Twenty-five years later Hanson still has us Mmmbop-ing with a new version of the song and a much different life
Hanson is performing at Foxwoods this Friday
It was the summer of 1997, MTV premiered its sixth season of the Real World and Daria wrapped up its first season on MTV. Mariah Carey announced she was separating from Sony’s Tommy Mottola. The Disney Afternoon block ended 7 years of afternoon cartoons that included Duck Tales, Chip ‘n Dales Rescue Rangers, Tale Spin, Darkwing Duck, and Adventures of the Gummi Bears. Married.. with Children was canceled. South Park premiered on Comedy Central. Nick at Nite Block Party Summer lineup included Monkee Mondays, Lucy Tuesdays, Bewitched Be-Wendesdays, Happy Days Thursdays, and Jeanie Fridays. Disney released Hercules. AOL launched AIM instant messaging. Buffy the Vampire Slayer wrapped up its first season on The WB. It was three brothers from Tulsa, Oklahoma that had us Mmm Bop-ing all summer long. Little did we know then we would secretly be wanting to shout out and sing the song when hear it while we cruise the grocery aisles wishing we could go back to the days that brought us Hanson-mania.
Whatever happened to those three brothers who we all prayed would have a local appearance and watched as they performed on talk shows and national events. We sat by our radios for hours waiting for Mmmbop to be played again. I recently spoke to the oldest brother Issac and caught up on what Hanson has been doing since 1997.
Their songs are not of a typical mainstream pop band. Songs about overcoming challenges, life, and aspiration. A different reflection on life, unlike other popular bands. Hanson has also had their share of challenges since their height of popularity including going independent in 2004. “We get misunderstood as well, and meaning that I think we have most of our music is not necessarily love songs even tho there are love songs a lot of our music is more about aspiration and more about fighting the good fight and looking for the moral in the story and that is what MMMBop addresses hard choices in life and challenges in relationships and how to navigate difficult life decisions.” said guitarist Issac Hanson.
Finding fame at a young age has its challenges. All three of the Hanson brothers are unlike other artists who found fame at such a young age and continued to focus on making music and starting a label instead of following the other footsteps of another artists which lead to trouble. Overcoming that sudden fame and success and still being able to maintain a healthy lifestyle. “It was absolutely completely insane. I mean extremely isolating, and very challenging to have any kind of semi-normal life but the short answer for surviving it was a strong family who cared about us as humans, not about our success and our popularity and friends who had a good character and we’re also around us who stuck with us.”
Family is important to the Hanson brothers and so is making music. Having lived a hectic life in both New York and Los Angeles they still prefer living where they grew up. Issac now 41 said, “I live in a neighborhood in Oklahoma, I mow my neighbor’s lawn when they are out of town and then I got on the road and play before thousands of people in Brazil, New York, London and then I go to a baseball game and spit out sunflower seeds like all of the other Dads out there nervous hoping our kids won’t screw up.”
Recently, English pop-punk band Busted reached out to Hanson to tour with them and about collaborating on doing a new version of Mmmbop. “It was not at all difficult, it was the easiest thing we have done in a long time. It’s not like we haven’t sung the song before.” (Laughs) He continued “Or played the drums or guitar it was pretty straightforward stuff.” Mmmbop 2.0 was released in May.
The legacy of Grammy-nominated pop-rock trio Hanson with nearly 30 years of music, 16 million albums sold, and 3 million concertgoers worldwide. The band rose to international fame with their major label debut, Middle of Nowhere, including the hit single MmmBop which was a #1 single in 27 countries. They have a series of top 40 singles, seven studio albums, two Christmas albums, and five live releases. The band founded their independent record label in 2004, giving them a close connection to their global fanbase.
You can see Hanson this Friday, July 18th at Foxwoods. Click here to purchase tickets.
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