the time the haters started pulling ranks. They signed to Capitol Records during the first big round of emo signings in the mid-90s and quite unceremoniously dropped before the turn of the century. What’s more, their last record for the label, Clarity, is considered a stone-cold classic amongst their peers and fans (and “Lucky Denver Mint” is one of my favourite all time songs). Spin Magazine just published a story about the annoying emo whine that every punk band seems resigned to copy these days, and almost every singer interviewed points to Jim Adkins, Jimmy Eat World’s lead singer as an inspiration. They all want their voices to convey as much emotion as his.
The band’s commercial peak, Bleed American, a VERY radio ready slab of plastic was purposely a step towards the mainstream funded by the band themselves. They decided to make the leap and it paid off big time. Despite this flirtation with the mainstream, they’ve since seemed content to be too indie for the masses, to commercial for indie scenesters, entertaining a mixed bag of old-school fans and 15-year olds fawning over their blissfully sincere lyrics. And those lyrics on paper, are like a high-school diary. So yeah, kids make heart shapes with their hands at their shows (I know cause I’ve seen them twice), and yeah, they’re on a major label. But like Counting Crow’s Adam Duritz, when Jim Adkins sings, you fucking believe.
Believe kids, believe.
What ? Jimmy Eat World are great just great ! I am still waking up with Sweetness everyday ! Not to mention that “Pain” is always on the track list on my favourite football team . I think that Jimmy are way too underrated . Who cares how they call them , emo , someone that hates them without hearing them just because he heard they were emo -_- stupid ! I think that Jimmy achieved enough fame for themselves , featured in not one or two video games and television series .
I love Jimmy Eat World. thanks for this post.
I’ve never seen the counting crows live before. And they’re touring with Maroon 5 now? That’d be an awesome concert to see because I just love Adam Duritz’s style! I wonder if they played in Phoenix yet?