| "American Dreams" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Papa Roach | ||||
| from the album Crooked Teeth | ||||
| Released | April 21, 2017 | |||
| Recorded | 2016 | |||
| Genre | Hard rock [1] [2] | |||
| Length | 3:23 | |||
| Label | Eleven Seven | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) | ||||
| Papa Roach singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "American Dreams" on YouTube | ||||
"American Dreams" is a single by American rock band Papa Roach, from their studio album Crooked Teeth . It peaked at number three on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart in 2017.
The song was released as a single on April 21, 2017. [3] [4] A lyric video was released a week later, on April 28, featuring a static-filled television set that flashes images of war and the American flag alongside the song's lyrics. [5] [6] The band released a video of a live acoustic performance of the song in July 2017. [7] In August 2017, the band released a music video for the song, consisting of the band interviewing Americans about their thoughts about the hardships of achieving the "American Dream", interviewing people in a school, barbershop, a boxing gym, and tattoo parlor. [8] [9]
The band teamed up with modern music producers Nicholas Furlong and Colin Brittain to create a sound for the song that melded the band's nu metal sound from their first major record label release Infest , with more modern sounding music. [10] The song starts with a simple guitar chord being played, leading to a heavier, wall of sound of guitar by Jerry Horton and vocals by band frontman Jacoby Shaddix. [11] Shaddix delivers forceful and rhythmic aggressive vocals in the verses, leading up to a large, soaring melodic chorus. [11] [12] Lyrically, the song explores sentiments of doubt and detriment in the concept of "The American Dream", with the chorus containing the lines "American lies / We're trying to see through the smoke in our eyes / So give me the truth / Don't tell me your lies / Cause it's harder to breathe / When you're buried alive by American Dreams." [11] [13] The lyrics were inspired by Shaddix's resentment of current state of American politics, notably the lowbrow arguments of the 2016 Presidential Debates. [14]
The song received a mixed reception from critics. Loudwire ranked it as the 19th best hard rock song of 2017. [1] Cryptic Rock praised the song for being "quasi-political" and asking some "eerily pivotal questions", concluding that it was "an interesting direction for the band, it is a truly catchy, upbeat rocker that tackles some weighty subject matter." [15] Conversely, "Metal Sucks" strongly criticized the song's vocals, calling it "terrible". [16]
| Chart (2017) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Czech Republic (Rádio – Top 100) [17] | 16 |
| US Mainstream Rock ( Billboard ) [18] | 3 |
| US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs ( Billboard ) [19] | 40 |
| US Rock & Alternative Airplay ( Billboard ) [20] | 17 |