Rooney - Calling The World

In the stagnancy of today’s music industry, how does a teen idol develop a career? When Rooney released their first album in 2002, the median age of the band members was 19. In the five years since, many of their fans are already in college, raising the all-important question: will they still be interested in Rooney’s middle school love songs? I doubt it. The band should have had a dozen number ones by now, not one promising album and now, a second, hopeless one. These twenty-four year olds should be entering their “Sergeant Peppers” phase, not writing idiotic songs like “I Should Have Been After You.” It is a pity, because Rooney is the rare act that understands the mechanics of a hit song and has the image to sell it. With so many of today’s rock acts ignorant of melody and harmony, unable to put together a basic chord progression, and thinking themselves too hip to sing in tune, a band like Rooney should be knocking them all to the ropes. Instead, they pour all their knowledge of California car and beach music into these dippy songs that aren’t going to appeal to anyone old enough to have a driver’s license. Except for me, that is. Call it nostalgia for the times when music was fun, but I still love this crap. [www.rooney-theband.com]