Jimmy Eat World

Straight through the heart

Review Score:

(4/10)
You know the classic stories: a guy finds a letter from his lover in their house, and it says that she can't be the person she was for him anymore and she's moving on to bigger things. Then he sees her on T.V., being wooed by hundreds of suitors, adored by everybody, and he sits there -- angry because the person everybody is loving is not the person he was in love with. The person he loved is now dead and gone, and what he sees on T.V. is the "shell" that was once his all. No one is concerned with who she used to be. If they find out about her glamourless old life, they mock it. No one is concerned with those she left behind to claim her 15 minutes of fame. And those she left behind watch the old home movies, look at the photo albums, and remember the times when she was a good person.

I, much like many other people, felt the same way when this album was released. "Hello, we're Jimmy Eat World, and we're more concerned with money and prestige than self-respect, artistic expression, and fan loyalty. We named this album 'Bleed American' and later re-named it 'Jimmy Eat World,' but understand that for a long time we considered naming it 'Giving our true fans the finger.'"

This album gets two stars from me because "Hear You Me" is actually a pretty darn good song and "Bleed American" isn't too bad. The rest is the biggest travesty ever to be committed by a band of this type. And if you like this album and this review angers you . . . well, good.

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