Goodbye... Rooney

The first in my series about albums I'm deleting from my iPod.

Oh man, this one has been a long time in coming.

Rooney's self-titled debut is one of those albums I'm a bit embarrassed to actually own. I really don't know where to begin with the thing. Should I start with the insipid lyrics? Okay...

Yeah, everyone goes through high school - it's understandable that there is such a huge market for teen-related songs, but my gosh, there are tasteful ways of writing lyrics that apply to the age group... and Rooney knows nothing of them: "I'm a horrible person, I read her diary... I told all of her secrets to all the guys in town - they all laugh and slap me five. Oh yeah!" How could you listen to those words and not laugh? It would be one thing if they weren't serious...

Speaking of serious, let's talk about pretension for a second. It would seem a no-name group such as Rooney (at least pre-OC soundtrack Rooney) would maybe be a little more realistic about their (small) place in the world. Think again! Case-in-point... "Popstars"... I can look beyond the chorus lambasting "money-making machines", but judging from the lyrics posted above, Rooney has no business tossing around the word "unsophisticated". They do it anyway.

There are several things I find hilarious about this clip. My favorite is the fact that the performance takes place on popstar Carson Daly's show. If there are truly "killers of rock 'n roll", then Rooney is holding the knife.

I guess I don't really care that Rooney sounds exactly like Weezer. It's more the utter lack of creativity, intelligence, taste, etc. that gets to me. Besides, any band with a high probability of listing Switchfoot as an influence is on thin ice as far as I'm concerned.

There are other aspects I can't stand about this album, but to give it a full review is to give it more than it's worth. Let's just say it's bad and leave it at that.

Delete.