American Football - American Football (1999) - Full Album

I spent the last night before my economics exam listening to this while studying. I failed it!! But still great album

My best friend in high school, went by the name of Nolan. He had some great music taste and he was so easy to talk to and get along. I really believed we'd grow up, start a band together, live our lives as besties forever. He introduced me to this album, along with countless others. Then he just drifted away. I'd still see him, but it stopped being the same. He shaved his head, built up a harem of a bunch of random girls, got high on some wild shit. Spent all his time working, getting girls, drinking and getting high. I didn't really know that, I just thought he was too busy for his best friend. When I'd hang out with him it was like he didn't care about me at all. Didn't want me there. Was hanging out with him at lunch one day with this other guy and I told him just wait for a sec so I can put something away in my locker. He and his other friend just walked away and acted like I wasn't there, like I was a ghost. And like goddamn did that hurt. He's on the other side of the country now. No clue what he's up to. It's like he died. My old friend, he's just gone. I could write something about some girl in high school who never loved me, and I surely will, but they could never effect me like Nolan did. Love you bro. Hope you still play all the twinkly riffs like you used to.

As soon as I heard this, I got the exact feel of the album. I felt like I had been there. I remember I would get really depressed in the middle of the night and listen to this huge package of music that came with an used DSi that my dad bought me on eBay for a cheap price. Looking out the window on those nights just felt like I was looking into an endless void. My lights were on and everybody else had theirs off. My entire world felt like this creaky little bedroom with a dim bulb and the faint smell of an old house tumbling through space. It was a space of thinking.    Those late nights listening to some guys' extremely drowsy and obscure music (specifically Miko by Beans springs to mind, the previous owner of the DS was pretty far out there) felt like a good analogy for my brain. I found out I have a hyperactive mind, it makes it hard for me to sleep and relax and not overthink the world to the point of feeling depressed. Listening to this album brings back those thoughts and fears I had as a timid middle schooler sitting alone at night, avoiding sleep paralysis and nightmares to the best of his ability.    I remember my worst fear during those moments, a vision of my future: it was me graduating, getting out of high school, a diploma well-earned and in hand. As I leave the building, say goodbye to my friends who I will likely lose contact with, and see the celebration of a new generation entering the work force die down, I realize I have nothing to do. The party has ended and the world feels dusty. So, I walk home, and after I walk home, I lie in bed. And then I sleep for the rest of the day. And then the next. And then the next. Nobody comes to get me and I stay in bed, gathering dust like a retired industrial machine from an old age of engineering. And that's all there is for me. Sleeping. It's my worst fear.    This album brings me back to those bittersweet weekend and summer nights of having nothing to do but listen to music, read, and think about my future. Those weekend and summer days of doing what my exact fear was: sleeping, never talking to anyone, never venturing beyond my back yard. This album invigorates me. It reminds me of those fears of retiring at eighteen that I had at twelve, of being that neighbor who never moved out, that the local parents worry for, the guy that is known as The Sleeper.    This album reminds me that those visions could very well be real. I strive to talk to a new person each day because of this album, and what it warns me of. I try my hardest to reach out to every human being I can possibly encounter on a daily basis, not only because I'm afraid of sitting alone after graduation, not only because I'm scared of being The Sleeper, but because I know that fear of sleeping is in many others as well. I'm trying to save them by making friends of them, because being The Sleeper a future nobody should have to experience. Thank you to the creators of American Football, because you keep me from an eternal rest. To anybody who reads this, sleeping or not: staying awake is hard to do, but not impossible. You just have to keep others up.

I’m graduating high school in less than a week and all I can think about is this album. I keep coming back because the feelings this album have are finally real for me. I hated school. I hated every day I had to spend next to people who didn’t care about me, doing pointless assignments - not learning but memorizing for upcoming tests. But in my final week, all I can do is regret everything. I wish I tried more. I wish I had more school spirit. I wish I savored every time I walked through these wooden walls and looked up at the 70s - 90s portraits more. I’m going to miss this and I thought I never would.

sittin outside, smokin, and thinkin bout life n shit.

So glad I found this. I don't even care that I'm 17 years late to the party.

fuck I don't care if it's emo, or math-rock, or post-rock, or even good-meme-friendo-rock. All I know is that I love this album

This album reminds me of taking alleyways to friends houses, drinking malt liquor under age (because that’s all we could scrounge for), and smoking cigarettes at the park. We all have Albums of our Youth, and this is one..of the many… Can’t believe that was over half of my life ago, and then some… The trumpet bids those memories a farewell…

Everyone has a poignant teenage memory they can identify with when listening to this album. I can't listen to this anymore because it makes me cry, but this is the perfect "Growing up," album. Leaving behind what feels like your entire life and feeling incredibly broken up about it, but you have to. It sucks, but it's part of life. You'll change forever, but you can always return to American Football to remember feeling so anxious you were sick in your room in High School, thinking about the person you loved or your family and friends and what you'll do when they're gone and you are too. There is one line in this album I think sums up this whole album, and growing up perfectly. A line I have tattoo'd on my body. "I just think it's best, 'cuz you can't miss what you forget,"

Everyone is talking about their teen experiences listening to this album.. so I wanted to share mine. First time I heard it I was at a community softball game in south Chicago with my family and tone of other people. I sat on a blanket in the shade with earbuds in and watched everybody play.. I remember I was eating these incredible street food fries and a coke, and I wolfed down a coconut paleta. It was so fun, and I got to collect sticks and hang out while patiently waiting for my family to finish up so we could go home after a long, hot summer day. This album fit the vibe perfectly. It was amazing. That was yesterday, July 9th 2023.

This one of the first albums I ever bought. I won my college girlfriend over by playing a few of these droning riffs on her dorm room guitar. But that's life; so, so short.

The trumpet in the beginning of The Summer Ends is so beautiful

For the past 2 years of my life I've felt extremely empty, I don't want to necessarily say depressed, perhaps despondent. I saw them live a few weeks ago and it was such a great experience that filled me up joy, I'm glad I saw this band in my only lifetime.

I love how the titles of the songs can be read as a drunk conversation between people who say too little because they feel too much.

the feels on the bus go round and round

I still cant believe this came out in 1999

During high school, I was abused a lot at home and I felt really alone in school. No friends, no one to talk/run too, esp about the stuff that had been going on in my life at the time. I went through a terrible depression but honestly finding this album somehow, somewhere on youtube really helped me get through my sadness.. It's like the album reflected my emotions a lot at the time.. I was really upset to find out they only had one album out at the time. It made me feel empty. I'm in a much better place now, and being able to listen to their new album is a breath of fresh air, just because I'm a different person now and I can listen to their music in a different way than I used to. Thanks American Football. <3

Dude I've been looking for the entire album from the first time I heard them. Through the years of P2P, Napster and the later likes...it evaded me. I can finally die in peace. I've been waiting over 10 years for this now. Thank you

My secondary school experience is almost over. I look back on it with lots of regret, feeling as if I missed out on all of the stuff you’re supposed to do as a teenager. It’s difficult to put my finger on but there’s a definite feeling of being unfulfilled, as if my experiences didn’t match up to what I expected them to be. It’s very sad to know I’ll never get that time back but I suppose there have been some beautiful moments too which I can’t take for granted. It’s all so far from perfect but I suppose these things always are

I love Americ anfootball