As mentioned in the previous post. Rooney was another big part of my L.A. Teen Years. Most people got into Rooney because of their big brother band (figuratively and literally), Phantom Planet. In fact, majority of the fans were Phantom Planet fans as well and you'd definitely see the same faces at both band shows.
Rooney were a pretty decent band. Definitely in the same vein as PP: super poppy and melodic with "good looking" boys and shaggy hair. Their music was saccharine California pop; so sweet I had numerous toothaches just listening to them. It seems like a lot of bands in this time area, regardless if they were American or British, the demo versions of the bands' songs were always better than the album version. Rooney were not exceptions to this rule: before their album, Rooney came out in 2003, Rooney had tons of demo cds they'd sell at their shows. Old versions of songs like "Blueside", "I'm Shakin'", and "Losing All Control" ruled; the newer ones on the their debut album were lackluster and changed titles ("That Girl's Got Love" was "Kristen"). The band also seemed to overlook their oldies and fan favorites such as "The Floor", "No Wait But Listen I'm Talking to You", and "Meltdown."
Regardless, Rooney's first album was a pretty good albeit forgettable debut album. They built up a steady fanbase, thanks to their appearance on The OC. They were even noticed by The Strokes (a band obviously close to the author's heart); funny story about that: back in 2002, I saw Phantom Planet at a shitty venue called The Glasshouse where Albert Hammond Jr. was in attendance. I have a suspicion that he was introduced to Rooney via Phantom Planet because soon enough, pictures of Hammond sporting the old orange Rooney logo badge on his jackets started popping up. So, with (at the time) big indie bands backing them up, Rooney were bound to have more fans.
They eventually put out two more albums, Calling the World in 2007 and Wild One ep in 2009, but their popularity went down tremendously. Bassist Matt Winter left the band to pursue medicine, which will most likely be the nail in the Rooney coffin. Like most pop culture, they were here for 15 minutes and then vanished into obscurity. It kind of makes me sad since they were a big part of my teens. I remember having loads of orange Rooney badges and passing them out at my high school and wearing their old logo shirts. I'm embarrassed to say that I even met majority of the members and have pictorial evidence. I was also madly in love with Taylor Locke.
As I write this, I'm listening to old Rooney songs. Sure they were cheesy but you can't listen to serious shit all the time. My teen years were proof of that.
I leave you with one of my favorite Rooney songs and something that everyone looked forward to live:
oh my my, my childhood also.
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