“SUP” or the Seemingly Unknown Podcast is the brainchild of seemingly unknown guitar player, Zach Myers, of Shinedown and Smith & Myers fame! Along for the ride are his friends Paul and John, as they breakdown the walls of all things pop culture, sports, movies, music, wrestling, and the downright obscure!
Back in the 1990s, three brothers — Issac Hanson, Taylor Hanson, and Zac Hanson — took over the entire music scene with their infectious pop sound and (thankfully!) just refused to step back. Under the appropriate band name Hanson, they’ve tried a bit of a cappella, done unforgettable hits such as “MMMBop” as well as “Thinkin’ Bout Somethin’,” and simply made us fall in love with their artistry. So now, even though die-hard fans know that they haven’t ever really gone anywhere, let’s dig deep to find out precisely what the trio has been up to these days, shall we?
Born in November 1980, March 1983, and October 1985, respectively, neither Issac, Taylor, and Zac were even teenagers when they decided to form a full-fledged band on a fateful day in 1992. They initially performed outside local clubs in their hometown of Tulsa. Yet, by 1997, they’d not only managed to get signed but also release their first major studio album, ‘Middle of Nowhere.’ That’s when they started to get the recognition they deserve, especially with Issac on guitar, vocals, bass, and piano, Taylor on keyboards, vocals, and percussion, and Zac on drums, vocals, and piano.
The truth is that the brothers are driven by inspiration rather than current trends, which is why they’ve had their struggles but have also managed to last three decades. This innate passion of theirs is genuinely evidenced in all the albums, singles, or tours they’ve gladly given to the world, along with the different documentaries on their entire creative process.
Honestly, every step they take in their career makes it apparent that Zac, Issac and Taylor’s early introduction to music by legends such as Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, The Beatles, Elvis, and Little Richard shaped who they are as individuals as well as a group determined to stay unique yet honest.
First things first, as of writing, the Hanson brothers are preparing to launch their latest project and world tour — both entitled ‘Red Green Blue’ (2022) — to begin celebrating their 30th anniversary. Red represents Taylor, Green represents Issac, and Blue represents Zac, and it’s carefully done this way because they wished for it to mirror each person’s creative voice. This studio album will be Hanson’s 11th, following ‘Against the World’ (released November 5, 2021), which was mere months after their incredible stint on Fox’s ‘The Masked Singer.’
Coming to their other ventures, not only do Issac, Taylor, and Zac have their own independent label 3CG Records, but they also have a beer company quite simply named Hanson Brothers Beer. They launched the record label around October 2003 since they wanted to release their music without any outside fuss or opinions, so the “3CG” appropriately stands for “3 Car Garage.” However, in a couple of interviews over the years, the trio has admitted they would love to sign other artists to the label as well.
The Oklahoma-based craft beer business (established in 2013), on the other hand, has managed to expand its wings across the midwest in less than a decade thanks to its flagship Pale Ale, “Mmmhops.” But the best part is that the organization always donates a portion of its profits to charity. Hanson reportedly gives away a free song with every bottle sold. As if none of this was enough, in 2014, the brothers chose to blend their passions to create the Hop Jam Beer and Music Festival in Tulsa, only to end up with the country’s largest beer and music events.
As for their personal lives, all three brothers are happily married fathers who concede that their “talented” children are incredibly close, and it’s something they’re immensely proud of. With that said, though, considering how big the overall Hanson family has gotten, the Tulsa natives have also revealed they’re not planning on having any more children anytime soon. While Issac shares three kids with his wife Nicole Dufresne Hanson, Zac has five with Kathryn Tucker Hanson, whereas Taylor has a total of seven with his life partner Natalie Bryant Hanson.
Pop fans will never forget their global #1 hit MMMBop from 1997. Hanson are celebrating their 30th anniversary with a new album and tour.
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Hanson through the years — on the left in 1997 and on the right in 2017. Photos Courtesy: Paul Bergen/Redferns/Getty Images; Noam Galai/Getty Images
There’s something vaguely negative about calling a band a one-hit wonder. It’s often dismissive and a little mocking, like calling something a flash in the pan. There’s the suggestion built into the concept that the band tried to have more hits and failed. It’s my feeling that this is all a little wrongheaded though. I think we should focus on the word “wonder,” and why the hits that get described this way tend to feel so meaningful to us culturally.
