How many times do you reckon Hanson have performed MMMBop over the last 20-odd years? Heck, one cannot even begin to try and estimate. I reckon I’ve seen it on Sunrise 20 x times alone to be honest. But performing MMMBop with a live symphony orchestra? Well, this is something I have not yet seen. UNTIL TODAY THAT IS.
It’s so wholesome:
Dang, they’re it’s beautiful. Oh, and for your much-needed information, the ’97 banger was originally written acoustically – whoever does the @hanson Insta posts said so themselves (my money’s on Taylor).
Wanna see this live, in person, with the three daddies a stone’s throw away? Honey you and me both, and we can. Whoop whoop. This is how the choon-and-a-half has – and will continue to be – performed globally for the trio’s current String Theory World Tour, coming to an Aussie venue near you:
Wednesday, February 27 Palais Theatre, Melbourne TICKETS
Monday, March 4 – SOLD OUT Sydney Opera House TICKETS
Along with MMMBop, Hanson will also be performing bonafide bangers from their 10 studio albums (!!!), all with their orchestra crew in tow. That being said, there are 2 x “special shows” at Melbourne bloody Zoo on Friday, March 1 (sold out, soz) and Saturday, March 2 (buy here) as well.
If you can’t make the shows, well, that’s a shame for your childhood dreams, but you could also try doing it vicariously through the String Theory album, dropping tomorrow.
Relax. Those cute “MMMBop” kids from the ’90s may have grown up, but they haven’t exactly gone highbrow, singing “MMMBach” or some such now.
But the band of brothers — Isaac, Taylor and Zac — have been performing and making records for more than 25 years, and as Isaac remarked at the outset of their concert Wednesday night at Stifel Theatre, they were looking for a new challenge.
“What’s the point of doing this so long if you don’t start checking things off the bucket list?” he said.
For Hanson, that bucket-list item turned out to be a new album, “String Theory” (scheduled for release Friday), which features old and new songs arranged for band and orchestra, with an overarching theme, as Taylor put it, of “reaching for that crazy dream, reaching for the sky.”
The trio, backed by an orchestra of 20 pieces or so plus a pair of support musicians, played “String Theory” in sequence and in its entirety. The orchestrations were by Oscar-winning arranger David Campbell, aka father of Beck Hansen.
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Hanson performs with an orchestra on its “String Theory” world tour. Photo courtesy of Big Hassle
The theme Taylor spoke of was right there in many of the song titles, especially the new ones, such as “Reaching for the Sky,” “Dream It Do It” and “Chasing Down My Dreams” as well as at least one older one, “You Can’t Stop Us.”
That kind of confidence, self-reliance and positivity is part of what has kept Hanson afloat as an independent act after its meteoric major-label ride was over. And while there’s certainly nothing wrong with the message, its repetition made the evening — just as it makes the new album — a little one-dimensional.
The orchestrations, too, sometimes worked against the typical kinetic energy of a Hanson show, keeping audience members pinned down in places where it seemed like they wanted to get up and dance. They eventually found some opportunities, though.
Not much was said between songs, but the winning personalities of the brothers still shone through as they traded lead vocals — and sometimes instruments — and sang in three-part harmony.
As for “MMMBop,” still their signature hit, they dispensed with it early, stripping it back to an acoustic arrangement with minimal orchestral accompaniment.
The second half of the show seemed to work better than the first, as the orchestra settled in and the sound mix improved, providing highlights such as “This Time Around” and “Battle Cry,” on which band and orchestra rocked out with common purpose.
“What Are We Fighting For,” which displayed a lighter touch, was equally fine, as was “Breaktown,” which gradually grew in grandeur and volume.
The show concluded with two songs that had fans on their feet — the 2017 single “I Was Born” and “The Sound of Light” — before the finale, “Tonight,” put them back in their seats, even though it returned one last time to the lyrical uplift and encouragement of the show’s theme: “Don’t wait til tomorrow,” Taylor sang.
Zac, left, Taylor and Isaac Hanson have been playing music together for over 25 years. (Jonathan Weiner)
I love Hanson.
Yes, the band Hanson, with brothers Isaac, Taylor and Zac. It is 1997, I am 12 years old and I am not allowed to wear makeup, no matter how much I protest. And Hanson’s first single, “MMMBop,” is the hit of the summer.
But Hanson is not popular the way the Backstreet Boys are popular. They’re from Tulsa, Okla., they’re very religious (read: wholesome) and, as the boys in my sixth-grade class always say, their long hair makes them look like girls.
