Anniversary review: Jimmy Eat World – “Bleed American”

This review is part of a series looking back at significant albums on their anniversaries. Through the benefit of hindsight we will be viewing the album not just as it was released, but how it stands the test of time, as well as its place in the band’s discography and the genre in general.

DreamWorks – 24 July 2001

A great turning point in emo history turns 20!

Bleed American’s most notorious claim to fame is that it’s remembered as the album that temporarily changed its name because of 9/11.  Little is known about the decision to change the name, but it was likely either Jimmy Eat World or the label (probably the label) that chose to make the change and make the album the band’s second self-titled release before changing the title back to Bleed American in 2008.  Now, some of you who aren’t old enough to remember the bizarre overreactions following 9/11 might think to yourselves right now that the title Bleed American doesn’t seem to evoke images of the September 11^th attacks, nor do any of the lyrics remotely relate to the events of September 11, 2001, but there was a lot of walking on eggshells following the tragedy.  Pretty much any movie or TV show with a plot that involved planes was delayed, and stories started to circulate about an extensive list of “banned” songs that radio stations weren’t allowed to play.  According to Snopes, the infamous list wasn’t so much a list of banned songs, it was actually an internal memo circulated amongst stations owned by Clear Channel (now known as iHeartMedia), who were the largest owners of radio stations at the time, as they still are now, of songs that were “lyrically questionable” and which stations were advised, but not required, to avoid playing.  The extensive and bizarre list included such wacky inclusions as Dave Matthews Band’s “Crash Into Me,” Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” and literally every song by Rage Against the Machine.  It was into this melee of fear, confusion, grieving, and paranoia that one of the greatest emo albums of all time was thrust into.

The album’s opening title track (which was renamed “Salt, Sweat, Sugar” to coincide with the album’s name change) is musically compelling but lyrically offers a vague and weak critique of American consumer culture.  As someone whose life has literally been saved by psychiatric medication, I take particular offense to the repeated phrase in the song “I’m not crazy ‘cause I take the right pills every day.”  This was a more popular talking point in lyrics in the 2000’s when it was popular to write off medication for mental illness as an attempt to force everyone into conformity.  I feel like attitudes have generally shifted in the 2010’s to see this attitude as the ableism that it really is and to understand that mental illness requires the same attention as physical illness.  So the album doesn’t get off to the best start, but I promise it gets better.

The second song’s title, “A Praise Chorus,” references the fact that the chorus is a mishmash of lyrics from other songs, including They Might Be Giants, Madness, and two songs from The Promise Ring.  The line in the song “Davey sing me something that I know” is a reference to the fact that the band sent the song to The Promise Ring’s Davey von Bohlen to ask for help with lyrics for the chorus.  The song is a beautiful emo song that also serves as a tribute to the history of rock and roll.

“The Middle,” the third track on the album, and the second single released from the album, not only marks the song that Jimmy Eat World gained their first major mainstream success, it might have actually marked the point at which emo music went mainstream for the first time.  While the song is a little generic in its “Everything will be okay in the end” message, the young audience at the time needed a message like that and ate it up with a spoon.  Pretty much no song the band put out before or since has resonated so widely with so many people.

“Sweetness” is rumored to have originally been written for the band’s previous album, Clarity, but I have my doubts about that. The two albums have a very different style. Maybe the jangling guitars in the verses of “Sweetness” sound a bit like “For Me This is Heaven” sped up (if you squint, so to speak), but otherwise “Sweetness” is clearly a Bleed American track: heavier on the distortion, slicker, glossier, fun and fast!

One of the reasons I love this album is because, once you get past the big hit singles, you still have a great collection of deep cuts.  “Hear You Me” was never released as a single, but holds a very special place in my heart for its deep connection to my mom’s death for me, which is part of why I’m willing to forgive this album for its title track. “Hear You Me” is, by my standards, one of the most heart wrenching songs ever written about death by any artist in any genre. And if that sounds like a pretty bold statement that’s because it is. “If You Don’t, Don’t,” “Get it Faster,” and “Authority Song” are all incredibly fun songs and could have easily been hit lead singles on a lesser album.

This was the point where the dam was about to burst and emo was about to start flooding the mainstream. But, the way I see it, there were three waves of emo: 80’s DC hardcore emo, 90’s midwestern emo, and 2000’s-present pop-punk emo. Jimmy Eat World, along with bands like The Get Up Kids, Dashboard Confessional, The Promise Ring, and so on, really were a big steppingstone from the second wave to the third. And thus, Bleed American, Jimmy Eat World’s mainstream breakthrough album, represents one of the most pivotal moments in emo history. And whatever you have to say about what that pivot led to within modern emo, it’s hard to ignore the talent and artistry of this album.