American Music Club

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San Francisco, United States (1983 – present)

American Music Club (often abbreviated AMC) is a San Francisco-based band led by singer-songwriter Mark Eitzel. They’ve been recording and playing in SF clubs since the mid 1980’s, showing a remarkable longevity for a band that has been far more critically acclaimed than financially successful.

Although commonly lumped with other bands from the “slowcore” and “sadcore” movements, like the Red House Painters, AMC is better known for mastering the disparate strands of American music into a wholly unique synthesis all their own.

Although born in California, frontman Mark Eitzel spent his formative years in Great Britain and Ohio before returning to the Bay Area in 1980. After a brief stint with the punk band The Naked Skinnies he founded American Music Club in 1983 with guitarist Vudi, bassist Dan Pearson, keyboardist Brad Johnson, and drummer Matt Norelli. This lineup would change over the next several years but Eitzel always remained the core of the band in terms of its vocals, lyrics and thematic focus.

Their 1985 debut, The Restless Stranger, offers a rough outline of their increasingly eclectic sound and firmly established Eitzel’s worldview, a harrowing vision of life as seen through the bottom of a shot glass. 1987’s Engine honed the formula: the addition of producer Tom Mallon as a full-time member expanded the group’s sonic palette.

American Music Club earned a solid cult following on the strength of 1988’s California. Their next LP, 1989’s United Kingdom, appeared only in the nation which lent the record its name and consisted of leftover material and live tracks.

Tagged as:

indie, alt-country, sadcore, indie rock, rock
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6	Goodbye to Love full track	63
7	Johnny Mathis' Feet	58
8	All My Love	57
9	Another Morning	54
10	The Dead Part of You full track	52
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12	Crabwalk full track	47
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earthmp wrote:
last month

I Just Took My Two Sleeping Pills And Now I'm Like A Bridegroom Standing At The Altar :-)

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Uniontrade wrote:
last month

The Revolving Door - is so underrated but the people can discovery it and enjoy so much

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lady_godivas wrote:
last month

Western sky :)

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eyesaresmiles wrote:
September 2009

Weird. Not one of their best 10 songs in their top 20 tracks. That's gotta be a first..

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Uniontrade wrote:
September 2009

Amazing band....

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an_outlaw wrote:
August 2009

these guys really do have some beautiful music : )

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riigo wrote:
July 2009

no, he's right. crabwalk is shit

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Cary- wrote:
June 2009

Another Morning makes me think of Nick Drake...

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roomx wrote:
June 2009

+ trivia?

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HesterCurtis wrote:
June 2009

and i handed him a book, with sorrow in my eyes. And the title seemed all good; it was the insiders guide to life.

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ThatGuyWho wrote:
May 2009

I have it now, some real cool dude sent it to me, whoever it was. Listened to Mercury again recently. Brilliant.

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intopines wrote:
May 2009

ThatGuyWho - Maybe you could find it in a shop? Or check Itunes? Pay! nickvb - It's all fun. Not shit. indie_asleep - http://www.americanmusicclub.com/

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Touchmetallic wrote:
March 2009

firefly is great man..."all my love" is my personal favorite...

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rossdouglas wrote:
January 2009

Where the hang is Firefly?

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Spumco wrote:
January 2009

I lament that they have been labeled sadcore but can't argue the fact that their music make me want to crawl into fetal position and cry.

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nickvb wrote:
December 2008

crabwalk is such a shit song

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ThatGuyWho wrote:
December 2008

If anybody could find me a torrent for Engine, or send me the album, I will forever be in your debt.

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nickvb wrote:
November 2008

uhh yeah it was while ago when i downloaded their stuff. can probably find with a bit of digging. this band is really good. like red house painters except i can listen to all of their songs rather than just one or two per album

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Lachlan_Willis wrote:
October 2008

Last Harbor really should be in the top 15. Amazing song, in fact more people need to hear California, great album.

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Indie_asleep wrote:
September 2008

Hey, I heart a couple of these guys' songs, I was incredibly impressed. Unfortunately I'm having a lot of difficulty finding much by them anywhere. If anyone could help me out I'd be extremely grateful :)

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