History Music / AmericanFootball

* EmoMusic: One of the bands that people most often think of when talking about the genre's "classic" (i.e. pre-2002) era and considered by many to be the archetype for the "Midwest emo" subgenre.

* EmoMusic: One of the bands that people most often think of when talking about the genre's "classic" era.

[[caption-width-right:350:Pictured: the re-formed and expanded band in 2017. Not pictured: the house from their album covers.[[note]]from left to right: Nate Kinsella, Mike Kinsella, Steve Holmes, and Steve Lamos.[[/note]]]]

-->--'''"Never Meant"'''

The band's history traces back to 1996 when Kinsella, drummer for cult emo band [[Music/CapnJazz Cap'n Jazz]], and Lamos, a guitarist for many other bands, collaborated with brothers David and Allen Johnson on a couple of songs under the name of The One Up Downstairs. However, the band splintered before these songs could be released.[[note]]the Johnsons went on to form Very Secretary, and the One Up Downstairs recordings were later rescued years later by American Football's label, Polyvinyl[[/note]] Not wanting to give up music, Lamos and Kinsella later began playing with Holmes, forming what would become American Football.

Initially, its release had a similar experience to works such as ''Music/TheVelvetUndergroundAndNico'' and ''Music/InTheAeroplaneOverTheSea'' -- nobody really cared for it, nor did they pay any attention to it, and the band broke up shortly after its release, with Kinsella later working on the solo project Owen, and playing drums with Owls.[[note]]a band that is essentially a re-formed Cap'n Jazz minus bassist Davey von Bohlen, who founded his own cult emo band, The Promise Ring[[/note]] Over time, however, people began to listen to it and began to praise it for its mix of [[EmoMusic Emo]], MathRock, and indie. When the deluxe edition was released in 2014, demand was so great that it caused the website where people could order it from to crash. After 14 years apart, the group reunited the same year, adding Kinsella's cousin Nate as a bassist. The band has since toured the world, selling merchandise and even releasing a music video for "[[SignatureSong Never Meant]]", the first track off of the LP. In 2016, the band announced the release of a new album for the first time in seventeen years, also called ''American Football''.

Despite originally lasting for only three years, they're [[ShortLivedBigImpact considered a]] [[CultClassic landmark]] in both "classic" emo and [[TheNineties 90s]] indie, as well as being considered essential [[Website/FourChan /mu/core]]. They helped codify the Midwest emo sound, a brand of emo focused on twinkling guitars and heartfelt, confessional lyrics and vocals.

* '''[[LeadBassist Mike]] [[FaceOfTheBand Kinsella]]'''[[invoked]]: Lead vocalist and former bassist. He was formerly a drummer

Initially, its release had a similar experience to works such as ''Music/TheVelvetUndergroundAndNico'' and ''Music/InTheAeroplaneOverTheSea'' -- nobody really cared for it, nor did they pay any attention to it, and the band broke up shortly after its release, with Kinsella later working on the solo project Owen, and playing drums with Owls.[[note]]a band that is essentially a re-formed Cap'n Jazz minus bassist Davey von Bohlen, who founded his own cult emo band, The Promise Ring[[/note]] Over time, however, people began to listen to it and began to praise it for its mix of [[EmoMusic Emo]], MathRock, and indie. When the deluxe edition was released in 2014, demand was so great that it caused the website where people could order it from to crash. After 14 years apart, the group reunited the same year, adding Kinsella's brother Nate as a bassist. The band has since toured the world, selling merchandise and even releasing a music video for "[[SignatureSong Never Meant]]", the first track off of the LP. In 2016, the band announced the release of a new album for the first time in seventeen years, also called ''American Football''.

* SigilSpam: More like ''House spam''. But following the band's revival in TheNewTens, the house on the front cover of the debut has become sort of the band's "logo" in a sense. The house in question is a college-based house located in Urbana, IL and was taken by photographer Chris Strong and is strongly associated with the band since and considered a staple of a feel of the band's rural emo sound. The house became so famous it's considered an emo hot spot and the band themselves sell endless merch for it, even going as far as to do a CallBack for the 2016 album with the cover being taken from ''inside'' the house.

* AntiLoveSong: A good portion of ''American Football.''
* BookEnds: "Honestly" both begins and ends with the lyric "honestly."

* DownerEnding: "Stay Home" is the penultimate track on ''American Football'' and is about being willingly shut away from society because of depression. The album then ends with "The One with the Wurlitzer," a very somber instrumental.

* FadingIntoTheNextSong: "Stay Home" into "The One With The Wurlitzer."
* AGoodNameForARockBand: The band's name comes from a poster Steve Lamos' girlfriend pointed out while at a social outing, which said: "Come see American football, the most overpaid athletes in the world."

