Music that’s widely disliked for various reasons is nothing new.
From iconic artists who despise their biggest hits to cover versions loathed by the original performers, there’s no shortage of tension between musicians and their own music. Even legendary rock bands have been known to blacklist certain songs from their live sets, refusing to ever play them on stage.
So, it’s easy to establish that natural musical distaste just comes with the territory. But digging deeper beneath the layers, what about those songs that might make us wrinkle our collective noses, yet still have a hold on some piece of our soul? Like it or not, these songs come with a complicated legacy of both admiration and resentment.
Hanson, MMMBop (1997)
“MMMBop” was yet another unusual bird to spread its wings and fly, this time from the late ’90s and courtesy of the three brothers in pop-rock group Hanson. There’s something oddly entrancing about listening to the trio of long blonde-haired siblings dart through a song that is both relentlessly twee yet still grounded in serious lyrical sidebars.
While it is easy to lump “MMMBop” into a box of summery, shimmery kid music from decades gone by, the passing years have shown that the Hanson brothers still hit with these hooks and choruses. Try to keep it out of your head as much as you like, the weirdly nonsensical sensical wisdom of “MMMBop” still finds a way in.