Every Jimmy Eat World Album: Ranked From Worst To Best
2. Bleed American (2001)
"It just takes some time. Little girl, you're in the middle of the ride. Everything - everything - will be just fine. Everything - everything - will be all right."
Those are the words that catapulted Jimmy Eat World onto mainstream rock radio, and changed the career directory of everyone's favorite emo band for good. "The Middle" may not be your - or the band's - favorite song, but it would be almost impossible to envision the band still going strong to this day without it.
There's nothing especially complex going on in this album - lyrically or otherwise - as the band ditches their fuzzy, atmospheric tendencies in favor of thick slices of poppy rock and roll. They weren't beating around the bush anymore. There are fewer traces of Fugazi and NOFX and more allusions to Tom Petty and REO Speedwagon.
From start to finish, there are no bad songs. Not a single one. Hell, there's not even a bad part of a song on this album. That said, there's nothing quite as engaging as "Just Watch the Fireworks" and certainly nothing as epic as "Goodbye Sky Harbor".
But it doesn't matter. Because like Tom Petty's classic Damn the Torpedoes, Bleed American's simplicity is its biggest asset.