Had a skater kid give me a mix CD and sweetness was on it and then my best friend/older brother figure bought bleed American in 2003-4 and that made me get it because I just wanted to copy whatever he was into. but the first thing I got on my own was Futures
I first heard them bc they played Tom Delonge’s wedding, so I downloaded a couple songs from Clarity on Limewire. and then they achieved greater mainstream success with Bleed American. Their first album I actually -purchased- was Futures. Prior, I had only downloaded their music I eventually purchased all of their records tho!
My man. I had heard JEW I think on MTV with The Middle or possibly even Sweetness. They might have played on the local rock station which was 107.7 the X. Maybe? Either way..... I had been Limewiring songs of theirs out of order. I had most of Bleed American and found a fascination to this band and I wanted more of. I think I found Believe in What You Want and Lucky Denver Mint and had them in my collection and ended up burning all of that to a CD. Songs were not in album order. At some point I finally had the official Bleed American track list and that was euphoric. Never did the rest of Clarity in that era of me. Don't think I knew what albums they had. I would have been 15/16 years old. Time goes on and I'm anxiously waiting Futures to come out. I find out Just Tonight is coming to Burnout 3 and I'm stoked. The game released before Futures does so its maybe the first song I hear from the album. Goated song on a goated album put into a goated game. Take me back. (I've typed this story before here but I love typing it again!)
I had heard the Tom wedding story, but something clicked for me when I read the topline Rolling Stone review of Bleed American, back when being the lead review in that section really meant something. Jimmy Eat World: Bleed American : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone I was 16. Drove 30 miles because I lived in the sticks and was going to see American Pie 2 at a theater where we could sneak into R-rated movies. Stopped at Best Buy on the way home and bought this album. And it changed my damn life.
Wow, that reads like a retrospective review you'd see published today by an outlet that ragged on the album when it was released. Surprised to see someone "get it" and explain what makes JEW different and great so clearly, at a time when emo was so derided, in such a huge publication.
Bout halfway thru the bandsplain and it def put me in the mood to revisit some stuff. Clarity is just incredible and it blows my mind every day that a not insignificant portion of this website puts later stuff ahead of it. I tapped out on the album after Futures and am interested in scoping those this week, but even Futures is a tick down the scale for me. No doubt in my mind Clarity is one of the most impressive records ever made by anyone, it’s just the biggest swing possible and basically doesn’t miss even once during an over hour long runtime. There’s nothing else like it. My hot take on Futures is some of the songs are better on the deluxe demos. The Kill demo is just unbelievable, as is the Work demo with the fake super compressed drums. I understand why the real thing is way more polished, but the rawness of the demos does them SO well.
I'd wager that most people have it in their top 3 Jimmy, certainly from the rankings that have been posted.
Futures used to be my favorite album of all time from like 2018 - 2023 but as I’ve grown older, I’ve been increasingly impressed by Clarity and it’s been my favorite album ever since. The two are pretty much untouchable titans in my mind.
Clarity is favourite-album-ever tier and Bleed American & Futures could also enter the conversation for me.
Futures is it for me because that was the first new album I got to experience as a fan. Flawless record
It’s a great listen but only if all you care about is Clarity and Bleed American. Could’ve used another hour of highlighting the other stuff, too.
That’s my big complaint with this podcast in general. IMO, the guests should be the freaks who love everything and can go deep on the late-period albums almost no one else cares about. I think I once said @phaynes12 should have been the guest on the Oasis pod.
I get both sides of it. There are def bands where it annoys me when they yada yada it but they’re basically the podcast form of reading the main page of a band’s Wikipedia. It has always been the formation of the band and the big albums bc it’s catered more to people who don’t really know much about the bands than it is for the heads
Also it’s not like they didn’t get a great guest, CR is one of the best people you can have on your pod and his pavement and (I can’t believe I’m saying this) blur episodes are great
I am excited to hear CR talk Jimmy Eat World, even if Futures gets short shrift. That said, your podcast is called “Bandsplain.” Find someone who can ‘splain the whole story.
I get what you’re saying but it is explain the band, which they’re doing. It isn’t deep dive every album the band has put out haha. It’s basically just spark notes.
But, like, why do it if you’re just going to recount the most well-trodden parts of the history? The Third Eye Blind episode was particularly bad, because it was just retreading stories already told a hundred other articles or retrospectives about the first album. IMO, explaining the one album from the band everyone has already heard is not living up to the title of the podcast.