A few Saturdays ago, I was 12 again.
Hanson — yes, they’re still touring — played the Greek Theatre. But as I made my way to my seat, I was dismayed to notice a sea of empty red rows in the balcony. I was suddenly a tween on the defensive again, and I felt the urge to defend the band — to curse everyone who didn’t understand how great they were.
Of course, everyone who was at the Greek felt like kin, other women in their 30s wearing faded Hanson T-shirts from the 1990s. The chosen few who really get Hanson.
Most people don’t even know they’ve been making music for the past two decades. “Wait, Hanson is still a thing?” the clueless ones ask. “What do they even play after ‘MMMBop?’”
Plenty. Hanson’s new tour is called String Theory, because they’re performing each show with a 46-piece orchestra in every city they visit. Collaborating with Academy Award-winning arranger David Campbell, they’ve reimagined old songs and written new ones specifically to play with a symphony. (An album of the same name was released Friday.)
This is Hanson saying: We’re grown-up now. Yes, we’ll play “MMMBop” for you, but it’s going to be mellower, we’re nixing the drums and adding violins. No more pushing or shrieking or fainting. You may remain in your seats, and your ears won’t ring the next day. We’ll even give you an intermission.
In other words, this is exactly the kind of concert you want to attend as a 32-year-old.
Except that for me, part of loving Hanson is loving the memory of who I was when I became their fan: an outsider who found kindred spirits in a band that wasn’t quite mainstream.
Best friends Amy and Julia in 1998.
Best friends, best fans
I was in sixth grade when I became a Hanson fan, and I wasn’t cool. I had Harry Potter glasses and desperately wanted to hang out with the girls who bought all their clothes at Express. But there was one girl in my class who loved Hanson too: Julia.
She had braces and really wanted to be friends with me, which, naturally, meant I did not want to be friends with her. But when our class took a field trip to Plimoth Plantation, we ended up sitting next to each other on the school bus. She had brought Hanson’s album, “Middle of Nowhere,” so we each took an earphone and listened on her Discman.
Hanson bonded us. Every weekend, we had sleepovers during which we devoted all of our time to obsessing over the band. We made VHS tapes with recordings of all of their television appearances. We crafted collages of them from the pictures we found in Bop and SuperTeen magazines. We read — and wrote — fan fiction about them. We chatted about them on America Online, where my screen name was AmyZac.
And on June 26, 1998, we went to our first concert ever together: a Hanson show.
Which is why, when Julia moved to Los Angeles this past summer, the first thing I imagined us doing together was going to a Hanson concert. Since graduating from high school, we’ve lived on opposite sides of the country. While my Hanson fandom has never wavered, it’s something I’ve had to enjoy mostly in private. I’ve been to a number of their shows in town — and even interviewed them for this paper — but always alone.
So when I saw Hanson was coming to town in October, I told her to mark down the date on her calendar. Twenty years after seeing them for the first time, we would once again come together for our favorite band.
Amy Kaufman’s keepsakes from the 1998 Hanson concert: The ticket, silly string and an earplug. Also, a scrapbook of Hanson fandom!
Part of loving Hanson is loving the memory of who I was when I became their fan: An outsider who found kindred spirits in a band that wasn’t quite mainstream.
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In anticipation of the show, I pulled my old Hanson binder out of storage. Filled with hundreds of sheet protectors, the binder contains every important piece of band-related memorabilia I own. I saved the ticket stub for that first show — $28.50 plus a $5 service fee — along with one of my earplugs and silly string Hanson sprayed at the audience. There is also a photo of Julia and me before the show. It is distorted because it was taken on a disposable camera, but you can still see that we wore matching Roxy tank tops. I also wore a necklace that I got at a street market in downtown Boston: A glass heart containing a grain of rice floating in oil. One side of the rice says Amy; the other side says Zac.
I called my mom back in Massachusetts to see what she could recall about the momentous day in our lives, since she had to escort us to the show. The details she remembered, however, weren’t particularly revelatory. She said there was a lot of traffic and the parking lot was endless. Lots of kids apparently arrived in limousines. She liked the music more than she expected to, but there were so many screaming girls that she was legitimately concerned she might go deaf.
For Julia and I, of course, the night still conjures deep emotion. Toward the end of the concert, we left our seats and attempted to get as close as possible to the stage. The brothers kept leaning into the audience from the stage and touching concertgoers hands. Zac threw some of his drumsticks into the crowd, and Taylor kept spraying his water bottle on the audience.
