Bad Moons

Album: LP4 (2026)
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Songfacts®:

  • "Bad Moons" is an epic, 8-minute song featuring American Football's trademark shimmering guitars and off-kilter rhythms. The theme is disguise - appearing to the outside world as something you're not. It starts with one boy on the shoulders of another, covered in a trench coat so they can pass for an adult.

    "I decided to begin the song as a child. Or, rather... two," lead singer Mike Kinsella told NME. "Stacked up in a single trench coat; secretly, reluctantly living the life of a grown man, accruing all of his missteps and guilt along the way. By the end, these missteps are almost spilling out of the boys. A cathartic confession, hopefully at least somewhat relatable to anyone listening who's ever lived a life."
  • "Bad Moons" was released as the lead single of American Football's fourth studio album. The self-titled album, alternately known as LP4 because all their albums are self-titled, was released on May 1, 2026. It was American Football's first album since 2019.
  • Mike Kinsella told NME that "Bad Moons" was created by combining two songs that American Football had been writing. "'Bad Moons' is actually a Frankenstein of two different demos we'd been passing around for quite a while: one playful, with children playing and toy-pianos plinking; one brooding, with guitars screeching and drums bombasting," he explained. "The biggest challenge for me was thematically bridging the innocence and buoyancy of the first act with the deep despair of the second."
  • "Bad Moons" includes a lyrical reference to Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 Gothic horror novella, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, apparently as a way to illustrate the emotional issues of the song's protagonist. Kinsella sings:

    I've been so many boys in this trench coat
    Ask my ex-wife - she met Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide
    I know that should be a 'Y' but none of my 'Whys' ever get answered


    The novella tells the story of Dr. Jekyll, a man who creates a potion to separate his good and evil sides, transforming him into the violent, abusive Mr. Hyde.

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