Hinder released All American Nightmare on December 7, 2010, through Universal Republic. Their third studio album put a heavier edge on the band's rock songs while making room for a less carefree view of life on the road. Drummer Cody Hanson co-produced with Kevin Churko, and the lead single, “All American Nightmare,” introduced the harder side of that approach.
The writing stretched across nearly two years. In its December 2010 interview with Hanson and Winkler, Noisecreep reported that Hinder had worked through dozens of songs before settling on the album. “We wanted to create something that people felt they had to have,” Hanson told the outlet. That extended preparation gave the band a much larger pool to choose from than simply writing enough material to fill a record.
Work had begun while Hinder were touring behind Take It to the Limit. Hanson arranged for a recording setup in the back of the tour bus so the band could develop demos between shows. He then built a studio at his Oklahoma City home, where the instrumental recordings took place; singer Austin Winkler recorded his vocals at Churko's studio in Las Vegas. The process put Hanson deeper into production after he had spent the band's earlier sessions learning how records were made. Explaining their goals to May the Rock Be With You in January 2011, Hanson said Hinder wanted a change after using the same producer for their first two albums. He described a combination of darker rock material, personal songs and lighter moments, and credited the sessions with giving Winkler greater freedom to experiment with his voice.
The album's opening pair explored conflicting sides of a personality. Winkler described “All American Nightmare” to Noisecreep as a companion to “2 Sides of Me,” which contrasts a polite personality with what happens after another drink. The title track follows a persuasive troublemaker who can talk his way into almost anything. “What Ya Gonna Do” turned toward the consequences. In comments carried in Hinder's AXS biography, Winkler connected it to returning home after five years of touring and confronting the physical cost of the band's lifestyle. Hanson recalled that their A&R representative liked the song but wanted it to supply an answer. The band tried ideas, then kept the question unresolved because they didn't have an honest answer themselves.
That concern with life beyond the fantasy also ran through “The Life.” Hanson described its small-town protagonist heading to a bigger city expecting everything to improve, then discovering loneliness and recognizing what he'd left behind. He said both that song and the breakup story “Red Tail Lights” remained close to their early road demos. Those arrangements survived the album's extended development without losing their original shape.
All American Nightmare debuted at No. 37 on the Billboard 200. By December 2010, Hinder were playing six songs from it in concert, giving the new material a substantial place in their sets. The reflective songs remained part of the live show, too: in a July 2011 interview with CityBeat, Winkler singled out “What Ya Gonna Do” as one of his favorite songs to perform.