“But we just couldn’t get through,” Julia recalled. “And then we tried to find their tour bus, but they’d left. It somehow ended as the worst night of our lives. We didn’t meet them or randomly get pulled backstage like in one of our fan fiction stories. I remember you saying: ‘We’re never going to meet them.’”
Reader, I was obviously very over dramatic, and very wrong.
Hanson with strings
This past Saturday, Julia picked me up at 7 p.m. to drive to the Greek.
When we arrived at will call, I picked up our tickets and found two VIP passes inside the envelope. A note explained that the pass would grant us access to a special lounge where the after party would take place.
“Julia,” I said, handing over the sticker, “this probably means we’re going to meet them.”
She took a deep breath, the thought almost incomprehensible.
At promptly 8 o’clock, Hanson walked onstage. They explained the ethos behind String Theory — how the project was a symbol of “reaching for the crazy dream.” Then the show began.
And being with Julia, I could get into the music. We harmonized to the songs we’ve known for years and analyzed the lyrics to the new songs. We danced in the aisles and posted videos to Instagram and may or may not have screamed their names a few times.
“I’ve never done Ecstasy,” Julia said when the two-hour set finished, “but this has gotta be what it’s like to come off a drug.”
Hanson with the Colorado Symphony at Boettcher Concert Hall in Denver. (Rebecca Sarkar)
At the risk of saying something I probably shouldn’t, I think we’re a band that has always been underestimated.
Zac Hanson
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After waiting in vain for an encore, we decided to wander over to the after-party space: An indoor-outdoor lounge filled with cookies and twinkly lights. We found a corner seat and tried to act like we weren’t watching the door like hawks. I told Julia that when Hanson arrived, I was going to approach them to ask a couple of questions about the show, and that she should come with me.
Zac entered first, then Taylor, with all five of his children and his pregnant wife in tow. He was holding the hand of his 6-year-old, a redhead named Wilhelmina. Even though we seemed to be in a somewhat exclusive space, the guys were immediately surrounded by fans asking for selfies. Julia and I lurked in the background, not wanting to look like desperate fangirls but still feeling like them.
We decided to approach Isaac first. I asked him how he thought Hanson had evolved since the days when Julia and I first started listening to them. He explained that this tour was about “doing something really boldly different,” noting that the group visualized the set almost like a movie.
Julia, left, and Amy at Hanson’s show at the Greek Theatre on Oct. 18. (Amy Kaufman)
“It’s definitely different for us, and it’s intentionally different,” he said, explaining the show’s more mature vibe. “We’re painting with bold colors in this show. You can’t come to this show and just think it’s a pop show. It’s a musical.”
Roughly an hour later, when there were only two people around Zac instead of 15, we decided to walk over to him. We were somewhat more nervous to talk to him because he was the member of the band who was our exact age, and when you’re 12, that means he’s the one you like the most.
He said he was proud of the band’s new material, and hoped fans like us who had been with them from the beginning felt a “feeling of vindication and the feeling of coming home all in one.”
“At the risk of saying something I probably shouldn’t, I think we’re a band that has always been underestimated,” he said, preaching to the choir. “As a Hanson fan, I think you would see this show and say to yourself, ‘You can’t misunderstand.’ No one has ever doubted that we were talented. From day one, people have said, ‘You play your own instruments, you write your own songs.’”
“What we have suffered from,” he continued, “is not a misunderstanding of ability, it’s a misassociation. So when you stand in this environment, it is unequivocally, without confusion, what it is. And you get to see it for that and experience it as a work, not as a piece of pop culture.”
Then he said he had to wake up at 3 a.m. and walked out a side door just before midnight with his brothers. Walking back to our car through empty Griffith Park, Julia and I were high off the buzz of being momentarily transported back to our childhood. But she said she was also overtaken by an odd sense of melancholy — the kind you get after meeting someone who has meant so much to you. It was the “never meet your heroes” thing everyone always talks about — how discombobulating it can be to come face-to-face with people you spent years turning into a fantasy.
