Meaning Behind the Band Name: The All-American Rejects

What started as a flippant idea for a band name turned into a personal description for The All-American Rejects.

With their roots in Oklahoma, the four-piece band of frontman Tyson Ritter, guitarists Mike Kennerty and Nick Wheeler, and Chris Gaylor on drums formed in Stillwater in 1999 when Ritter and Wheeler met as students at Stillwater High School. In addition to their musicianship, Ritter and Wheeler are also responsible for writing the band’s songs, including hits “Dirty Little Secret,” “Gives You Hell” and debut single, “Swing, Swing.” After original member Jesse Tabish departed the band to join folk group, Other Lives, fellow Oklahoma native Kennerty stepped in the role of guitarist before the band’s self-titled debut album came out in 2002.

“Nick and Tyson started the band in Stillwater, Okla., when they were in high school,” Kennerty explained in a 2012 interview with Windy City Times. “They played for a couple of years and things developed. They met Chris and I, who are from the Oklahoma City area. We joined on and it has been a decade now.”

As for how they selected the name The All-American Rejects, Kennerty said it originated from a casual conversation brainstorming name ideas. When someone threw out the “random” title, they all agreed it “sounded cool.”

“I feel like we have grown into it over the years,” he explains. “We have maintained success but we have never been the band that has been fully embraced. Every time we are out doing our thing there is a band in a similar genre that gets super-huge; then we are on the back burner as second-mentioned. But we have stood the test of time as far as longevity so I am not going to complain. The tortoise wins in that case.”

Since their debut more than 20 years ago, The All-American Rejects have helped shape pop-rock music throughout the early to mid-aughts. Debut single “Swing, Swing” certified their first top 20 hit on the Billboard Pop Airplay chart. They built upon this success with the signature hit “Dirty Little Secret,” which reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2005, followed by “Move Along,” which peaked at No. 15 on the same chart. “Gives You Hell” gave them their highest-charting single on the all-genre chart when it hit No. 4, as well as No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Top 40 and Mainstream Top 40 charts.

The Rejects have released four full-length albums thus far, their latest being Kids in the Street, which dropped in 2012. They’ve also released a series of EPs, the most recent one released in 2019 with Send Her to Heaven. The band is set to embark on their first headlining tour in nearly a decade, the Wet Hot All-American Summer Tour in 2023.

Photo Credit: Paul Harries/Courtesy of The Syndicate