The Pop Shop Podcast is excited to present the first episode of a new weekly segment: the Headliner Interview. Set to run each Thursday, this new segment will feature Billboard.com staff writer Chris Payne conducting a longform interview with a compelling voice in the world of music -- we hope you're the type who likes a good story. Our first episode is with Jimmy Eat World, an Arizona quartet that came out of nowhere to land a top 5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 14 years ago, and has since endured as one of America’s most respected modern rock bands.
“I’d rather be the unsexy fact, rather than the opinion that’s going to change next week,” frontman Jim Adkins says, reflecting on the band’s longevity and new album Integrity Blues, due Oct. 21 on RCA. “The Middle” broke big in 2002 -- just two years after the band was dropped by Capitol -- and presented the still-young band with an opportunity for a cash-grab jump at early 2000s rock trends: asymmetrical haircuts, unnecessary screaming, perhaps even an unnecessary DJ in their lineup. But Jimmy Eat World stayed true to themselves, releasing quality music they could feel proud of.