The All-American Rejects is a rock band from Stillwater, Oklahoma formed by Tyson Ritter and Nick Wheeler in 2001. Their debut album The All-American Rejects was originally released in 2002 and was later re-released in 2003, launching the band into mainstream success with their hit song, “Swing, Swing”. The band’s sophomore album, Move Along catapulted their status to one of the top pop rock bands, producing three Billboard Hot 100 top twenty hits with two reaching the top ten. Move Along has been certified double Platinum in the U.S. by the RIAA. The band released their third album When the World Comes Down on December 16, 2008.

Formation 2000-2004
The band derived their name from thought. Nick Wheeler thought of the name, All-American, since they were all-American, and Tyson thought of the name, The Rejects. So when they put it together, they got The All-American Rejects. They started out as duo (Ritter and Wheeler)

In 2001, the Rejects released the EP Same Girl, New Songs in the summer and began to tour the American Midwest with Clayton Rhoades. By the tour’s end, the band signed a contract with Doghouse Records — the label of such bands as River City High and The Get Up Kids.

Mike Kennerty and Chris Gaylor joined in 2001. That year, with producer Tim O’Heir (who had, in the past, worked with bands like Superdrag, Sebadoh, and Juliana Hatfield), the Rejects recorded their self-titled international debut album, “The All-American Rejects.” From the album came the single “Swing, Swing” for which the Rejects were best-known for several years. The group’s debut recording hit stores on October 15. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA.

Move Along (2005-2006)
On September 6, 2005 the group released their sophomore album Move Along which featured the group’s first single “Dirty Little Secret.” The music video for the song was filmed at Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania that summer, featuring images from the collective art project PostSecret.

The second single, “Move Along”, was released in January 2006. Some reports indicated the video for “Move Along” was a tribute to their deceased touring keyboardist Timothy Jordan II. Within the first weeks after premiering their video, it had been on the Total Request Live countdown, hitting number one four days in a row. Oddly, on the Billboard Hot 100, the single didn’t hit peak until almost six months later in June, making it one of the longest-lasting singles by the Rejects. “Move Along” was then nominated for “Best Editing in a Video” and “Best Group Video” at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, the latter of which they won. In addition, the band performed “Move Along” live at the VMAs on Thursday, August 31, 2006. The band was also nominated for Choice Rock Group in the Teen Choice Awards. The song “Night Drive” was featured in 2005 Cars video game as well as Madden 06.

In May 2006, the Rejects performed a cover version of Def Leppard’s “Photograph” on VH1 Rock Honors. Several months later in August 2006, the band’s third single was released from their Move Along album, called “It Ends Tonight”. The video for “It Ends Tonight” debuted in the UK on August 28, 2006, and it debuted at number 10 on the VH1 Top 20 countdown. The video also peaked at #2 on TRL.

To promote the band, the Rejects released a small EP, The Bite Back EP. It is currently available only on iTunes.

On New Year’s Eve 2005, the Rejects performed The Cars’ “Good Times Roll” with Fall Out Boy on MTV. On New Year’s Eve 2006, they played a special on Las Vegas’s Fremont Street, which also included bands OK Go, Five for Fighting, Rock Star Supernova, and Chicago. The songs “Move Along” and “Dirty Little Secret” were also featured in the video game Rock Band.

When The World Comes Down (2007-Present)
In the summer of 2007, the band began recording on their third studio album. They released a DVD featuring live content from their Tournado tour, and also contributed the song “The Future Has Arrived” for the soundtrack to the Disney film Meet the Robinsons.

The splash screen of the official All-American Rejects website changed in February 2008 to display a picture of sound equipment with the caption, “Recording. No Bullshit. Go outside. Later…” and a link to the site’s homepage. Currently, the splash screen contains a chatroom for fans and a video window labeled “Rejects TV.” The Rejects make sporadic, live, “from-the-studio” broadcasts through these videos. On June 10, The All-American Rejects announced they would cancel shows with Simple Plan as well as the Warped Tour dates they were scheduled to play in order to finish their new album on time.

One of the songs off of the new album, “The Real World” was confirmed to be on the soundtrack for the video game, Madden NFL 09

The band reported to Rolling Stone Magazine on September 3rd, 2008 that the name of their 3rd studio album would be “When The World Comes Down” and that it would be released on November 18th.[4] However, it was released on December 16th.

On October 8, the band was honored as an “Uprising Star” by the Oklahoma Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[citation needed]

In September 2008 the band released their first single off When the World Comes Down, called “Gives You Hell”. The music video was released November 5th and the song reached #14 on VH1’s Top 20 Countdown. On November 18 the band released “Mona Lisa (When the World Comes Down)” exclusively on iTunes.

The bands new album was put for pre-order in November. On December 2nd, “Real World” was released on Rock Band and Rock Band 2 as downloadable content. The Song “Real World” was played 12/15/08 on Monday Night Football at the start of the 4th Quarter.