TurnTo23

For every great band the 1990s gave us, there are dozens more we’re embarrassed to admit we once loved.

While the ’90s will no doubt be remembered — at least in music terms — for the emergence of Nirvana and its no-frills grunge rock that spawned a million imitators, the decade wasn’t only about the Seattle scene and Kurt Cobain’s tragic life and death.

We witnessed the further emergence of carefully manufactured bland pop acts, the success of which drove pop culture toward the music talent(less) shows that now infect our TV sets and made stars of people who would otherwise have been nobodies.

But enough about Simon Cowell.

Instead, let’s look back at some of the rock and pop bands that we all were listening to in the ’90s, thought were quite good at the time, but now consider to be quite cringe worthy … even if we do jam to Ace of Base when nobody’s looking.

Most people may not give the band Hanson much thought these days, but simply utter the words “MmmBop” and it will likely all come rushing back to them.

Hanson were a pop rock band formed in the mid-1990s by three brothers. Really, that alone should have been enough for alarm bells to ring. Brother acts bring to mind the Osmonds and Nelson and it nearly always ends up with mediocrity. And yes, Jonas Brothers, we haven’t forgotten about you.

Of course, if Hanson was your favorite band of all time and you haven’t repented of this sin, then you’ll be pleased to know they are still going strong — or going at least — and released their eighth studio album “Shout It Out” in the summer of 2010.

Imagine, such longevity even though most people probably couldn’t name another one of their songs … or is that because “MmmBop” is now stuck in your head, canceling out all other thoughts?

#2 – Color Me Badd
#3 – Limp Bizkit
#4 – The Spice Girls
#5 – Backstreet Boys