Bleed American is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Jimmy Eat World, released on July 24, 2001, by DreamWorks Records. The album was re-released as Jimmy Eat World following the September 11 attacks; that name remained until 2008, when it was re-released with its original title returned.
Following the commercial failure and lack of recognition for their third studio album Clarity (1999) from Capitol Records, Jimmy Eat World were dropped by the label in late 1999. Aside from working odd jobs, the band toured to raise money for their next album. It was recorded with Mark Trombino and the band served as producers in October and November 2000 at the Cherokee and Harddrive studios in Los Angeles, respectively. The musical style was more direct and accessible than its predecessor, with simpler chord structures.
"Bleed American" was released to radio on June 5, 2001, as the album's lead single, coinciding with Jimmy Eat World's tours of Australia and Japan (the latter supporting Eastern Youth). After appearing on the East Coast dates of the Warped Tour, the band supported Blink-182 and Weezer. "The Middle" was released as a single in October 2001. The band went on a headlining European tour in early 2002, followed by a Japanese tour, leading up to a two-month support slot for Blink-182 and Green Day on their Pop Disaster Tour. "Sweetness" was released as the third single on June 3, 2002. The band supported Incubus in Australia, before embarking on headlining tours of the UK and the US. "A Praise Chorus" was released as a promotional single during 2002.
Each single from Bleed American entered the top twenty of at least one US chart. The most successful was "The Middle", which reached number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and number five on the Billboard Hot 100. In August2002, Bleed American was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after its sales reached over one million copies. As of September2016, the album has sold over 1.6million copies in the US. Bleed American was well-received by critics and appeared on several publications' best-of-the-year album lists, by the likes of CMJ New Music Report and Q, as well as all-time lists by publications such as Consequence of Sound, NME and Spin.
Background
In February1999, Jimmy Eat World released their third studio album, Clarity, through Capitol Records. Capitol began to shelve the album until radio stations started playing the song "Lucky Denver Mint", which became its second track. The release of the album marked the end of their two-record deal with the label, which was made official in August1999. Drummer Zach Lind recalled that the label "really didn't believe in us. But in a way, that was sort of a good thing, because it let us take control of what we needed to do. We learned we had to do it ourselves, because no one else would do it for us."
Due to a lack of funds, the members had taken up odd jobs: Adkins sold art supplies; Tom Linton did construction work; Rick Burch sold auto parts; and Lind worked at a car dealership.
Recording
Bleed American was produced by Mark Trombino and Jimmy Eat World. and Clarity (1999). He had struck up a brotherly relationship with the band; he reacted positively to the demos that Adkins had played him. but the money budgeted for the record was insufficient. Trombino offered to work for free until after the album's production, confident he would be reimbursed by the album's predicted commercial success. Recording sessions took place in Los Angeles, California in October2000. Clark Robertson, who had been in a band that Linton saw live, rented equipment on the band's behalf.
The drums were recorded at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, which proved costly to the group. The band took a brief break to tour with Jebediah for two and a half weeks, including a performance at CMJ New Music Marathon festival, before returning to Los Angeles. As Lind was writing a check to cover the cost of mixing, he was worried they were close to bankruptcy, and hoped it would not bounce. They intentionally strayed away from the complex writing of Clarity for simpler structures. emo pop, pop-punk According to Adkins, the band called the album Bleed American as it and the title track dealt with "chang[ing] one's life for the better", and as such that theme "runs throughout the entire album". He also stated that people "all too often get caught up with things they don't really need. America just needs to be a strong bloodletting process". Journalist Alex Rice felt that its loud-quiet structure and lyrics about the disillusionment of youth recalled "Thinking, That's All", the opening track from Static Prevails. When writing "A Praise Chorus", the band were stuck on the bridge section; they sent it to Davey von Bohlen (of the Promise Ring) who wrote a bridge referencing various songs, The new wave-esque "The Middle" includes a guitar solo that, according to Adkins, was a homage to Doug Gillard of Guided by Voices and their song "I Am a Tree". Its lyrics speak about "fitting in" and self-acceptance; Adkins wrote the song in response to an email from a fan who felt they were "not punk enough".
"Your House" details the pain of a break-up, cutting all communication with the person, and is reminiscent of the work of Versus. The drum parts were played in unison by Lind, Adkins and Trombino, as Lind wanted something similar to a marching band. "Sweetness" was one of the songs that Adkins had more doubts about because of its lyrical content: "I just had this melody in my head and I was demoing it and singing it and kind of having a hard time with it. I almost didn't bring it to the band because I was thinking to myself, 'I can't just say nothing. I can't just use all these sort of alyrical whoahs for this much of a song.'" The drum beat was done in the style of U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr.; it incorporates influences from post-hardcore and second-wave emo.
