Every Jimmy Eat World Album: Ranked From Worst To Best

...And everything in The Middle.

Jimmy Eat World
Flickr

Jimmy Eat World is a band who have always embraced substance over style. Which is why their brand of emo/alt rock/power pop still sounds as good today as it did back when they were just a bunch of upstart trailblazers on the emocore scene.

They've managed to transcend a genre that's famous for producing music you wouldn't be caught dead listening to 10 years later. Hindsight isn't usually kind to these bands, but it's always played favorites with Jimmy Eat World.

The release of a new J.E.W. album is always cause for celebration. And the band's forthcoming Integrity Blues - their first since 2013's severely overlooked Damage - sounds like it could be one of their best yet.

Two singles have been released thus far: "Get Right" - a dark, menacing slow burner that J.E.W. does better than any active rock band - and "Sure and Certain", another shining example of the band's aptitude for thoughtful power pop.

But where will the album fit into the band's already stellar discography? That remains to be seen. For now, let's take a jaunty stroll down memory lane and relive Jimmy Eat World's .

8. Jimmy Eat World (1994)

Jimmy Eat World
Wooden Blue

As an outright album, Jimmy Eat World's no-frills debut isn't great. But it's also a fascinating artifact from an evolutionary standpoint. At the very least, its rough-and-tumble punk energy shows that they, like all great bands, have mastered the art of metamorphosis.

The album is out of print, and has been for quite some time, meaning the only way to get your hands on this one is to head down to your local record shop. (Or you can search for it on YouTube, if you're one of those people.) It also means that the band isn't particularly interested in rehashing the growing pains featured on this album.

And while those pains are very, very real, they're also coated with a sincerity that makes the whole experience go down much easier than it probably should.

This is a straight-ahead punk album in the vein of Social Distortion or NOFX, but the occasional mellow moments sprinkled throughout - the rambling bass on "Patches" and the spacey breakdown on "Usery" - hint at a part of J.E.W.'s genetic code that would be further revealed on each subsequent release.

There are a couple of great songs here ("Scientific", the aforementioned "Patches"), but this self-titled album is only for the completists.

Contributor

Jacob is a part-time contributor for WhatCulture, specializing in music, movies, and really, really dumb humor.