Minneapolis indie rockers Howler have been likened to such skinny-jeaned acts as The Strokes and The Vaccines. Speaking with NME, frontman Jordan Gatesmith said that such tracks on their debut album America Give Up as 'America' hark back further, having been influenced by the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Jonathan Richman. He added: "There's not really been a great rock record, or even a punk record, in ages. I keep hearing a lot of witch house stuff, chillwave, shoegazey keyboards with Casio drums. But not rock, so we wanted to make it dirty rock'n'roll."

Gatesmith told NME this is a "joke protest song." He explained: "Secretly we're all obsessed with dad-rock stuff like Bruce Springsteen, so we had this idea that we'd be able to do a Jonathan Richman-style version of 'Born In The USA.'"

America Give Up was titled after this pseudo-Springsteen anthem. Gatesmith told UK newspaper The Sun that it was an attempt to, "make fun of a country that tries too hard to be the biggest and best, in a somewhat unhealthy way."