* InsistentTerminology: [[http://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2014/04/American-Football-cover-608x608.jpg Their album cover]], as well as their merchandise, is displayed with the first line "americ," and the second line "anfootball." Subverted with the actual title of both the band and their works, it's simply "American Football."

* TheNineties: Towards the end of the decade.

* OneBookAuthor: Subverted in 2016 when they announced a brand-new album after 17 years.
* PleaseDontLeaveMe: "But the Regrets are Killing Me" and "Stay Home."

* StudioChatter: At the beginning of "Never Meant", you can hear the band warming up a bit as well as somebody saying "We're gonna keep that one, right?"

* EmoMusic: The band that people most often think of when talking about the genre's "classic" era.

* EmoMusic: The band that people most often think of when it comes to the genre's "classic" era.

* OneBookAuthor: Subverted in 2016 when they announced a brand-new album in 17 years.

* EmoMusic: Of the "classic" variety.

* SigilSpam: More like ''House spam''. But following the band's revival in TheNewTens, the house on the front cover of the debut has become sort of the band's "logo" in a sense. The house in question is a college-based house located in Urbana, IL and was taken by photographer Chris Strong and is strongly associated with the band since and considered a staple of a feel of the band's rural emo sound. The house became so famous it's considered an emo hot spot and the band themselves sell endless merch for it, even going as far as to do a CallBack for the 2016 album with the cover being taken from ''inside'' the house. Sadly, the house was unable to return for ''[=LP3=]'', due to it being placed for sale on Craigslist.

As you can see from the original years active, [[ShortRunners they weren't around that long]]. In their original run, they only had two releases: an EP and a full-length studio album, [[NamesTheSame both called]] ''[[SelfTitledAlbum American Football]].'' Whenever people talk about this band, it's almost always in regard to the second release.

* MohsScaleOfLyricalHardness: Hovers around 5-7.
* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Firmly a 1. "Honestly" is a 2.
** ''[=LP2=]'' can be 3 in some cases.

* AntiLoveSong[=/=]BreakupSong: A good portion of ''American Football.''
* AuthorExistenceFailure: A kind of odd variant of it (perhaps "House Availability Failure" would be a better name). The album cover for ''[=LP3=]'' and its singles is instead shots of snowy or sunny, autumn-ish areas around the Midwest. This is because the iconic house from their album covers was being sold on Craigslist, and as such the band wasn't able to take more shots of it.

* AGoodNameForARockBand / LineOfSightName: The band's name comes from a poster Steve Lamos' girlfriend pointed out while at a social outing, which said: "Come see American football, the most overpaid athletes in the world."

* [[InsistentTerminology Insistent Spelling]]: [[http://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2014/04/American-Football-cover-608x608.jpg Their album cover]], as well as their merchandise, is displayed with the first line "americ," and the second line "anfootball." Subverted with the actual title of both the band and their works, it's simply "American Football."

The band's history traces back to 1996 when Kinsella, drummer for cult emo band [[CapnJazz Cap'n Jazz]], and Lamos, a guitarist for many other bands, collaborated with brothers David and Allen Johnson on a couple of songs under the name of The One Up Downstairs. However, the band splintered before these songs could be released.[[note]]the Johnsons went on to form Very Secretary, and the One Up Downstairs recordings were later rescued years later by American Football's label, Polyvinyl[[/note]] Not wanting to give up music, Lamos and Kinsella later began playing with Holmes, forming what would become American Football.

The band's history traces back to 1996 when Kinsella, drummer for cult emo band Cap'n Jazz, and Lamos, a guitarist for many other bands, collaborated with brothers David and Allen Johnson on a couple of songs under the name of The One Up Downstairs. However, the band splintered before these songs could be released.[[note]]the Johnsons went on to form Very Secretary, and the One Up Downstairs recordings were later rescued years later by American Football's label, Polyvinyl[[/note]] Not wanting to give up music, Lamos and Kinsella later began playing with Holmes, forming what would become American Football.

Goodbyes"''

[[quoteright:380:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bbe19048.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Pictured: the re-formed and expanded band in 2017. Not pictured: the house from their album covers.[[note]]from left to right: Nate Kinsella, Mike Kinsella, Steve Holmes, and Steve Lamos.[[/note]]]]

In December 2018, the band released another single, "Silhouettes", for their third album--also titled ''American Football''. This album follows a significantly different DreamPop-oriented direction.

* GoodNameForARockBand / LineOfSightName: The band's name comes from a poster Steve Lamos' girlfriend pointed out while at a social outing, which said: "Come see American football, the most overpaid athletes in the world."

* AntiLoveSong / BreakupSong: A good portion of ''American Football.''

* MathRock: Very much there: The time signature for "Never Meant," for example, switches between 3/4 and 4/4.

