American Football Merge the Cure's "Boys Don't Cry" With "Never Meant"

American Football have covered the Cure's 1979 single "Boys Don't Cry," mashing it up with their own signature song "Never Meant" during a session at the SiriusXM studio.

The performance, arriving shortly after the band's set at Pitchfork Music Festival CDMX, reframes the Cure's jangle-pop original with spidery guitar work, a slowed-down tempo, and a trumpet solo.

What did the band say about the cover?

Singer-guitarist Mike Kinsella said the Cure, and "Boys Don't Cry" in particular, shaped him twice over. "The Cure, and specifically 'Boys Don't Cry,' has not only been fundamental to my growth as a songwriter but as much or more so on my development as a man," Kinsella said.

He framed the cover as a natural project for the band at this stage. "It just seemed like the perfect fit for a bunch of melodically driven, emotionally available grown men to deconstruct and try to make our own," he said.

"We replaced the jangle with some spindly guitars, slowed it down quite a bit, and added a mournful trumpet solo, but the plain-spoken adolescent longing remains as resonant as ever," Kinsella added.

What else did the session include?

Beyond the cover, American Football performed two songs from this year's album, American Football (LP4): "Wake Her Up" and "No Feeling." The tracks aired as part of the band's SiriusXMU session.

The band have spent much of the year touring behind LP4, and the schedule is not finished yet. November and December dates remain on the calendar:

• Brazil
• Argentina
• Peru
• A handful of East Coast US states

The band's catalog continues to draw critical attention. Their 1999 self-titled debut appears in The 150 Best Albums of the 1990s, and their Pitchfork Music Festival CDMX performance was featured in 5 Highlights From Pitchfork Music Festival CDMX 2026.

For fans across South America and the US East Coast, the remaining 2024 run offers the chance to hear the new LP4 material — and possibly the Cure mashup — live.