America tunes

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America formed in London!

America took their name because they didn’t want anyone to think their accents were fake.

As the sons of U.S. airforce employees, the three members of the band met in London. Influenced by folk acts from back home such as Crosby Stills and Nash, they played the London scene during the late 60s.

Signed to Warner, America released their self-titled debut in 1971. Two singles came from this, A Horse With No Name, and I Need You. The first is their most popular song.

Hitting the #1 spot in several countries, it must have been most exciting for the group to do so back home, selling a million copies in the process.

Having only two chords, A Horse With No Name firmly established itself in the beginner guitarist repertoire and in doing so, remained relevant to this day.

The follow-up came in 1973 and most fans would probably argue this is where their best tune featured, Ventura Highway.

Ventura Highway may not have charted as high as A Horse with No Name but for many, this is the band’s signature song. They even named their website after it, although, to be fair, America.com was already taken!

Clearly, the band had peaked by now, although there are still a few nuggets left in there.

The third album, suitably called Hat Trick only had one single in Muskrat Love, it didn’t do too well and was actually a cover.

In 1974 they release Holiday, here we find Lonely People, not their finest work but still, it did reasonably well.

America’s last great tune came on the next album, the 1975 release, Hearts. Here we get Sister Golden Hair, their last proper tune.

This is followed by a Greatest Hits release, and another couple of albums called Hideaway and Harbor (1977).

After Harbor, one of the members, Dan Peek, called it a day to embark on a Christian-themed solo career.

America has since Peek’s departure released a further 11 studio albums, none of which live up to the glory days of A Horse With No Name, Ventura Highway, or Sister Golden Hair.