She dropped me off and the next morning, I woke up to an email from her in my inbox:
I’m twenty years past the person I was when I was twelve, and yet seeing Zac Hanson in person gave me the exact same feeling — the heart-in-throat, stomach-flip — that it once did. He was talking to a group of people and I was watching him through a window. I was two ages at once, and it was uncomfortable and ecstasy all in the same moment. I wonder what it would have been like if my twelve-year-old self knew that one day this would be me. I wonder if she would know the empty feeling I have now. I want so deeply to make meaning out of what it means for me now, but honestly, I’ll have to make meaning for my young, insecure self: She would have loved it and cherished it for the rest of her life.
It should come as no surprise to fans and followers of Tulsa-based sibling trio Hanson that a rendition of the band’s 1990s breakout smash “MMMBop” featuring a full symphony orchestra sounds completely natural and lovely.
As previously reported, the new version of “MMMBop” is included on the band’s new double album “String Theory,” out today via their Tulsa-based 3CG Records.
The album features brothers Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson revisiting popular titles in their catalog and performing new or previously unreleased songs, all while backed by a symphony orchestra. The pieces are arranged by Oscar winner and composer David Campbell.
Also as previously reported, in the midst of playing shows and finishing up the album, Hanson decided to turn the unique process into a documentary series titled “Reaching for the Sky,” which you can access on YouTube.
Hanson has been on the road playing the new arrangements on the “String Theory Tour,” which will kick into high gear in October. The tour will come back to Hanson’s hometown for a May 17 show live with symphony orchestra at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center. For tickets and information, click here.
This Wednesday’s Kyle Meredith With… features Hanson’s Taylor Hanson, who talks with Kyle Meredith in advance of the band’s new album, String Theory. He explores what it was like blending a love of R&B and soul music with an orchestra template, revisiting and rewriting old songs like “MMMBop” and “Tragic Symphony”, and how the context of the orchestra influenced the writing of new songs on the album. Hanson also touches on what has kept the band together and why they couldn’t have done the work they’re doing now in their earlier years.
Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide breadth of musicians. Each episode, Meredith digs deep into an artist’s work to find out how the music is made and where their journey is going, from legendary artists like Robert Plant, Paul McCartney, U2 and Bryan Ferry, to the newer class of The National, St. Vincent, Arctic Monkeys, Haim, and Father John Misty. Check back Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for new episodes. Rate the series now via iTunes.
Three brothers from Oklahoma shot to fame in 1997 with their breakout single MmmBop. Twenty-one years later, Hanson reimagine all their hits, and brand new material, playing in front of symphony orchestras around the world on their String Theory tour.
With an album released tomorrow, eldest sibling Isaac phones in to JOY to tell us just how they translated their back-catalogue and what to expect when the tour hits Australia next year.
Tomorrow , Nov 9th, the String Theory Album is officially out!! If you want to get all the package elements, including the documentary, lyric book, instrumental album and more, that’s only on Hanson.net! Thanks for listening!
MESSAGE FROM THE BAND
There are so many places we have yet to share the String Theory Tour, but tomorrow, November 9th, no matter where you live you can get your hands on a copy of the String Theory album! With the album almost here, that also means the US tour is coming to a close, sadly. We only have a handful of dates left in 2018 after our performance tonight in Cleveland, but 2019 is already shaping up to be a great year full of concerts.
We can’t bring an orchestra to your living room, the logistics of that are just… wow, but we hope you will dive into this new album and/or join us on this musical journey at a concert somewhere along the way.
Isaac, Taylor And Zac
UNCORKED AND UNPLUGGED!
HANSON will be playing Uncorked and Unplugged – Holiday Edition on Dec 9, 2018 at the @williamsburgwinery in Williamsburg, VA. Ages 21+
Fan Club tickets on sale now with public tickets on sale Friday at 10am. Space is limited! For ticket info, CLICK HERE.
POSTER WINNERS!
Fan Club Exclusive: At each stop on the String Theory tour, we are giving away a special one-of-a-kind poster to one lucky Hanson.net member. The poster design is drawn from a Zac Hanson painting created especially for this project, capturing the boy chronicled in the lyrics of Reaching For The Sky. Every posted features the show’s date, venue and tour, in a four color screen print themed in the purples and blues of the String Theory art and will be signed by Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson.
Most Recent Winners:
Louisville, KY – mookie2359
Minneapolis, MN – kysolo
Chicago, IL – roro0283
If you’re a Hanson.net members and attending a String Theory show, be sure to use your mobile device to check-in at the show in the Hanson.net calendar section. Check-ins are open just prior to doors and remain open through the concert. Look for more winners to be announced each week in the hanson.net newsletter.
