Hanson is back
Kayla Hillier
Issue date: 11/15/05 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Anyone who made it through 1997 without hearing the upbeat tune "MMMbop" should be awarded a prize pony.
The song ripped through the charts and proceeded to be played over and over throughout that entire year fueling skits on Saturday Night Live starring the three blond rockers, and countless other spoofs on Mad TV and talk across the globe.
"It's funny, I don't think people's perspective on the first record is really very accurate. I think people just kind of remember very vaguely some kind of image and don't really have as much of a reference as they think they do," said Isaac Hanson the oldest of the three brothers comprising the band.
"What I would say is I am immensely proud of everything that we've ever done. We as a band are not running from 'MMMbop' by any stretch. We actually embrace it. It's a platform from which we've been able to launch an incredibly long and successful career thus far. And things are only looking up. Everybody has to start somewhere and we feel that our past is only a positive. Middle of Nowhere wasn't just 'MMMbop' and neither is this band."
The band never dropped off of the face of the earth or stopped creating music since you last heard of them. Rather they parted ways from their record label, began their own label, 3CG (3 Car Garage) Records, filmed a documentary explaining the entire process, released a chart topping independent release Underneath, toured and regained their independence as artists.
"We certainly were in a situation that was beyond the norm. But unfortunately it is now far more common in this record industry. Our ownership of this new music, stemmed from the fact that we were absorbed into a rap label that we were never originally signed to, so therefore making this most recent album Underneath, was certainly far more challenging that what it should have been," said Hanson. "It's not about saying 'screw the man,' it's about acknowledging that there's a problem and helping each other talk about it and try and fix it."
The song ripped through the charts and proceeded to be played over and over throughout that entire year fueling skits on Saturday Night Live starring the three blond rockers, and countless other spoofs on Mad TV and talk across the globe.
"It's funny, I don't think people's perspective on the first record is really very accurate. I think people just kind of remember very vaguely some kind of image and don't really have as much of a reference as they think they do," said Isaac Hanson the oldest of the three brothers comprising the band.
"What I would say is I am immensely proud of everything that we've ever done. We as a band are not running from 'MMMbop' by any stretch. We actually embrace it. It's a platform from which we've been able to launch an incredibly long and successful career thus far. And things are only looking up. Everybody has to start somewhere and we feel that our past is only a positive. Middle of Nowhere wasn't just 'MMMbop' and neither is this band."
The band never dropped off of the face of the earth or stopped creating music since you last heard of them. Rather they parted ways from their record label, began their own label, 3CG (3 Car Garage) Records, filmed a documentary explaining the entire process, released a chart topping independent release Underneath, toured and regained their independence as artists.
"We certainly were in a situation that was beyond the norm. But unfortunately it is now far more common in this record industry. Our ownership of this new music, stemmed from the fact that we were absorbed into a rap label that we were never originally signed to, so therefore making this most recent album Underneath, was certainly far more challenging that what it should have been," said Hanson. "It's not about saying 'screw the man,' it's about acknowledging that there's a problem and helping each other talk about it and try and fix it."
