Hanson – “MMMBop” by Tom Ewing (Popular): Ewing’s a smart writer writing about UK #1s in order, and so when he got up to ‘MMMBop’, he was pretty much always going to discuss it in terms of authenticity. Hanson, a band of young brothers, were seen as ‘manufactured’ at the time, and it’s fair to say that some of the charm of ‘MMMBop’ is in its bubblegum, its echoing of the Archies and the Jackson 5. It ismanufactured, in other words. Except no more than then “authentic” acts like, say, the Manic Street Preachers. ‘MMMbop’ producers the Dust Brothers only sped the song up a touch and added a bit of scratching to underline their “youth” and energy. Listen to the earlier demo of it, below.
