American Football: American Football (2LP, 25th anniversary edition, silver vinyl) [POLYVINYL]

Why you'll love it

This 25th anniversary edition is newly remastered and spread over two silver LPs at 45 RPM for better sound. Rolling Stone ranked it No. 6 on its 40 Greatest Emo Albums of All Time, and Pitchfork named the earlier deluxe reissue Best New Reissue.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 25th anniversary edition
• Silver vinyl
• Remastered
• Cut at 45 RPM
• New artwork

About the album

A few college friends in Urbana, Illinois made one quiet record in 1999, went their separate ways, and left the album to get on with things by itself. Mike Kinsella, Steve Holmes and Steve Lamos put American Football out on Champaign's Polyvinyl label, and over the next fifteen years it found its people one passed-along copy at a time, until the band reunited in 2014.

The sound is interlocking clean guitars, Lamos's drums and muted trumpet, and Kinsella's soft, half-spoken vocals. "Never Meant" opens on that famous twinkling guitar figure, "The Summer Ends" brings the trumpet forward, "Honestly?" stretches out, and "The One With The Wurlitzer" closes the record on a hush. Chris Strong, a friend from campus, shot the nighttime photo of a white house on West High Street that became the cover.

That house turned into a pilgrimage site, with fans etching an X in the sidewalk where Strong stood, and in 2023 the band bought it together with Polyvinyl and Strong. None of the band ever lived there, which makes it the most expensive album sleeve we've heard of anyone buying.

Also at Kops: more American Football on vinyl · browse Alternative

Listen

On Polyvinyl, a reissue of the 1999 album.