Songfacts®:

• This is the first single and title track from Oklahoma rock band Hinder's third studio album. The record was mixed and helmed by Kevin Churko, who also worked on Ozzy Osbourne's 2010 album Scream and Five Finger Death Punch's 2009 record, War Is The Answer. The song finds singer Austin Winkler admitting to being an "all American nightmare" as he turns, "the girl next door into hell on heels."
• When bands finish recording albums, they sometimes take a final listen and realize that something is missing. This was definitely the case for Hinder with their All American Nightmare album. This song - which shares the album's title - was the last song the band recorded for the disc, and drummer Cody Hanson says the tune was meant to show a different side of the band - the side that didn't play power ballads like "Lips Of An Angel." In our interview with Hanson, he said, "There was a lot of s--t talked about us in the Rock world. We wanted to come out with something a little more heavy, a little more edgy, a little more tough, so we wrote 'All American Nightmare.' As soon as we came up with the title, that very last line of the first chorus, we knew that that had to be the title of the album, so we went with it. That's probably one of my favorite songs, just because it's so f--kin' mean sounding. I mean, it's cocky, it's got attitude."
• Winkler told AntiMusic about the song: "AAN was actually one of the last of about 75 songs written for this record and also our heaviest single to date!
  We have a lot of songs on this record that talk about how we can sometimes be 2 people! In this song we are kinda talking about the middle guy right before he transfers over to the dark side! Cool and can talk you into doing anything because he can charm the panties off your momma ya know!"
• This was helmed by Canadian musician and record producer Kevin Churko who won his first Juno and was Grammy nominated in 2008 for engineering Ozzy Osborne's "I Don't Wanna Stop." Winkler told AntiMusic: "I had a blast singing on this track and working with Churko was great. He gave me a lot of takes so I got a little more creative! Gave me a chance to try it fifty different ways with fifty different attitudes and he molded them all together!"
• This was written as a companion tune of sorts to the album's opening track, "2 Sides of Me." "'2 Sides of Me' is about having one side where you're a gentleman and then you do that extra shot and maybe you're not that gentleman anymore," Winkler explained to Noisecreep. "'All American Nightmare' is about the middle guy, who can talk you into anything and maybe also talk his way into your mama's panties."
• The song's music video features model Jesse Lee Denning as the respectable girl who turns into slut from hell in her sleep. Denning also appears on the album cover.