Songfacts®:

• In a Songfacts interview with Jim Adkins, the Jimmy Eat World frontman said this song is about "the unquantifiable release you get when rock music is doing what it should."
• The phrase "Praise Chorus" never appears in the song. Jim Adkins told Songfacts the story: "One of my friends was involved in her church's music, and we were getting into an argument about how lame contemporary Christian music can be sometimes. Actually, most of the time. 'Praise Chorus' was the way she roped in the formulaic way that contemporary Christian music is all about. It's similar to a lot of other pop music in the way that it's just basically all about trying to get people to clap along and sing."
• After they recorded this song, they sent it to their friend Davey von Bohlen to add a track after the line, "Come on, Davey, sing me something that I know," asking him to sing out lyrics to familiar songs. In his track, which plays while Adkins sings the chorus to the 1968 Tommy James & the Shondells hit "Crimson And Clover," Davey von Bohlen sings bits that reference seven different songs Adkins is likely to know, including two by von Bohlen's band The Promise Ring:
  
  "Our House" by Madness
  "Why Did Ever We Meet" by The Promise Ring
  Either "A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" by The Kinks or "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" by Bad Company
  "Don't Let's Start" by They
  "All of My Everythings" by The Promise Ring
  "Kickstart My Heart" by Mötley Crüe