Reading over Scott's post on Jimmy Eat World's upcoming live performances of Clarity, I got to thinking. First of all, this is a great idea for the band. When I saw them open for the Foo Fighters earlier this year, I was surprised they played "Blister." Since they have done three albums since Clarity, I figured set lists were becoming less on material from their second and third albums. (As an amusing side note, I'm curious if they'd ever try to play their first album, a turbo-charged pop-punk collection, front to back live.)
As somebody who was very much a Jimmy Eat World fan back when Clarity came out, I'm very happy that these shows are happening. If they came anywhere close to where I live, I'd try to see the show. The response to Clarity was not like Jawbreaker's Dear You was received. It was not almost-universally-hated when it came out in early 1999. Quite different. There was something very special about this record that, aside from a few tracks, sounded quite different from their previous record, Static Prevails. Clarity is still my favorite Jimmy Eat World record, closely followed by Static Prevails. Heck, there was a time when that record was my favorite record of all time. That has since changed, but not drastically.
I'm not making light of the band's popularity with 2001's Bleed American. It's just Clarity hit me at the right time and right place in my life, and simply, that time has passed. I wanted to honor that time in the Jimmy Eat World chapter in POST. Rather than dance around why the band was so hot in 2002, I chose to spotlight how their levelheaded, humble nature kept them from becoming another rock 'n' roll casualty.
So, major kudos to the band for this.
As somebody who was very much a Jimmy Eat World fan back when Clarity came out, I'm very happy that these shows are happening. If they came anywhere close to where I live, I'd try to see the show. The response to Clarity was not like Jawbreaker's Dear You was received. It was not almost-universally-hated when it came out in early 1999. Quite different. There was something very special about this record that, aside from a few tracks, sounded quite different from their previous record, Static Prevails. Clarity is still my favorite Jimmy Eat World record, closely followed by Static Prevails. Heck, there was a time when that record was my favorite record of all time. That has since changed, but not drastically.
I'm not making light of the band's popularity with 2001's Bleed American. It's just Clarity hit me at the right time and right place in my life, and simply, that time has passed. I wanted to honor that time in the Jimmy Eat World chapter in POST. Rather than dance around why the band was so hot in 2002, I chose to spotlight how their levelheaded, humble nature kept them from becoming another rock 'n' roll casualty.
So, major kudos to the band for this.
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