Hanson’s “MMMBop” is one of the most classic examples of a one-hit wonder of all time. As a person who was a teenager when the song came out in 1997, I remember feeling sort of confused. These kids were my age, and they had created this shimmering piece of pop music. The song was so gorgeous and catchy that it almost felt embarrassing. My memory of it is that it was somehow uncool. I see now: I was deeply wrong.
Yes, 25 years is a long time, but it also feels like yesterday. I wanted to take the opportunity to look back on “MMMBop” and try to figure out why it was such a big deal at the time — and what it might have to say to us now.
In 1997, when “MMMBop” was released, the Hanson brothers were kids. The oldest, Isaac, was 16, Taylor was 13, and Zac was 11. On the other hand, they had already been making music together for five years, which is longer than many bands manage to exist. Still, their youth was a major part of their appeal, and somehow they were able to put together a song that ended up going to number one on the charts in 12 different countries.
This was before boy bands like NSYNC had reached peak popularity, so the kind of fame Hanson experienced was surprising. A few years ago, talking about the song as part of an oral history in The Independent, Zac said, “Our life was like A Hard Day’s Night, and of course the reality of screaming girls and stampeding crowds is not silly, it’s kind of terrifying.” Teenager me might have rolled his eyes at that comment, but it’s definitely true that fame of this level, especially when you’re a kid, must be a little harrowing.
Anyway, “MMMBop” was number one in the U.S. for three full weeks, and finished the year at no. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, ahead of huge hits like Usher’s “You Make Me Wanna…” and Meredith Brooks’ “Bitch”. Clearly, the evidence is mounting that my sense, at the time, that “MMMBop” was uncool was way off. Hanson got to work with the Dust Brothers — who had recently worked with Beck on his ultra-cool album Odelay — on the production of the song. Somehow they also got Tamra Davis — who directed music videos for The Smiths, Faith No More, Sonic Youth, and Tone Lōc — to make the video.
Coolness aside, songs don’t usually last in the culture if they don’t have at least a little something to say. “MMMBop” is an incredibly silly title, but the phrase uses nonsense as a stand-in for really big ideas. These kids were singing about how fast time goes by — about how fleeting life can be.
In that same oral history from The Independent, quoted above, Zac goes on to say, “I’m surprised more people weren’t worried about us when you look at the things we were writing at that age. Obviously it was packaged in a very upbeat way with harmonies and catchy guitar lines, but ‘MMMBop’ is really about getting old, losing friends and the fact that most things won’t last.” Clearly, these kids had some depth to them.
The best pop songs — and “MMMBop,” amazingly, is no exception — have a kind of lyrical quality to them. They sneak their way into your heart with catchiness, and then they end up telling you what’s going on in your heart with depth and — dare I say — poetry. “And when you get old and start losing your hair,” Hanson tells us in the song, “Can you tell me who will still care?” As a kid, you find yourself singing along with this stuff, and maybe you miss the meaning, but eventually you see it, and it blows you away.
When VH1 did their Greatest Songs of the ‘90s special back in 2007, “MMMBop” came in at number 20. Glamour’s more recent 2020 list of the best songs of the ‘90s put it at 28. And sure, some lists leave it off entirely, but it’s clear on the whole that “MMMBop” is still in our collective consciousness.
This May, Hanson will release their latest album, Red Green Blue, so in spite of their one-hit wonder status, they keep making music for their following of devoted fans. No, they’re not topping the charts anymore. It’s unlikely that anything from this album will make its way into this year’s Billboard Hot 100.
But that doesn’t mean it’s all meaningless either. Music is a timeless phenomenon, and the audience for it shifts and changes constantly. That’s why I think being a one-hit wonder is really more like a badge of honor. It means that for one shining moment, you created a timeless artifact that made it through to people in a way that mattered.
Maybe it’s a little embarrassing, but so are most of the deepest, most heartfelt feelings we have when we’re forced to get public about them. Back in 1997, the kids of Hanson gave us a sweet, little song about the passage of time; 30 years later, I’m happy to tell you I’m still listening.
