Dear You release and fan backlash

In the months leading up to the album’s release, a number of music publications positioned Jawbreaker as the next stars of the Bay Area punk scene, sometimes referring to them as “the thinking man’s Green Day”. When Dear You was released in September 1995, however, its polished production and clear vocals strongly divided the band’s fanbase. “[ Dear You ]’s production glistened and gleamed,” says Greenwald, “Schwarzenbach’s voice was sanded and smoothed, and the songs were mellow, introspective affairs. The reaction was harsh—those who had entrusted their emotional lives to Schwarzenbach, had viewed him as a tattered, secular priest to lay their burdens on, felt betrayed.” Ben Weasel was so displeased with the album, particularly the sound of Schwarzenbach’s singing, that he wrote Pfahler a letter detailing his complaints with it. Despite a music video in rotation to support the single “Fireman,” sales of Dear You were poor, and only sold 40,000 copies in the US.