Jimmy Eat World, the "Chicago" For My Future Kids

One of my favorite memories growing up was listening to the band Chicago with my dad. Whenever I drove anywhere with him I could always count on listening to some Chicago. I use to think he sounded just like Peter Cetera (the old lead singer of Chicago) when he would sing along with them. As I got older I too started to sing along and now I know almost all the lyrics to many of Chicago's best songs. My dad loves these guys so much that last March he got the opportunity to sing with them on stage at one of their shows. He likes other artists as well, but I've never heard him listen to anyone else as much as Chicago. Because he loved them so much I have grown to love them as well, and their music has become a way of bonding with my dad and my brothers.

           Here he is, fulling a life long dream!




A few weeks ago I had Pandora on and the Jimmy Eat World song "Kill" came on. It had a been little while since I had listened to any of their songs so I decided to listen to the whole album on my way to school that night. Since then I've been jamming out almost everywhere I go to them, and I was reminded how much I love their music. While listening to them one night I decided that they were my "Chicago"; they are the band that I never get sick of. The band that when ever I hear one of their songs I will always stop and sing along to it. Even though I've seen them play live numerous times I never get sick of going to their shows. They are the band that my kids are going to grow up hearing me listen to over and over again, and maybe one day they will see their dad singing with them! (Probably not though because I don't think they do that, but still it would be pretty awesome.)

When I was about 9 years I was on the way home from a fathers n sons camp out with my dad and brothers when I first heard about the band Jimmy Eat World. My brother had been listening to them on his walk men on the car ride home when my dad asked him what he was listening to. Being only 9 at the time, when he said the name Jimmy Eat World, I remember thinking that it was such a funny name.

About a year later their second album, Clarity, was released and this was my first real exposure to their music. All three of my older brothers would play this album through out the house, and I found myself singing words like "and how long would it take me, to walk across the United States" and "can you still feel the butterflies". At this point in my life I didn't really listen to music too much. I pretty much only listened to whatever my family around me was listening to, and Jimmy Eat World was very popular at this time. So since I didn't really have my music style yet when kids my age at school would ask me what music I liked I would always say Jimmy Eat World, but none of them ever knew who they were.

A few more years went by and they released another album called Bleed American. This was their break through album, and all of the sudden everyone knew who they were. I remember bragging to people that I use to listen to them before everyone else did, even though I had really only just listened to it when I was with my brothers (but that still counts, right?). Throughout those next few years I had always liked Jimmy, but it wasn't until my freshmen year when I started to love them. That year for Christmas my brother Myke gave me the album Clarity for Christmas. This was the stage in my life were my music collection and interests really started to increase, and Clarity was one of the few CD's I actually had. I fell in love with it and I listened to it non stop. I had a routine that every Friday while I was showering and getting ready to go to school I would listen to this CD. I think I had just about every single word memorized. Around this time I also really started getting into their first album Static Prevails, and Bleed American. 

When I started running track later in my freshmen year Static Prevails became the CD I would listen to while I was warming up for my events. That became routine that last for the next four years while I ran track in high school.

The beginning of my sophomore year they released their fourth album, Futures. This album came out just as I was starting to drive, date, and all the other fun stuff that comes along with being 16. This album accompanied me on many of these adventures. Over the next few years I listened and jammed out to these albums numerous times, and I went to my first Jimmy concert when I was 17. I had a ton of friends who also really loved them, and we would spend nights rocking out to them and debating which song was the best.

Their next album Chase This Light, came out in October of 2007, right before I left on my mission. I didn't get a whole lot of time to listen to it but I immediately loved it, and when I got home it was one of the first albums I started listening to.

Jimmy playing at the Tempe Block Party on New Years Eve 2010! 

When their 6th album, Invented, came out Taylor and I had just started dating, and we listened to it a lot together, and whenever I hear one of the songs from it I am taken back to those days. Each album has built upon the last and added a new unique sound.They are a band that I will listen to for the rest of my life, and my kids will get the opportunity to hear their dad sing along to his favorite band, just like I grew up listening to my dad sing to his favorite band!

To end this tribute to my favorite band I thought it would be fun to pick out some of favorite Jimmy Eat World songs. There are so many great ones, and it was really hard to just pick 10, but here they are:

10. Bleed American 

Album: Bleed American

9. Claire 

Album: Static Prevails 

8. Let it Happen

 Album: Chase this Light

7. Dizzy 

Album: Chase this Light

6. Lucky Denver Mint 

Album: Clarity 

5. Carry You 

Album: Chase this Light

4. Kill

Album: Futures 

4. Blister

Album: Clarity 

2. For Me This is Heaven 

Album: Clarity 

1. Work

Album: Futures 

Honorable Mentions: 23, Hear You Me, My Sundown, Always Be, Rock Star, Thinking That's All, Goodbye Sky Harbor, Movie Like, Little Things, Mixed Tape



If anyone else enjoys them as much as I do what are some of your favorite Jimmy songs?

Or what is your "Chicago"?