NOTE: Winners will be contacted via the e-mail in their hanson.net user profile. Posters will begin shipping in November.
With the String Theory album and tour just around the corner, don’t forget to renew your Hanson.net membership for 2018!
During The String Theory enjoy these members benefits.
• Pre-sale concert tickets
• Member lines at concerts
• Meet & Greets opportunities with the band
• Fan Club Reporter’s interviews
• Exclusive videos
• Check-in at the concert to win one of a kind items
You can find your current expiration date by going to your My Account page. Not a member join today!
It’s a rare thing for a band to actually grow up with their fans. Many mature, several age, but few literally grow up from adolescence to adulthood alongside the people who listen to them. They call them boy bands for a reason, as they often splinter and dissolve before they become men, but a bond of brotherhood has made Hanson an unusual exception, a band that has grown in sound and in family size throughout the twenty-six years since their inception.
“We saw that really early on, our fans were our peers, and they were engaging and connecting before they were even defining their adult identity” drummer Zac Hanson explains. “That’s been a huge thing that’s been positive for us, because despite the fact that some of those fans have become doctors and some have become tattoo artists, they still have these connections from being fans for a long time, of us.”
“Now we see those fans who were ten, bringing their kids and that’s a really cool thing. We’ve really never wanted our music to be pigeonholed to a stereotype or a group of people or something that someone can sell a product to. For us it’s about life, and being multi-generational, looking out into a crowd and seeing people from all different walks of life, that’s kind of the goal.”
With that kind of loyalty built in, it would be easy for Zac Hanson and his brothers to rest on their success, continue cranking out holiday albums every other year and celebrating album anniversaries, but the landmark of twenty-five years as a band brought about a new wave of ambition for Hanson.
On November 9th the band will release String Theory, a double album featuring a fifty-five piece orchestra and the reimagining of some of their songs over the years. Add in a few fan favorites that have been reworked, a few new songs in the mix, and a tour around the country that has ballooned your band from four to nearly sixty people, and you’ve got a brand new challenge for the three brothers from Tulsa.
“It seemed like looking at that quarter-century, there was really an opportunity to start the next phase, the next chapter, in a way that really set the stage” Zac says of the band’s new project. “You almost have this free pass to think about your legacy for a second when you get to be a band for twenty-five years.”
Rather than just add instruments and arrangements to their songs, Hanson opted to tell a story, using the material they have written over the years to present a cohesive chronicle of chasing your dreams and overcoming the challenges along the way. They wanted to justify their choices, both in which songs they chose and in the orchestra incorporation.
“You’re trying to find this intricate balance of keeping what’s core to the song, keeping what’s important” describes Zac of the song selection process, weaving the band’s catalog in this new story. “We never want to run away from where we’ve been, that’s part of our history. So we want people to feel that appreciation when you create a new arrangement.”
String Theory is available everywhere on November 9th, and Hanson is currently on tour with an orchestra for the new album. You can find the full list of dates here.
To hear more from Zac about the “clash of culture” when touring with an orchestra, and the ever-growing family between the Hanson brothers, you can check out the full interview below.
It may be hard to believe, but it’s been more than 25 years since Hanson became a band. Their infectious hit “MMMBop” is now 22 years old. But Isaac, Taylor, and Zac Hanson, originally from Tulsa, Okla., show no signs of slowing down. This week, they released their newest album, String Theory, which features their biggest hits and some deep cuts — all reworked into full orchestral arrangements with the help of Oscar-winner David Campbell (who also happens to be Beck’s dad). The band is following the release with a tour that includes a full orchestra. They’ll perform on Sunday at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby. Ahead of this performance, Taylor took some time to chat about Hanson’s newest musical direction, what it’s like to be part of a band that’s had such a long career, and what their fans look like now.
How did you guys come up with the idea of incorporating a string orchestra into this tour?
The original kernel of the idea really began as we were thinking about the future as we celebrated our 25th anniversary. You have these ideas as you go through your career, like things you’d like to do. It’s rare to reach a point where you see the stars align. After we finished our last tour, we felt like it was time to just take it up a notch.
Why did it feel important to share this new style with your fans?
We felt like it was important to tell a story and to challenge our fans and to put something truly different in the trajectory. The reason why we’re doing what we’re doing, we’ve always made each project, judged it based on our interests, sometimes it aligns with what’s popular and sometimes not. But you have to do what’s interesting and challenging to you so you can bring that to your audience.
How would you describe this new musical direction for people who haven’t followed Hanson since the beginning?
