I started listening to Futures on my way home from work. I live close, so I got to the start of Work when I pulled in. I loved jamming Just Tonight though. What a phenomenal abum.
I remember when I was on Absolutepunk and I kept seeing people say stuff like "hopefully this is better than the new JEW album"... I was like "what the hell is JEW?"; then I found out it meant Jimmy Eat World. I bought Damage (yes, Damage was my first JEW album; Appreciation was my first JEW song too) and I instantly fell in love with it. It was weird though because it was still pretty divided and there were a lot of people who didn't like it. I'm really happy to see Damage love happening now. It's a special record and is still my favorite the band has done.
I think because Jimmy Eat World has such a legendary catalog, pretty much from CTL forward their albums are going to be recieved pretty impatiently in terms of letting them sink in by fans. But eventually everyone loves them and we realize we're all dolts and JEW is genius
I gave Damage another spin yesterday and idk, just don't love the record. I think it's a pretty sizable step down from the previous four. I totally get why a lot of you love it so much, but I can't really relate to much of the subject material and it doesn't blow me away musically to make up for that.
i'm listening to all the JEW in my library on shuffle rn instead of sleeping damage is so fucking good, i love Appreciation
Yeah, I remember people not liking it. I think I went two weeks early with my review or something because I didn't want to be influenced by what other people thought of it. But maybe I over-hyped it for people because I gave it a 9.5. Haha Most of the other reviews around the web were pretty middling too, but none of them seemed to come from fans. They were all pretty dismissive and took not-so-subtle jabs at JEW for having emo roots/being famous for "The Middle." I remember being really pissed off by how that album was received, now that I think about it. Yep, I think it's a matter of unrealistic expectations. Lots of people didn't like Invented, either, which always confused me, since it's basically a greatest hits, new songs.
The subject material is basically all about break ups/failed relationships. I honestly can't think of a more relatable topic. If it doesn't click with you, it doesn't click. But it sounds odd to say that about this record.
plenty of people havent been in relationships that have failed. i have and thats why it hit home for me.
I think about when I was 15-16 (which is about the age of a lot of internet-dwelling music fans)... plenty of my classmates had never had a girlfriend, or they were still with their first girlfriend. My first serious break-up after a long-term relationship was when I was 15. But before that, I might not have been able to relate to Damage. Even in my late 20s I know people who have never had a break-up. Lots of music and internet "nerds" fit into that category.
The thing is that so much JEW is break-up songs, so if you don't relate to Damage, wouldn't you not relate to stuff like Chase This Light too?
Well, in a general sense, I love Damage because I relate to the lyrics. I love their other albums because the music sounds so good. I almost don't care too much about the meanings of any of their pre-Damage songs, outside of a few lines here and there that hit home, and I don't think you need to relate to the lyrics to enjoy the awesome, soaring choruses etc. They have never been a "lyrics" band to me which is why Damage was so special.
See, to me they've always been a lyrics band. That's part of the reason that it took me so long to get into Clarity, because it's less driven by the lyrics and more by the music/arrangements. I definitely see how you could be drawn in just by the music though.
The only thing I don't get about Damage is why everyone loves "No, Never" - I remember AltPress raving about it, everyone here loves it, and it's such a low impact JEW song for me.