![Static Prevails, Clarity and Bleed American](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F411bd958-4ad2-4c9e-b2c8-56c7fa87df1e_600x600.jpeg)
![Static Prevails, Clarity and Bleed American](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb1586cd1-41ec-4a52-8123-b4d02b12d929_600x592.jpeg)
![Static Prevails, Clarity and Bleed American](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb99c6fbd-8818-455c-86d9-43f9764e997d_600x598.jpeg)
Let’s disappear
We’ll take a trip of no return to outer space
And swim in pools which keep us warm
Cleaned off the sand from off your feetWe’ll dance off time to the songs we’ve never liked
And sing off-key, thinking it sounds all right1996’s Static Prevails is actually Jimmy Eat World’s second album- their limited-edition debut being a joyous but simplistic yelp of Pop Punk. Static takes that initial get-up-and-go and blends it into something a bit more original. A little slower in places, a lot more thoughtful and a definitive starting point. It might contain my favourite song from the band. Rockstar absolutely soars with Jimmy’s combination of sensitivity and classic Rock determination. The band yells their passion from the rooftops.
Uniquely the album actually boasts two singers, guitarist Tom Linton taking lead on about half the songs alongside Jim Adkins. Tom would cease singing on later releases, which is honestly a shame. While Jim is a charismatic singer, there’s a richness and texture that comes from Tom’s vocal presence on this record. It makes it truly unique in their discography.
Static Prevails was famously a favourite of Blink-182’s Tom Delonge, having Episode IV played by the band at his wedding. Something a bit more wistful for the Punk kids to enjoy, a bridge between two worlds, and a wonderful album.
—
With that solid foundation, Clarity represents a bold step forward. Maturing into a more abstract mode, Clarity is rich, a multi-course meal, focused on layered instrumentation and experimentation. As the hilarious Adkins quote goes, “They were wheeling in timpani when we realized we had taken it a little too far.” Catchy crunch is still gladly present, especially on cute single Lucky Denver Mint, but the true standouts are the sweeping Indie symphonies. Goodbye Sky Harbour has been raved about for years, and rightly so. 16:13 of proggy excess, with a plucked refrain that may as well be played on an wing’d harp. Angular guitar, misty organs, even a glitchy robotic outro, it’s a true achievement and tender in a genuine way. You feel like you’re floating.
Clarity wasn’t panned in 1999, but it wasn’t exactly beloved either. It just sort of happened, and then Jimmy were ungraciously dropped from their label. The album has since become an absolute shining gem of the Emo genre, rightly praised for its ambition and sensitivity. With previously scathing outlets like Pitchfork (3.5) now soberly lining up to pay their respects with clunky “retrospective” reviews (8.6). It’s so easy to get it right 20 years later.
—
Having released their opus to absolute cultural indifference Jimmy circled the wagons. It was time to write some hits. They self-funded the recording of their next album Bleed American and honed their sound, distilling it down to Jimmy’s core elements of catchiness and heart-pulling melodies. Tight and unstoppable, the result was a US Top 20 album. Form the gutter to the stars.
And the World Trade Centre exploded. Not two months after the album released. Bleed American pre-empted the mix of patriotism, despair and nostalgia for a better world that would become 2001 and 2002. Modern, sleek, pop and punk, but chock full of heartland. John Mellencamp, Springsteen. Bleed American, bleed right now as the towers fall, but also bleed because you’re feeling something. The title was too potent. It was hastily changed to “Jimmy Eat World”, later reverted back once the dust had cleared. But America, the youth of America, was ready for Jimmy Eat World, to tell them that things would be alright.
The Middle was and is unavoidable. Number 1 on the Modern Rock charts, Number 5 on the Hot 100. A smash hit in the truest sense. I have mixed feelings on the song myself preferring the less verbose single Sweetness, but it was The Middle that took Emo from obscurity to Mainstream visibility. In November 2001 Taking Back Sunday hadn’t even started recording their first album. My Chemical Romance were barely even a band. Yet the blueprint for sad boys with pop guitars, for the popular conception of “Emo”, was here in The Middle. It turned a generation on to the sound. It was so positively written, so crystalline that Prince, Prince of all people has covered it.
Bleed American represents the vibrant commercial peak of a certain kind of alternative music, still beloved rightly today- and justifiably never forgotten.
I’m not planning on covering multiple albums in a single essay for many bands. But I couldn’t help myself when it comes to Jimmy Eat World. They just have too many good albums, too tightly packed together. Every record they’ve ever released is good, and every record they’ve released is worthy of love and attention. We could debate all day. I could have chosen any three random records from their discography. I don’t think there’s a single other band I can say that about.