Bleed American Dream

My life as I know it is in a flux; confusion reigns; a veritable coup d'état has begun. To explain myself I turn to, well, myself. In a blog post earlier this year I wrote:

I put my brother's CD sampler in my Discman and punched the track button till I heard the soon-to-be-familiar feedback swell of "Call It in the Air". Through pummeled power chords I heard a raspy Jim Adkins sing, "Leave home today / Escape your region" (I think that's what he sings, he's so hard to understand on that song). I instantly felt an aching yet compelling nostalgia that I hadn't felt since I heard "My Name is Jonas" for the first time; frankly, it frightened me. You see, at the time -- and throughout most of my junior and senior high school experience -- I was obsessed with Weezer. And any other band capable of evoking a feeling that I had only previously felt with Weezer was clearly a threat. I mean, think about it, if Jimmy Eat World became my new favorite band, then Weezer wouldn't be my favorite band anymore.

I declare that today, this seventh day of July, two-thousand-nine in the year of our Lord, Jimmy Eat World has become my All-Time Favorite Band. Perhaps, I make this declaration prematurely as the release of Weezer's purported seventh album is due later this year. However, I'm confident that Jimmy Eat World can hold their own against Weezer as the least of JEW's albums match and often exceed the greatness of Weezer's last four.

Furthermore, I want Jimmy Eat World to be my All-Time Favorite Band because I know they won't let me down.

A few things worth noting in video: Jim's voice cracking at 3:29, and the torrent of sweat Jim flips from his hair at the end of the song (of which I have been a victim many times). This song, "23", has been phasing me like no other:



You'll sit alone forever
If you wait for the right time
What are you hoping for?
I'm here I'm now I'm ready
Holding on tight
Don't give away the end
The one thing that stays mine


This video (and some others that I wanted to post but I couldn't because embedding was disabled) really epitomizes what I love about Jimmy Eat World: honest songwriting, sick guitar riffs, fantastic melodies, no frills, no gimmicks, no scandal, no sex appeal, just honest-to-goodness American rock. I can't think of another band that's worked as hard as Jimmy Eat World to get where they are based solely on their music.