Jimmy Eat World is an American rock group from Mesa, Arizona, formed in 1993. The members are:

  • Jim Adkins: Vocals and Guitar
  • Tom Linton: Guitar, Vocals
  • Rick Burch: Bass
  • Zach Lind: Drums

The band's music is commonly classified as emo, in particular because of their emotional sound on their 1999 album Clarity. The album Clarity received little support in the United States from the band's label, Capitol Records. The band purchased albums directly from the distributor and shipped them independently to Europe, achieving success in Germany. Realizing they were not valued by their label, they left for DreamWorks.

Their latest album, Bleed American, found much greater success Stateside due to the catchy single and provocative music video "The Middle". The album's name was changed to Jimmy Eat World after the events of September 11, 2001 in order to avoid misinterpretation of the original title.

The name Jimmy Eat World does not refer to Jim Adkins. Tom Linton's younger siblings, Ed and Jimmy fought constantly when they were younger. Jimmy, who was stronger and overweight, would usually win. Ed, at 8-years-old, as revenge, drew with crayons a picture of Jimmy shoving the entire world into his gaping mouth with the caption, "Jimmy eat world".

Discography