"Lucky Denver Mint"
Cover art for 1999 promo CD
Single by Jimmy Eat World
from the album Clarity and Never Been Kissed: Music From The Motion Picture
Released1998 (on self-titled EP)
1999 (as promo single and on Clarity)
Recorded1998
Genre
Length3:49
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Mark Trombino
Jimmy Eat World singles chronology
"Call It In The Air"
(1996) 		"Lucky Denver Mint"
(1998) 		"Blister"
(1999)

"Lucky Denver Mint" is a song by American rock band Jimmy Eat World from their third studio album Clarity, which was released on February 23, 1999. The song was also formally released as a promotional single in early 1999.[4]

Background

The song was officially released in its album context on February 23, 1999 as the second track on the band's album Clarity. The studio album's release was complicated by lack of enthusiasm from Capitol Records towards the band and the album, and, as a result, the album had still not come out by the beginning of 1999 despite recording having finished back in June 1998.[5][6] However, before Clarity was even formally released, "Lucky Denver Mint" became something of a surprise radio hit after an A&R professional from the label sent the song to KROQ radio in Los Angeles in 1998,[5][7][6] which decided to put the song on rotation there despite there being no official album release, and the sudden popularity of the song on such a large radio station convinced the label to formally release both the song and then later the album.[5][6]

The label first prepared a self-titled EP, which contained "Lucky Denver Mint" as the opening track, which was released in December 1998 by indie label Fueled by Ramen.[8][9] The song was also pitched for the film Never Been Kissed, and ended up on the film's soundtrack, which came out only a few months after the release of Clarity in February 1999. A promo single was later released prior to the formal release of Clarity in February 1999. The band also made a music video for the song, although it failed to gain much momentum as by then the song was falling out of rotation.[8][9]

At the peak of the song's popularity, it received plenty of airplay on stations from across the country, although it ironically did not appear in heavy rotation in Denver, Colorado.[10] Vocalist and lyricist Jim Adkins claimed the song was not about the city of Denver, but was instead about "getting drunk in Las Vegas."[10]

Track listings

US Promo CD (1999)

  1. Lucky Denver Mint – 3:23

US Vinyl 7" (1999)

  1. Lucky Denver Mint – 3:23
  2. Clarity (Re-Mastered) – 4:02

Europe Maxi-Single CD (2001)

  1. Lucky Denver Mint – 3:49*
  2. A Sunday – 4:31
  3. Your New Aesthetic – 2:40

*The original track on the studio release of Clarity is longer than the single mix, as it contains an extended drumming outro.

References

  1. ^ Cizmar, Martin (March 5, 2009). "10 Emo Songs That Don't Suck". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  2. ^ Cohen, Ian; Anthony, David; Corcoran, Nina; Garland, Emma; Nelson, Brad (February 13, 2020). "100 Best Emo Songs of All Time". Vulture. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  3. ^ Cottell, Pete (March 5, 2009). "Jimmy Eat World: A Decade of Clarity". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  4. ^ "Jimmy Eat World – Lucky Denver Mint". Discogs.
  5. ^ a b c "Jimmy Eat World – 'Sweetness' | Song Stories". NME. 2019.
  6. ^ a b c Ozzi, Dan (2021). Sellout: The Major Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994-2007). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-358-24430-1.
  7. ^ Sharpe-Young, Garry (2005). New Wave of American Heavy Metal (1st ed.). New Plymouth, N.Z.: Zonda Books. p. 182. ISBN 0-9582684-0-1. OCLC 71843078.
  8. ^ a b Grubbs, Eric (2008). Post: A Look at the Influence of Post-Hardcore 1985-2007. Dischord Records. New York: iUniverse. p. 309. ISBN 978-0-595-51835-7. OCLC 261396419.
  9. ^ a b Ozzi, Dan (2021). Sellout: The Major Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994-2007). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-358-24430-1. OCLC 1277507878.
  10. ^ a b Brown, G. (November 2019). "Jimmy Eat World's "Lucky Denver Mint"". Colorado Music Experience.
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