Watch American Football Combine “Never Meant” and the Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry”

Hot on the heels of their Pitchfork Music Festival CDMX set, American Football stopped by the SiriusXM studio to cover the Cure’s 1979 single “Boys Don’t Cry.” Instead of launching into a faithful rendition, though, the band carefully mashed it up with their own enduring hit, “Never Meant,” along with a graceful use of a trumpet solo. Watch their performance below.

“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,” said American Football singer-guitarist Mike Kinsella. “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. 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.”

American Football also broke out “Wake Her Up” and “No Feeling” from this year’s American Football (LP4) for their SiriusXMU session. The band have been touring extensively behind that new album, and they still have a handful of more shows on the calendar for this year. Fans in Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and a few American states on the East Coast can catch them in November and December.

Read about American Football in 5 Highlights From Pitchfork Music Festival CDMX 2026 and see where their self-titled debut lands in The 150 Best Albums of the 1990s.

Nina Corcoran joined Pitchfork as an Associate Staff Writer in 2021 after contributing to the website since 2015. She’s written for Rolling Stone, Wired, NPR, Stereogum, and elsewhere, and was previously the music editor of alt-weekly newspaper DigBoston. She’s based in Chicago. ... Read More