"Hear You Me" is a tribute to Mykel and Carli Allan, two popular Weezer fans, who died in a car accident while returning home after a concert. The guitarwork uses a countermelody against the vocals; it includes a piano, organ, horns and Haden's vocals. "Get It Faster" opens with a minute of drum fills, which were programmed in the PlayStation game MTV Music Generator. "Cautioners" is a five-minute electropop song that meshes electronica and rock. The title and lyrics of "The Authority Song" are a direct reference to "Authority Song" by John Cougar Mellencamp, and it also contains a reference to Automatic, an album by the Jesus and Mary Chain. It deals with being half-open with a person one is not too familiar with. During this period, DreamWorks Records' A&R executive Luke Wood monitored the band's potential from when they became free agents and offered to help them.
By this stage, the band had enlisted a new booking agent and secured management under John Silva, whose team included Gary Gersh, the former president of Capitol Records. Despite these new representatives, Lind continued acting as the band's de facto manager, a role he had been doing for two years by that point. With professional representation in place, the band entered formal discussions in Los Angeles and New York City in March2001 with several labels, including Hollywood Records, Drive-Thru Records (and later its parent, MCA Records), Sire Records, Atlantic Records, and RCA Records. The renewed interest extended to Capitol itself, though negotiations did not progress after the band requested the return of their master recordings and release from prior financial obligations. The level of industry competition was described by participants as a bidding war,
On May 21, 2001, Bleed American was announced for release later in the year. It was made available for streaming on July 19, 2001, before being released five days later. Adkins was a fan of Eggleston, going as far as to dub him the "father of color photography". Out of concern that its title could be misinterpreted following the September 11 attacks, the album was re-released with an eponymous title in December2001, despite the band initially saying that they would not change its name. The decision was ultimately the band's, which was supported by their label; instead of recalling existing copies, they simply had the name amended with subsequent pressings of the album. In addition, the title-track was renamed "Salt Sweat Sugar" and reissued on December 11, 2001.
Singles and EPs
"Bleed American" was released to radio on June 5, 2001, and released as a physical single on August 21, 2001. The US 7-inch vinyl version includes a demo of "Your House", while the German CD edition features demos of "Your House" and "The Authority Song", alongside "(Splash) Turn Twist" and the music video for "Bleed American" (directed by Ross Richardson).
"The Middle" was released as a single in October 2001. The UK 7-inch vinyl includes a radio session version of "A Praise Chorus" as its B-side, while the European CD features "No Sensitivity" and demos of "The Middle" and "My Sundown". Another CD version, which saw release in Europe and the US, features radio sessions versions of "If You Don't, Don't", and Guided By Voices cover "Game of Pricks", as well as the music video for "The Middle". The video was directed by Paul Fedor, who based it on an episode of The Brady Bunch. Two CD versions were released in Europe: the first with live versions of "Blister" and "Your New Aesthetic", while the other include live versions of "If You Don't, Don't", "Lucky Denver Mint" and "Blister". The music video for "Sweetness" shows the band stationary as the world is altered around them; it was filmed in Los Angeles, with director Tim Hope. Lind said the video was "loosely based on a general journey of what a band goes through as they start and as they progress". "A Praise Chorus" was released as a promotional single in 2002.
In addition to the album's singles, two EPs were released to support Bleed American. The first of these EPs, titled Good to Go EP, was released on February 22, 2002, exclusively in Japan, and features "Spangle", "The Most Beautiful Things", an acoustic version of "The Middle", a radio session version of "Game of Pricks", an early version of "Cautioners" and live versions of "A Praise Chorus" and "Softer". The second EP, titled The Middle/A Praise Chorus Tour EP, was a tour EP released in Australia in January2003, consisting of "The Middle", "A Praise Chorus", "Firestarter", an acoustic version of "The Middle" and a live version of "Bleed American".
Subsequent events and releases
Bleed American was initially released on vinyl through Grand Royal Records; when that label folded, it was re-pressed through Adkins' own label Western Tread in 2003. In October2003, the band released the Believe in What You Want video album, which chronicled the making-of and release of Bleed American. On April 28, 2008, a deluxe edition of the album was released with a bonus disc containing several B-sides, acoustic versions, live versions, demo versions and previously unreleased tracks. The original album and track title Bleed American were restored for this release.
