Jimmy Eat World performs at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. (File Photo)
Jimmy Eat World is working on a new record. While my favorite album as a whole from Arizona’s proto-emo heroes is “Clarity,” I still have warm, fuzzy feelings for the “Bleed American” album before they the band renamed it “Jimmy Eat World.”
I saw one of the first shows on that tour in early September 2001 at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston, and it’s one of the only times I remember them playing “The Authority Song” when I’ve seen them.
One of the lines in the aforementioned song is “Put my last quarter on, I play ‘Authority Song.'” Back in Maryland, it’s not uncommon to find all-night diners (often run by Greek-Americans) with jukeboxes at the table. At our local one, the Double T, they always had John Mellencamp’s greatest hits collections.
Nearly two decades before the Jimmy Eat World song came out, Mellencamp’s “Authority Song” was a favorite on an aging family tape deck that was around even before Mellencamp was Johnny Cougar.
Just before the final chorus, the “Oh no, no, no,” is still my favorite part of the song.
Here’s one for those of you who fight authority and authority always wins. Bonus: There are old-timey journalists portrayed in this clip, too!