Stacy Jones formed American Hi-Fi in 2000; later that year he went to Maui, Hawaii to record drums for Nina Gordon's debut solo album.

American Hi-Fi received generally favorable reviews from music critics, many of whom praised the band's guitarwork.

During the 1990s, musician Stacy Jones was a member of acts such as Letters to Cleo, Aimee Mann, and Veruca Salt, all of whom he played drums for.

[2] Jones went to Maui, Hawaii to play drums for former Veruca Salt vocalist Nina Gordon's debut solo album with Bob Rock.

[5] In an attempt to keep the momentum of American Hi-Fi ongoing, the rest of the band was invited to join Jones in Maui.

[He'd say] 'OK, let's double that, let's put more, more, more,'"[4] In a 2003 interview, Jones said if they played a piece of music that "sounded kind of angular, [Rock] would steer us away from it".

[3] "Flavor of the Weak" is about a girl that was mistreated by her partner; it features a guitar solo that recalled the work of Cheap Trick.

[2][3] "A Bigger Mood", as well as "Scar", is driven by Nolan's drum parts and Arentzen's guitarwork, channeling the sound of Sugar.

[19][20] The song's music video is a homage to the film Heavy Metal Parking Lot (1986);[16] the idea for it originated from a party while on tour.

[23] The CD version included "Still Sideways", "Wall of Sound", and the demo "Black Satellite" as extra tracks.

AllMusic reviewer Mario Mesquita Borges said American Hi-Fi brought "fresh new strains to the genre on their eponymous debut," sustaining a "high quality standard throughout the whole record.

"[25] Ox-Fanzine's Elmar Salmutter called the album "a really nice affair", providing "enough guitar broadsides not to drift into the insignificant mainstream".

[29] The staff at Chart Attack wrote that the album "blasts out 13 tracks of shimmering rock 'n' roll bliss that's miles high with distorted hooks".

"[26] Rolling Stone writer Barry Walters wrote that despite the band's "absurd lack of originality ... American Hi-Fi outshine most recent radio-friendly pop-punk, with instantly welcoming songwriting and ferocious instrumental skills".

[34] Terry Bezer of Drowned in Sound held a negative assessment and opened his review by claiming this album is "the sort of shit that makes you feel like pulling a gun on yourself and squeezing the trigger with maximum force.