Jimmy Eat World

An emo band in the post-Sunny Day Real Estate sense of the word, Jimmy Eat World first registered on the modern rock radar with its honey-dipped, straight-to-your-solar-plexus single "Lucky Denver Mint." Capitol Records dropped the quartet before it could release its career-defining, self-titled album. From beginning to end, that collection spotlights the band at its best, including the concentrated, wild-eyed attack of "Bleed American," the striking, "woah"-slinging pop hooks of "Sweetness," the chug-a-lug chords and heart-tapping lyrics of "A Praise Chorus," and the group's first Hot 100 hit, "The Middle."

Jimmy Eat World's career doesn't begin and end with its first big album, though. As our Next Steps show, the group actually boasts an amazing back catalog.

OK, so we couldn't help but include three more tracks from Jimmy Eat World's self-titled smash on this Next Steps list, including the tension-breaking builds of "Get It Faster" and the acoustic-driven epic "Hear You Me." Make it past those standouts and you'll find the band exploring its poppier (Chase This Light, Futures) and rawer (Static Prevails, the hook-filled howling of "Crush," the slow-and-low "Disintegration") extremes. Not to mention a couple of covers: one that's obvious (the Guided By Voices gem "Game of P***ks") and another that's downright peculiar ("Firestarter," which strips the Prodigy song of its infectious thrash-techno foundation for something spare and moody).

When Jimmy Eat World got its "big break" (a contract with Capitol) in the early '90s, they simply wanted to be like Fugazi and Sunny Day Real Estate — indie acts with a tight-knit following and an inviting and innovative post-hardcore sound. Snagging Drive Like Jehu's drummer (Mark Trombino, who's also worked with blink-182) certainly helped at first, but no one could have predicted the major creative jumps the group has shown since the tattered and taut Static Prevails. That goes for everything from the fan-favorite songs on Clarity (a perfect experimental but poppy middle ground between the group's early days and recent work) to the monstrous, hard-to-top singles of its self-titled breakthrough. All of which exhibit a definitive "emocore" sound that'll have you rethinking just what that subgenre's capable of within minutes.