All-American Rejects/Boys Like Girls

Having sold a gazillion copies of 2005’s Move Along and having toured nationally and internationally with Blink-182, the All-American Rejects certainly aren’t as rejected as the name may suggest. However, they lost some momentum with this year’s Kids in the Street, which hasn’t put up the same numbers. Nonetheless, they’re still playing arenas on their co-headlining tour with Boys Like Girls. On their website, the guys say they hope Kids will “take you back to an innocent state of mind,” and it’s safe to say it will, since the band sticks to a musical and lyrical style that appeals to the pre-teen/teen demographic. Perhaps that testimony is just a nice way of saying the album still clings to a notion of mild, pubescent immaturity as mild-mannered alternative-rock songs such as “Beekeeper’s Daughter” and “Someday’s Gone” could fit well into Radio Disney’s rotation. (Mendez)