Jimmy Eat World have teamed up with Vevo Footnotes to offer a behind the scenes look at their beloved music video for “The Middle.” The song appeared on their fourth album, 2001’s Bleed American, and reached number one on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart and peaked at number five on the Hot 100.
The video features the band performing at a house party where all the attendees are in their underwear. The band thought it was “just weird enough to work on TV,” frontman Jim Adkins explains. “Us being in clothes sort of presents us as omniscient ‘watchers’ in The Middle Cinematic Universe (TMCU).”
“At first it was weird. I mean, come on…it was weird. But after about an hour no one cared anymore,” Adkins recalls. “I think someone had to be discreetly told they were too excited and then given a time out.”
“It was hot the day we shot this video,” he adds. “I remember the director [Paul Fedor] handing me a lot of electrolyte drinks. He was surprised how much I sweat playing guitar.”
Many of the guests are kissing and dancing except for the central figure, a teenage boy who wanders through the party. “The song is about looking to external validation for your sense of self worth,” Adkins says. “Validation is like a sugar high. It isn’t going to last and then you’re chasing it again.”
“The split diopter shots really set the tone. Sort of a metaphor for focusing on what is really important and letting the background party on,” Adkins says, referring to the foreground focus effect. In the end, the boy starts to take his clothing off to be like everyone else, but makes eye contact with a girl doing the same. They change their minds, and leave the party together.
Jimmy Eat World have been celebrating the 25th anniversary of Bleed American. Earlier this year, they released a track-by-track video series on YouTube.