History Music / JimmyEatWorld

** "Kill" mentions the band [[Music/ElliottSmith Heatmiser]] and a line from their song "Half Heart" on the second verse. They would later cover that track, which appears in the ''Stay on My Side Tonight'' EP.

* ShoutOut: "A Praise Chorus" references lyrics Tommy James and the Shondells, Music/{{Madness|Band}}, Music/MotleyCrue, Music/TheyMightBeGiants, Bad Company, and The Promise Ring. The line "Come on Davey/Sing me something that I know" is also a shout-out to Davey von Bohlen, The Promise Ring's singer and close friend of the band, who provides backing vocals for that song.

Unfortunately, their major-label contract was too good to last, as the band were dropped by Capitol due to poor album sales and ExecutiveMeddling. While most bands would break up or toil in obscurity after these kinds of setbacks, Jimmy Eat World had one of the biggest comebacks of their time when they released ''Bleed American'' in 2001. Containing several singles that made the Billboard Modern Rock chart and had heavy rotation on MTV, most notably the chart-topping song "The Middle", the album would ultimately elevate emo from a small in-the-know indie scene to one of the biggest genres of the decade. Not bad for an album recorded entirely on the band's dime while they were looking for a new recording contract.

Unfortunately, their major-label contract was too good to last, as the band were dropped by Capitol due to poor album sales and ExecutiveMeddling. While most bands would break up or toil in obscurity after these kinds of setbacks, Jimmy Eat World had one of the biggest comebacks of their time when they released ''Bleed American'' in 2001. Containing several singles that made the Billboard Modern Rock chart and had heavy rotation on MTV, most notably the chart-topping song "The Middle", the album essentially brought emo from being an underground scene to one of the biggest genres of the decade. Not bad for an album recorded entirely on the band's dime while they were looking for a new recording contract.

* SongStyleShift: "Pass the Baby" is their most straight example of this, starting out as a dark TripHop-inspired electro song, that gradually builds up into a full HardRock ending.

* LyricalDissonance: "Pain" is a {{silly love song|s}} with an aggressive, minor-key melody.

->''Can you still hear the butterflies?''
->''Can you still hear the last goodnight?''

* ShoutOut: "A Praise Chorus" references lyrics Tommy James and the Shondells, Music/{{Madness}}, Music/MotleyCrue, Music/TheyMightBeGiants, Bad Company, and The Promise Ring. The line "Come on Davey/Sing me something that I know" is also a shout-out to Davey von Bohlen, The Promise Ring's singer and close friend of the band, who provides backing vocals for that song.

* EmoMusic: They played a major role, along with Music/{{Weezer}}, in bringing emo into the mainstream. In fact, they could be seen as the direct link between the genre's underground and mainstream eras.

* RecordProducer: Mark Trombino produced ''Clarity'', ''Bleed American'' and ''Invented''. Music/ThePixies producer Gil Norton produced ''Futures'', and {{Music/Nirvana}} producer Butch Vig produced ''Chase This Light''. In recent years, Justin Meldal-Johnsen took the role of producer for ''Integrity Blues'' and ''Surviving''.

* EgocentricTeamNaming: Averted, even if lead singer Jim Adkins serves as the [[invoked]]FaceOfTheBand. The band was actually named after an incident from Tom Linton's childhood where his brothers Jim and Ed were fighting, and Ed ran into his room after being beaten by Jim and took revenge by drawing a picture of Jim shoving the Earth into his mouth with the caption "Jimmy eat world".

* EgocentricTeamNaming: Averted, even if lead singer Jim Adkins serves as the FaceOfTheBand. The band was actually named after an incident from Tom Linton's childhood where his brothers Jim and Ed were fighting, and Ed ran into his room after being beaten by Jim and took revenge by drawing a picture of Jim shoving the Earth into his mouth with the caption "Jimmy eat world".

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: Their biggest hit, "The Middle" is just three chords. That's not to say that it doesn't also have an {{Epic Riff}} though.

** This is because the title received some flak in the wake of 9/11, so ''Bleed American'' had to be reissued as a SelfTitledAlbum and the title track was renamed "Salt Sweat Sugar". However, this decision would later be reversed.

* {{Emo}}: They played a major role, along with Music/{{Weezer}}, in bringing Emo into the mainstream.

