With a tape demo made in early 1994, Adkins and school friend Joel Leibow started a promoters company, Bring Me the Head Of Productions.

Upon attending Mountain View High School in Mesa, Arizona, Jim Adkins began playing in bands with other musicians before starting his own.

[2] This and other acts' sounds were representative of their respective music collections, which were predominantly alternative rock and pop-punk-oriented, the latter of these was gaining traction during this period.

The pair were looking for a bassist after their mutual friend and fellow Westwood attendee Rick Burch had turned them down, preferring to play with his own group, Carrier.

After gathering a set's worth of material, they played locally,[7] making their live debut in February 1994 in the backroom of a used clothes store.

[8] While Berkeley had 924 Gilman Street and New City had CBGB, Mesa was a largely sports-oriented locale that did not have one place for punk youths to attend.

[5] In an effort to attract touring artists to their area, Adkins and school friend Joel Leibow had a phone number and mailing address mentioned in the guide Book Your Own Fucking Life as a promoters company, Bring Me the Head Of Productions.

[9] Jimmy Eat World looked for show possibilities in close-by areas of Tempe and Phoenix, Arizona, struggling in the former as they were unable to play in bars as the members were underage.

[7] As they played various shows, Jimmy Eat World was building up connections, leading to Leibow receiving an invite for them to record some material.

[10] The two of them had known each other since the second year of high school; Leibow wanted to release something from Jimmy Eat World, while Yocum wished to do the same for Aquanaut Drinks Coffee.

Out of the other acts on the label's roster, such as Aquanaut Drinks Coffee, Carrier, and Safehouse, Jimmy Eat World became their most prolific band.

[15] The staff at Consequence of Sound said Jimmy Eat World shared the "gnarled, almost punkish aggression" of Static Prevails while lacking that album's "contemplation and atmosphere.

[19] Jimmy Eat World's self-titled debut album was released through Wooden Blue Records in December 1994, limited to 2,000 copies.

[15] Punk Planet reviewed Jimmy Eat World in 1995, where Zero felt that it grew on him with repeated listens, praising the "twisting melodies, catchy beats".

"[15] Journalist Dan Ozzi, in his book Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore 1994–2007 (2021), wrote that the fast recording time "only intensified the speed of the band's bouncy melodies.