Hanson, that super-hit trio from the 1990s, will close off the Little Lake Musicfest’s 2012 season. And because I have daughters, and because they read things like Tiger Beat, I understand how to write about bands like Hanson. So here goes: 10 Things You Need To Know About Hanson
- The three-piece band has been together for 20 years, even through they still look like teens. The three brothers, Zac, Isaac and Taylor, were just little kids when they got the act together.
- They began as an a capella group, singing goofy songs like Rockin’ Robin. This helped them build the harmonious teamwork that would help once they went electric in the mid-90s.
- All three brothers play several instruments and sing, something made evident in their live shows. But they tend to focus on drums (Zac), guitar (Isaac) and keyboards (Taylor).
- That song MMMBop was their first, and biggest hit, and plenty of people were humming it in the summer of 1997. Zac was 11.
- The Hanson brothers saw their biography in bookstores before the oldest was out of his teens.
- Despite the Jackson-Fivish pop vibe of MMBop, Hanson’s music has always had more of a soul connection, with plenty of Stevie Wonder floating around under Taylor Hanson’s singing and keyboard work.
- You can hear that on Shout It Out, their new CD, which goes full Motown with assistance from some of soul’s finest.
- Like their last few records, Shout It Out was produced and released independently, as Hanson left their major label due to lack of promotional dollars and declining sales. Since then, they’ve done it on their own.
- The Hanson fan base was very definitely pre-teen girls in the early days, with fan magazines blasting pictures of the boys (particularly little Zac) all over their covers.
- They still attract screaming female fans to their shows, even though those fans now tend to have kids of their own.
- While people tend to think of those cute little blonde brothers when they hear the name Hanson, the boys are now married fathers themselves, with children not much younger than they were when they started. Hanson 2.0? Well, there was an all-Jackson second generation singing group a few years back, so you never know.
- They’ll wrap up the new season of Little Lake Music Fest on Aug. 25. The show is free, happening at Del Crary Park — bring a blanket or a lawn chair.