Rooney - I'm Shakin'

MAY 20 2003 · 12:00

Rooney - I'm Shakin' (2003) Era: Post-Grunge Power Pop Revival (2003) - Early 2000s L.A. alternative rock boom; retro-influenced indie bands breaking onto major labels via The O.C. and alternative radio This video is a significant artifact of the early-2000s L.A. alternative rock scene and the Geffen/Interscope power pop roster. Its sepia-toned, high-saturation, low-brightness aesthetic, combined with a rapid 1.94-second average shot length and a 207-second runtime, makes it a strong case study in how music video grammar expressed psychological unease in the post-grunge era. The song's complex production history and its pivotal role in The O.C. cultural moment give it documentary value beyond the purely aesthetic. Context: Released in 2003 on Geffen/Interscope Records, 'I'm Shakin'' emerged from the Los Angeles power pop scene that was experiencing a mainstream revival driven by post-Weezer alternative rock. Rooney, led by Robert Schwartzman (Robert Carmine), a member of the extended Coppola/Schwartzman Hollywood dynasty, blended British Invasion, 1980s pop, and punk influences into a retro-but-contemporary sound. The band's visibility exploded in 2004 via a pivotal appearance on The O.C., performing 'I'm Shakin'' among other songs, transforming the album from a slow seller into a half-million-copy success. The song's themes of anxiety and disconnection, shaking, sleeplessness, a sense of unreality, resonated with early-2000s youth culture and the period's growing mainstream awareness of mental health aesthetics in indie rock. Director notes: The music video was released in 2003 under Geffen Records as a promotional vehicle for the self-titled debut album. The song itself had a notably difficult production history: the label was dissatisfied with early recordings, leading Jimmy Iovine to personally produce the track with engineer Adam Kasper at Village Studios in West Los Angeles in a session lasting over three weeks, with Andy Wallace as mixer. The video was later included on the band's November 2004 concert DVD 'Spit & Sweat' alongside videos for 'Blueside' and 'If It Were Up to Me.' The single was issued as a CD promo in 2003 and as a commercial single in 2004 (licensed to Polydor Ltd. internationally). The song gained significant exposure via a 2004 cameo on Fox's The O.C. ('The Third Wheel'), which substantially boosted the album's sales.