YMMV / Jars of Clay

• Broken Base: It's a given that any band who changes up their sound with every album will inspire some polarizing reactions from the fanbase. However, you'll find a lot of people who couldn't get into anything else after the self-titled album.
  • Fan reactions to The Shelter (the group's first "worship album") have also been highly polarized.
  • Dan indicated well before the release of Inland that he pretty much expected a bit of base-breaking to happen due to a lot of the difficult questions he was trying to give voice to on that album, and due to the songwriting not being constrained by what he figured the "Christian audience" would expect to hear. Though when all was said and done, the album wasn't terribly controversial.
• First Installment Wins: While later albums have been critically recognized for demonstrating artistic growth, the band's self-titled album still remains their most popular, contains the most material requested at concerts, and is still cited by many fans as their favorite.
• Funny Moments: Several live cover versions, most notably "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" played with mock seriousness in 6/8 time, and a snippet of "Tom's Diner" inserted into "The Coffee Song".
• Moment of Awesome:
  • Early tours featured an unexpected electric guitar breakdown at the end of the otherwise quiet, contemplative "Blind".
  • The seamless transition from "Fade to Grey" into "Flood" during their tours for Much Afraid.
• Tear Jerker: Quite a few over the years.
  • "Worlds Apart". Perhaps the band's most emotional and enduring classic.
  • "Fly Farther". The band lampshaded this by describing it as "our sappy country song".
  • "He" is perhaps the most thematically heartbreaking song of them all.
  • "Silence" and "Oh My God". Both are stark, desperate prayers with little in the way of resolution.
  • "Light Gives Heat". Just listen to that African children's choir and try to remain unaffected.
  • "Safe to Land" can be one for anyone in a troubled marriage and/or a long-distance relationship.