Touring
Following two one-off US shows in February2001, Jimmy Eat World embarked on a two-week tour in Germany. After they made their second appearance on Warped Tour, where they played the East Coast shows in July and August2001, they supported Blink-182 and Weezer. and performed at Edgefest II in Canada. They supported Weezer on their Extended Midget Tour in the US to close out the year; Jimmy Eat World were augmented by touring musicians Brian McMahan (of the For Carnation) on sampler, keyboards and guitar and Haden on backing vocals. Alongside this, the band performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. In January and February2002, the band were due to support Blink-182 on their tour of Europe; however, when that band postponed, Jimmy Eat World embarked on a headlining European tour instead. The band supported Blink-182 and Green Day on their co-headlining US Pop Disaster Tour in April and May2002, which coincided with appearances on Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Following this, Jimmy Eat World supported Incubus on their headlining tour of Australia, before going on their own tour of the UK with support from the Promise Ring, and playing a series of US festivals and Canadian shows. Preceded by an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, they embarked on a headlining US tour, with support from Desaparecidos, Recover and the Promise Ring. Following this, the band performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK. In September and October, the band performed at This Ain't No Picnic festival and on two dates of the Plea for Peace/Take Action Tour, in addition to an appearance on Last Call with Carson Daly.
Reception
Original reviews
Bleed American was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics. Several reviewers discussed the album's emo stylings. While noting that those who dislike "emo or 'poppier' music" would dislike the album, Aubin Paul of Punknews.org said that "the punker-than-thou kids should stick with Static Prevails, but a catalog as impressive as J.E.W.'s can be appreciated by anyone without preconceptions."
Multiple reviewers, including those at AllMusic, Drowned in Sound, and USA Today, praised the songwriting quality and guitarwork; these included remarks on "catchy melodies", "bouncy rhythms" and "a tacklebox of hooks". NME writer Imran Ahmed said it was a "veritable pop-buzzsaw, rammed to its back teeth with infectious melodies and teen TV sentiment". Greenwald said in comparison to Clarity, which "goes inward in search of salvation," Bleed American was "outgoing, boisterous, confident". Blender, on the other hand, was less pleased as the album's mainstream potential was "undercut by guitars, which are neither as gleefully blaring as Weezer's nor as cleanly melodic as the Knack's."
| rev2 = PopMatters
| rev2Score =
| rev3 = Punknews.org
| rev3Score =
| rev4 = Sputnikmusic
| rev4Score = 3.5/5
| rev5 = Tiny Mix Tapes
| rev5Score =
Retrospective reviews of Bleed American continued to praise the album's songwriting quality. Thomas Nassiff of AbsolutePunk opined that the album contained "no bad songs", concluding: "Certainly one of the most memorable records of 2001, Bleed American might actually have the most lasting power of any album from that class." Punknews.org staff member Brian Shultz reviewed the deluxe edition, and found the album's content to still be strong despite its age. It sold 30,000copies in its first week of release. It peaked at number 54 on the Billboard 200 on August 11, 2001; the renamed version peaked at number 31 in July2002. Outside the US, the album peaked at number 20 in Germany, and number 62 on the UK Albums Chart. Lind said that these sales were "definitely a big deal to the band because it shows how the fanbase is growing. [If you're] doing anything creative, you want more and more people to enjoy what you do."
"The Middle" reached number five on the US Billboard Hot 100. It also charted at number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, number two on the Adult Top 40, number four on Mainstream Top 40, number 39 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and number 44 on the Rock Digital Songs chart. Outside the US, it charted at number 26 on the UK singles chart, where it was certified double platinum, number 29 in Scotland, number 49 in Australia, number 92 in the Netherlands, and number 98 in France.
"Bleed American" peaked at number 16 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. "Sweetness" peaked at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, "A Praise Chorus" peaked at number 16 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Q listed Bleed American as one of the best 50 albums of 2001, while Consequence of Sound ranked it at number nine on their list of the top 10 albums of the year, and CMJ New Music Report included it on their unnumbered list. The album was included in Rock Sounds 101 Modern Classics list at number 48. In 2013, it was ranked at number 429 on NMEs The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. The publication also listed the album as one of "20 Pop Punk Albums Which Will Make You Nostalgic", as well as one of "20 Emo Albums That Have Resolutely Stood The Test Of Time". The album was ranked at number 183 on Spins "The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985–2014)" list. In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked it at number 25 on their list of the 50 Greatest Pop-Punk Albums.
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible sortable plainrowheaders" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|+ Accolades for Bleed American
! scope="col" | Publication
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | List
! scope="col" data-sort-type="number" | Rank
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |
|-
! scope="row" | Consequence of Sound
| Top 100 Albums of the 2000s
| style="text-align:center;" | 70
|
|-
! scope="row" | Junkee
| The 10 Most Important Emo Albums
| style="text-align:center;" | N/A
|
|-
! scope="row" | Spin
| The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years
| style="text-align:center;" | 183
|