American Football

Tea pairing: Oolong tea

---

If you are at all familiar with the emo scene, then you know this record. You know it’s famous cover art, you know the false start on the opening track, you know the twinkling guitar sounds. But overall, you know that American Football’s debut album, American Football, is one of the best records the entire emo scene has to offer. Simply put, if you know American Football then you know emo.

Unlike the other albums I have written about, American Football is as calm as they come; no shouting, no crashing guitars, and no thunderous drums. It is a tame album, start to finish, but it holds some of the most iconic emo anthems with deeply relatable and personal lyrics.

American Football opens with the classic “Never Meant” and immediately the listener is bombarded with the impressive songwriting of frontman Mike Kinsella who croons “Let’s just forget everything said/And everything we did” as he struggles to justify the bitter outcome of a failed relationship.

Relationships, breakups, and love take center stage on the album but the themes never feel worn out or overused. There is no sugar-coating present either; and that is portrayed excellently by the instruments.

From the long instrumental on “Honestly?” to the Wurlitzer filled “The One with the Wurlitzer”, there is an immense emphasis on the tuning and harmony within the instruments. Coupled with the confessional lyrics, the complex mathy sounds generated by the band only add the loneliness that fills each song. American Football is truly the gold standard on how an emo record should feel.

Over 20 years on, the album is still held in high regard as emo fans make their pilgrimage to the “American Football House” located just off the grounds of the University of Illinois in Urbana. In all honesty, I don’t get how the album cover is so iconic.

I mean, it looks cool in a very subtle edgy kind of way, but in essence it’s just a photo of the roof of some random house. That’s right, American Football wasn't even living in the “American Football House”.

I digress, and I must admit that part of the album’s cult following is due to the odd cover art. Joe Goggins, of The Line of Best Fit, noted in his article that “it sounds and looks like it could only be made in small-town America”.

When it comes to sound, there is nothing more raw and, well, emo, than the subtle and complex sound the album holds. Perhaps the hardest hitting song is another classic, “But the Regrets Are Killing Me”.

I went through a rough break up going on a year ago and I remember really understanding the content of the track; to me it sounds as if Kinsella had a girlfriend who stood by his side, but who is leaving him to follow her dreams.

I might be projecting a bit here, but I think I was on to something. And that’s one of the best things about this record; how timeless the personal struggles are and how earth shatteringly heartbreaking they can be. As I have said, American Football is a tame album but there is some true rawness in its subtlety.

The rawness could also come from the rather raw style of play found on each track as they are all in unique times and tunings, which give the album a healthy feeling of math rock and post-rock.

The sound is a relative departure for Mike Kinsella, who fronted Cap’n Jazz prior to American Football. Cap’n Jazz also had a semi-unique sound, but it mainly clung to the typical indie-punk genre of the emo scene.

All in all, American Football’s American Football is an integral album to the entirety of the emo scene, and its influence cannot be understated. Whether you crave something loud and angsty or something calm and pensive, this album has something for every true emo fan, just at the cost of the volume. However, you can still blast these songs at full volume so maybe the album is loud. Who knows.