It’s truly a musical experience from top to bottom. The String Theory show is one long arc, musically. As for the actual sound of it, it’s a fusion of pop craftsmanship with grand symphonic interpretation. We want people to take away a sense of awe and feel like they’re being taken away by the music and lifted up by it. So much of what you do with music is creating a connection with someone. Songs are one of the things that people feel like they have ownership over because it’s connected with experiences that they have. They transport you. You can be in a certain place and the music can pull you into a different place. String Theory is taking that core idea of transporting and just bringing in all this musical arsenal.
When you were digging through your back catalog for unreleased songs or hits to turn into string versions, what did that process look like?
It was a big task to figure out what not to include. There were so many potential songs. We agreed to include historic songs and new ones. We tried to focus on the story and the lyrics so we could take the audience through an evolving journey, beginning with the idea of aspiration and reaching for the dreams that seem impossible. After we crystallized what songs to include, it came down to a combination of lyrics, musical mood, the build, the rise and the fall. We staggered songs that lift you up and songs that take you to a moodier place, and we were excited to put in songs that people know well.
Were there any particular challenges that came with working with orchestras and string arrangements for the first time?
It definitely stretched us and it was exciting because so often you’re really insular when you write an album in a studio. You’re doing it alone, maybe with a few other collaborators. In this case, you’re sharing your ideas, versions, and arrangements. It was a very fluid but challenging process because you think you know what the song is going to be, but then the key needs to change. You thought this song should be here, but it’s too long, so you have to change the length.
You guys have had a really long career in music, longer than many bands. What are some ways you make sure you’re always challenging yourself when it comes to making new music?
The reason why we started as young as we did was because we were already motivated. Making music and being creative is in each of us. For me, it’s a part of who I am. It’s a part of who we are. That’s an aid to the longevity of a career. All you can do is to show up each day and give something. Then you turn around and look back and it’s like, ‘Wow we have 20 years behind us now.’ It’s hard to do anything at a high level. It’s hard to maintain any career, and so one thing that was a real aid to us was learning about work ethic and not dodging the work. There was never a point where we thought this would be really easy, so when it’s hard, it’s not surprising.
How do you think the meaning of “MMMBop” has changed over the years for the people who grew up listening to it?
What that song is about rings more true now than ever. It really is about holding on to what really matters. Time flies by and you sort of have to find those few things that really count. You have to invest in people and experiences that are really meaningful. That song is in the show for that reason, and we play it with acoustic guitar and percussion, just the way it was written. You can hear the lyrics and the little bit of melancholy that’s in that song.
Is it weird to be dads and also have been teenage heartthrobs?
We lived a pretty unorthodox life, so it definitely has its strangeness. Being heartthrobs was never something we clung to. It was never a goal to have our faces plastered on bedroom walls. I know what it’s like to be a fan of something. It’s very humbling and meaningful to realize that we have connected with different people at different points in their lives. There are fans who have grown up with us and now they’re parents and have their kids, and there are people who have discovered us along the way. I’ll look out over the crowd and see someone and I’m like, ‘I think you’re younger than our first record.’ [Laughs] You can’t control how people connect with your music. You can only control what you put out into the world and enjoy getting to be a part of their stories.
Twenty-one years ago, when Hanson released one of the earwormiest singles of the ’90s, the Jackson 5-reminiscent “MMMBop,” the song was summarily dismissed by many music snobs as a novelty hit, mere boy-band fluff. However, a new orchestral version of the perennial pop classic on String Theory — the brotherly trio’s career-retrospective double-album featuring gorgeous symphonic arrangements by Beck’s father, Oscar-winning composer/conductor David Campbell — not only puts the focus on Hanson’s impeccable popcraft and musicianship in general, but on “MMMBop’s” surprisingly dark and downright existential lyrics, which come into sharp relief when backed by Campbell’s lush strings.
“You have so many relationships in this life/Only one or two will last/You go through all the pain and strife/Then you turn your back and they’re gone so fast,” the Hansons bittersweetly harmonize. “So hold on the ones who really care/In the end they’ll be the only ones there/And when you get old and start losing your hair/Can you tell me who will still care?”
Sure, they’re all married fathers in their mid-30s now, but Isaac, Taylor, and Zac Hanson were only 16, 14, and 11, respectively, at the time of “MMMBop’s” release — and they were even younger when they wrote it. (Hanson have been a band for more than 25 years, and they actually made three local records before they ever landed a major-label deal.) Why on earth were they worried about losing their loved ones — and their hair! — when they were barely preteens?
