Jimmy Eat World

One of the pioneers of the emo scene, Jimmy Eat World combined straight-out rock with intelligent but heart-led lyrics, quite a change from its first manifestation as a Metallica covers band. The quartet of Adkins, Linton, Porter and Lind released their debut self-titled album through an independent label in 1994 alongside a slew of singles. After a change of bassists with Porter leaving for Rick Burch, the band was then signed to Capitol for their major label album debut Static Prevails in 1996. They continued to release indie tracks, before follow-up album Clarity in 1999 garnered much critical acclaim and cemented their status as emo rockers. After a collaboration with Jebediah, the band were dumped by their label but self-financed and released their next album, 2001's Bleed American (renamed Jimmy Eat World after the 9/11 attacks). The band's popularity had never been higher as the emo scene was in the ascendancy, and a distribution deal with the Dreamworks music label gave the band mainstream success. Later albums saw the group further refine their sound on fifth album Futures in 2004, that went gold, and Butch Vig-produced Chase This Light in 2007.