** LP2 can be 3 in some cases.

* NoNameGiven: Offically, their debut EP and second and third album are all titled ''American Football'', though the EP is often referred to as ''American Football EP'' and said albums have the official subtitles of "[=LP2=]" and "[=LP3=]".

* PleaseDontLeaveMe: "But the Regrets Are Killing Me" and "Stay Home."
* SigilSpam: More like ''House spam''. But following the band's revival in TheNewTens, the house on the front cover of the debut has become sort of the band's "logo" in a sense. The house in question is a college-based house located in Urbana, IL and was taken by photographer Chris Strong and is strongly associated with the band since and considered a staple of a feel of the band's rural emo sound. The house became so famous it's considered an emo hot spot and the band themselves sell endless merch for it, even going as far as to do a CallBack for the 2016 album with the cover being taken from ''inside the house instead''. Sadly, the house was unable to return for ''[=LP3=]'', due to it being placed for sale on Craigslist.

* TitleDrop: More often than not, a song's title would be the song's last lyric. The only exceptions are [[{{Instrumentals}} "You Know I Should Be Leaving Soon" and "The One with the Wurlitzer."]] On ''[=LP2=]'', all the song titles are the songs' first lyric.
* UncommonTime: They do draw from MathRock, after all. One example would be "But the Regrets Are Killing Me," which is in 12/8.

American Football are a [[EmoMusic Midwest Emo]] band from Urbana, Illinois, and easily one of the most iconic bands in the scene, originally active from 1997 to 2000. The band is made up of:

* '''[[LeadBassist Mike]] [[FaceOfTheBand Kinsella]]''': Lead vocalist and former bassist. He was formerly a drummer

As you can see from the original years active, [[ShortRunners they weren't around for too long]]. In their original run, they only had two releases: an EP and a full-length studio album, [[NamesTheSame both called]] ''[[SelfTitledAlbum American Football]].'' Whenever people talk about this band, it's almost always in regard to the second release.

In December 2018, the band released another single, "Silhouettes", for their third album--also titled ''American Football''. This album follows a significantly different DreamPop-oriented direction with longer songs.

Despite originally lasting for only three years, they're [[ShortLivedBigImpact considered a]] [[CultClassic landmark]] in both "classic" emo and [[TheNineties 90s]] indie, as well as being considered essential [[Website/FourChan /mu/core]].

* EpicRocking: "Stay Home" at 8:20.

* NoNameGiven: Offically, their debut EP and second and third album are all titled ''American Football'', though the EP is often referred to as ''American Football EP'' and said albums have the official subtitles of "LP2" and "LP3".

* SigilSpam: More like ''House spam''. But following the band's revival in TheNewTens, the house on the front cover of the debut has become sort of the band's "logo" in a sense. The house in question is a college-based house located in Urbana, IL and was taken by photographer Chris Strong and is strongly associated with the band since and considered a staple of a feel of the band's rural emo sound. The house became so famous it's considered an emo hot spot and the band themselves sell endless merch for it, even going as far as to do a CallBack for the 2016 album with the cover being taken from ''inside the house instead''.

* TitleDrop: More often than not, a song's title would be the song's last lyric. The only exceptions are [[{{Instrumentals}} "You Know I Should Be Leaving Soon" and "The One with the Wurlitzer."]]

American Football are a [[EmoMusic Midwest Emo]] band from Urbana, Illinois, originally active from around 1997 to 2000 before reuniting for tours in 2014. The band is made up of:

* '''[[LeadBassist Mike]] [[FaceOfTheBand Kinsella]]''': Lead vocalist and former bassist.

As you can see from the original years active, [[ShortRunners they weren't around for too long]]. In their original run, they only had two releases: an EP and a full-length studio album, [[NamesTheSame both called]] ''[[SelfTitledAlbum American Football]].'' Whenever people talk about this band, it's always in regard to the second release.

Initially, its release had a similar experience to works such as ''Music/TheVelvetUndergroundAndNico'' and ''Music/InTheAeroplaneOverTheSea'' -- nobody really cared for it. Over time, however, people began to listen to it and began to praise it for its mix of [[EmoMusic Emo]], MathRock, and indie. When the deluxe edition was released in 2014, demand was so great that it caused the website where people could order it from to crash. After 14 years apart the group has since reunited, touring the world, selling merchandise and even releasing a music video for "[[SignatureSong Never Meant]]", the first track off of the LP.

In 2016, the band announced the release of a new album for the first time in seventeen years, also called ''American Football''.

* DownerEnding: "Stay Home" is the penultimate track on ''American Football'' and is about being willingly shut away from society because of depression. The album then ends with "The One with the Wurlitzer," a very sombre instrumental.