“We had already experienced some trauma,” Zac, age 33, tells Yahoo Entertainment, referring to the many childhood sacrifices he and his older brothers made when they decided to chase their professional dreams. “We were seeing that we were outcasts.”
“We were traumatized. … We knew we were weird, and we knew we were making choices that were about the long tail,” adds 37-year-old Isaac — noting that “Weird,” another early composition that eventually appeared on Hanson’s breakthrough album, Middle of Nowhere, was also inspired by the brothers’ boyhood showbiz struggles.
“We were already having to make these decisions that were based on a love of music, a love of this craft, but also seeing that to do something you love, to pursue this thing, you have to give up other things,” says Zac, who was 8 years old when Hanson started gigging around the group’s native Tulsa, Okla. “You have to give up the crowd of friends for the future, of what could be, with not a lot of guarantees. It could just as easily have become a failure as it could be a lifestyle.”
“It’s the getting up every day, and trying, and realizing that you’re not necessarily going to get applause at the end of it. … We got turned down by pretty much every label there was,” says Taylor, 35, recalling Hanson’s demoralizing early gigs. “But the show that ultimately got us with an A&R person, that heard it and said, ‘Yeah, I want to sign it,’ that was a show that I would never hope anyone saw. It was terrible! There was like four people, watching paint dry.”
“All you have to say is: We opened for a girl singing karaoke,” Zac quips.
“Karaoke to Garth Brooks! It was on the flatbed of a truck, at a little festival,” Taylor chuckles. “The crummy show turns out to be the one where just the right person that understands gets on board and helps you take the next leap.”
The struggles weren’t over for Hanson once they got that big break and signed to Mercury/PolyGram Records. Middle of Nowhere did go on to sell 10 million copies worldwide, and “MMMBop” went to No. 1 in 27 countries, earned a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year, and topped critics’ polls in the Village Voice, Rolling Stone, and Spin — but many other rockist critics were less kind. Then, shifts in the record business caused Hanson’s excellent follow-up album, This Time Around, to get lost in the shuffle, after the trio was transferred to Island Def Jam following the merging of PolyGram and Universal in 1999.
“We all watched the music industry start to crumble, with label mergers happening, and we were right at the heart of it. We were one of the bands that had been successful, so we were held onto as opposed to dropped,” Taylor explains, to which Isaac adds: “But we wish we would’ve been dropped, man! Holy crap.”
By the time Hanson released their third album, 2004’s Underneath, they’d gone independent — one of the first massive mainstream bands to do so — setting up shop with their own Tulsa-based 3CG Records. At the end of that album’s tour, Hanson played Carnegie Hall “as a statement to that whole project,” says Taylor, and the critical tides continued to turn. “We then began to set different [goals] throughout the career, because we need to keep reminding our audience, and ourselves, what this band’s about. So, we’ve continued to try to put ourselves out there and try new things.” The 23 tracks (several new or previously unreleased) on String Theory comprise Hanson’s sixth 3CG Records album, their most ambitious and joyfully noisy to date.
“We were already having to make these decisions that were based on a love of music, a love of this craft, but also seeing that to do something you love, to pursue this thing, you have to give up other things,” says Zac, who was 8 years old when Hanson started gigging around the group’s native Tulsa, Okla. “You have to give up the crowd of friends for the future, of what could be, with not a lot of guarantees. It could just as easily have become a failure as it could be a lifestyle.”
“It’s the getting up every day, and trying, and realizing that you’re not necessarily going to get applause at the end of it. … We got turned down by pretty much every label there was,” says Taylor, 35, recalling Hanson’s demoralizing early gigs. “But the show that ultimately got us with an A&R person, that heard it and said, ‘Yeah, I want to sign it,’ that was a show that I would never hope anyone saw. It was terrible! There was like four people, watching paint dry.”
“All you have to say is: We opened for a girl singing karaoke,” Zac quips.
“Karaoke to Garth Brooks! It was on the flatbed of a truck, at a little festival,” Taylor chuckles. “The crummy show turns out to be the one where just the right person that understands gets on board and helps you take the next leap.”
