  cover art   Moonbabies at the Ballroom  (Hidden Agenda; US: 29
May 2007; UK: Available as import)  It’s a mystery how, but all
of a sudden one of the most uncool genres of music has suddenly
become one of the coolest. That genre is bubblegum pop, more
specifically, the type of mild, Phil Spector-ish ‘60s variety
that was about as threatening as a sleeping miniature poodle. It
wasn’t cool in the ‘60s, even less cool in the ‘70s, and after
several decades of punk, funk, metal, grunge and hip-hop, it’s
suddenly acceptable.  And while the Ramones may have referred to
their style as being “sick bubblegum music”, taking leaves from
the books of the Shangri-Las and the Ronettes, they mutated the
style into such a hard and fast variation that it was near
unrecognisable. Needless to say, such a transition made the
Ramones cool.  But now bubblegum pop shares a level of indie
cred alongside genres like baroque rock and If Mandy Moore
attempted such saccharine music, she would be treated with
revulsion and contempt. Bu