-->--'''"For Me This Is Heaven"'''

[[caption-width-right:350:Left to Right: Jim Adkins, Rick Burch, Zach Lind, Tom Linton]]

-->''When the time we have now ends''
-->''And when the big hand goes round again''
-->''Can you still hear the butterflies?''
-->''Can you still hear the last goodnight?''

Jimmy Eat World is an AlternativeRock[=/=]PopPunk[=/=]{{Emo}} band from Mesa, Arizona. They were formed in 1993 when singer/guitarist Jim Adkins and drummer Zach Lind, [[ChildhoodFriends who had been friends since kindergarten]], formed a band with guitarist/singer Tom Linton and bassist [[ThePeteBest Mitch Porter]]. They released their first SelfTitledAlbum in 1994 on indie label Wooden Blue records. The record was mostly sloppy punk rock, with Tom singing lead vocals on all but one song, and the album has long been [[CanonDiscontinuity out of print]]. Soon after, Mitch Porter left the band and was replaced by Rick Burch.

After cutting their teeth in the indie scene, Jimmy Eat World got a major label contract with Creator/CapitolRecords and recorded two classic albums, ''Static Prevails'' and ''Clarity'', which were both highly influential on the rising emo scene. ''Clarity'' in particular was considered one of the best records of TheNineties for its epic, sprawling, and experimental sound, especially in the 16-minute album closer "Goodbye Sky Harbor". It also is known for being the first album to feature Jim on lead vocals - he has been their lead singer for all of their later albums.

Unfortunately, their major-label contract was too good to last, as the band were dropped by Capitol due to poor album sales and ExecutiveMeddling. While most bands would break up or toil in obscurity after this kind of thing, Jimmy Eat World had one of the biggest comebacks in recent years when they released ''Bleed American'' in 2001, which contained their chart-topper "The Middle". The album had several singles that made the Billboard Modern Rock chart and had heavy rotation on MTV, essentially bringing emo from being an underground scene to one of the biggest genres of the 00's. Pretty good for an album that was recorded entirely on the band's dime while they were looking for a new recording contract.

The band toured with Music/Blink182 and Music/GreenDay in 2001, and recorded their follow-up ''Futures'' in 2004. Although the album was not quite as successful because of its [[DarkerAndEdgier darker and heavier sound]], it still had some airplay on rock radio with the singles "Work" and "Pain". Although the band has lost a bit of their popularity over the years, they still have a dedicated fanbase and play one hell of a live show. They've also recorded several more albums since then, most notably ''Chase This Light'' in 2007 and ''Invented'' in 2010. ''Chase This Light'' shows a return to the poppy sound of ''Bleed American'', while ''Invented'' seems to be a mix of everything they've done over the years, combining the heavy rock of ''Futures'', the catchy singles of ''Bleed American'' and the experimental edge of ''Clarity''.

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'''Discography'''

* ''Bleed American'' (2001)

* LyricalDissonance: "Pain," which is a {{silly love song|s}} with an aggressive, minor-key melody.

After cutting their teeth in the indie scene, Jimmy Eat World got a major label contract with Creator/CapitolRecords and recorded two classic albums, ''Static Prevails'' and ''Clarity'', which were both highly influential on the rising emo scene. ''Clarity'' in particular was considered one of the best records of the 90's for its epic, sprawling, and experimental sound, especially in the 16-minute album closer "Goodbye Sky Harbor". It also is known for being the first album to feature Jim on lead vocals - he has been their lead singer for all of their later albums.

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: While all their albums have a certain Jimmy Eat World sound, they take influences from emo, punk, alternative rock, classic rock, and indie. This is best shown on the {{Genre Roulette}} album ''Clarity''.

* FunWithAcronyms: Also averted in that the band probably didn't give much thought to the fact that the initials of their name spell out "[[YouHaveToHaveJews JEW]]." [[https://twitter.com/jimmyeatworld/status/1022978628647186432?s=19 The band lampshaded this in a tweet about how they realized this well after the fact.]]

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: On average, they are around a 4 to 5, with songs like "Drugs or Me" and "12.23.95" being down to 1 while songs like "Nothingwrong", "Get Right" and "Bleed American" go up into a 6.
** "Pass the Baby" goes over the scale, with the beginning of the song starting down on a 1-2 while building up to the heavy ending that goes to a 7.