Hanson performing in the 1990s. (Photo: George De Sota/Redferns)
The struggles weren’t over for Hanson once they got that big break and signed to Mercury/PolyGram Records. Middle of Nowhere did go on to sell 10 million copies worldwide, and “MMMBop” went to No. 1 in 27 countries, earned a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year, and topped critics’ polls in the Village Voice, Rolling Stone, and Spin — but many other rockist critics were less kind. Then, shifts in the record business caused Hanson’s excellent follow-up album, This Time Around, to get lost in the shuffle, after the trio was transferred to Island Def Jam following the merging of PolyGram and Universal in 1999.
“We all watched the music industry start to crumble, with label mergers happening, and we were right at the heart of it. We were one of the bands that had been successful, so we were held onto as opposed to dropped,” Taylor explains, to which Isaac adds: “But we wish we would’ve been dropped, man! Holy crap.”
By the time Hanson released their third album, 2004’s Underneath, they’d gone independent — one of the first massive mainstream bands to do so — setting up shop with their own Tulsa-based 3CG Records. At the end of that album’s tour, Hanson played Carnegie Hall “as a statement to that whole project,” says Taylor, and the critical tides continued to turn. “We then began to set different [goals] throughout the career, because we need to keep reminding our audience, and ourselves, what this band’s about. So, we’ve continued to try to put ourselves out there and try new things.” The 23 tracks (several new or previously unreleased) on String Theory comprise Hanson’s sixth 3CG Records album, their most ambitious and joyfully noisy to date.
“There’s a funny thing when you start to analyze our career and our music,” Zac muses. “String Theory is this story about sort of aspiration, and fortitude, and fighting, and coming out the other side with your life’s conclusion. But when you look at our songs, what’s ‘MMMBop’ about? What’s ‘Where’s the Love’ about? What’s ‘I Will Come to You’ about, and ‘Weird,’ and — work all the way through the Hanson catalog — even songs like ‘Get the Girl Back’? They’re really all about ‘What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?’ That’s the story in so many of our songs.”
Despite their career ups and downs, Hanson managed to avoid the scandals, meltdowns, and general pitfalls suffered by many other child stars because, as Zac puts it, “We had the opposite of ‘stage parents.’ They weren’t trying to make us realize some dream they had. It was our dream.” Ruminating about other artists who weren’t so lucky, from Michael Jackson to Justin Bieber, who did go off the rails, Taylor adds: “I would argue, in most of those cases, it’s a really challenging situation internally that happens on a huge scale. Meaning those relationships, with the family, were toxic — way before there was success. There’s plenty of [notorious child star] names we all know where you’re like, ‘Not super-surprised about that one.’”
This explains why Isaac, Taylor, and Zac have been so supportive of their much-younger brother, 24-year-old Mac Hanson, the sixth of the total seven Hanson siblings — who is finally pursuing his own music career, on his own terms, with his rock ‘n’ soul band Joshua & the Holy Rollers. “Benevolent big brother” Isaac even produced the Holy Rollers’ debut single, “Hey Hey.”
“For a long time, we’ve all known [Mac] was super-musical and very creative,” says Zac. “I think he finally reached a point where, through the combination of it being too compelling to avoid it anymore, and his no longer afraid to be ‘the other Hanson brother,’ he finally went, ‘S*** I’m just gonna do this!’ It shouldn’t be surprising that he’s musical, considering we all have the same genes.”
On the subject of family — and genes — Isaac, Taylor, and Zac incredibly have a dozen children between them, with Taylor and his wife of 16 years currently expecting their sixth child. It’s quite likely that at least one member of this new Hanson generation will decide to pursue music as well, and Taylor in particular is to prepared to help his kids down that bumpy road, with which he is all too familiar.
“I for sure know my oldest son and my third boy, they’re musically gifted, very interested in music. I know there’s musicality across the spectrum,” Taylor says. “If you’re going to be a musician, you’re going to have to do music because that’s who you are. So the question is, whether you’re able to survive the music business side while being who you are. It’s really almost like accepting a disease you have. Nature is really strong. Nurture is there, but you show up with the package: This is who you are. And so if it’s in you, it’s more a matter of: What do you need to do to be sane?”
Looking back on their own atypical childhoods, however, Hanson wouldn’t change a thing. “There’s one thought, really. The whole thing is giving you a total takeaway, which is essentially is it’s worth trying,” Taylor asserts. “It’s worth reaching. It’s worth the fight, the struggle, the challenge. At the end of it, even though you’ve been through highs and lows and ups and downs, that little kernel that you started with — which is a song, just a simple song — it’s still worth going through all of that crazy in order keep doing it.”
