Hanson is an American pop band made up of the three Hanson brothers: Jordan Taylor Hanson, lead vocalist and keyboardist; Clarke Isaac Hanson, the guitarist, and Zachary Walker Hanson, the drummer. Formed in 1992, they are known as one of the defining pop groups of The '90s through their Signature Song "MMMBop".
The band produced their first demo albums, Boomerang and MMMBop (the latter of which contained the first appearance of their eventual hit), in 1995 and 1996. After playing "MMMBop" for a guy at Mercury Records, they eventually released their first well-known album, Middle of Nowhere, in 1997. "MMMBop" was the signature track of the album, with its upbeat and catchy sound alongside the band's image winning the hearts of many girls... and male fans who thought they were girls. However, despite many compilation albums, Hanson and "MMMBop" became a distant memory among the general public in a few years.
The trio returned in the 2000s with a new style that was a little Darker and Edgier than the poppy image that made Middle of Nowhere successful. After a set of record company mergers that dissolved their previous label, the trio found themselves signed with Island Def Jam. Conflict and delays in recording their third major album Underneath ended with them departing from the record company and forming their own record label, 3CG. There was a documentary made about the entire thing, entitled Strong Enough to Break and released in 2006.
In the late 2000s, Hanson created Take the Walk, a charity to help fight poverty and AIDS in Africa with events revolving around walking a mile in no shoes. They also created the album The Walk in 2007. In 2010, they made the album Shout it Out, which is a little more upbeat than their last few albums.
Discography:
- Boomerang (1995)
- Mmmbop (1996)
- Middle of Nowhere (1997)
- Snowed In (1997)
- 3 Car Garage (1998)
- Live From Albertane (1998)
- This Time Around (2000)
- Underneath Acoustic (EP) (2003)
- Underneath (2004)
- Live and Electric (2005)
- The Walk (2007)
- Stand Up Stand Up (EP) (2009)
- Shout It Out (2010)
- Anthem (2013)
- Finally it's Christmas (2017)
- String Theory (2018)
Tropes:
- Album Title Drop: The phrase "middle of nowhere" is comes from last song from that album, "Man From Milwaukee" and "shout it out" comes from that album's first track, "Waiting for This".
- April Fools' Day: 2011 had ShockHound
claiming that Hanson would record a Slipknot tribute album, accompanied with video of Hanson performing the song "Wait and Bleed". - Audience Participation Song: "This Time Around" turns into this live, with half the audience singing the chorus and the other half singing the "AND WE WON'T GO DOWN"s. Also the echoed "Shout it out!"s in "Waiting For This".
- Lately it's become popular for the audience to recreate the dance from the "Thinking 'Bout Something" video.
- Band of Relatives: All three are brothers.
- The Cameo: The boys are close friends with "Weird Al" Yankovic (he even directed some of their videos) and he makes an appearance in the video for "Thinking 'Bout Something" as an overenthusiastic tambourine player.
- Charity Motivation Song: "Great Divide"
- Child Popstar: The early years.
- Christmas Songs: Snowed In. An entire album worth was recorded for the Finally It's Christmas album
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Zac
- Deadpan Snarker: This and Self-Deprecation show up often in their recent live chats.
- Former Child Star: Averted. They steered clear of the traps that plague most child stars and seem like normal people who happen to make music for their dedicated fanbase.
- Grief Song: "With You In Your Dreams" was written after their grandmother died.
- Hidden Track: "Lulla Belle", the last song on Underneath plays after a few minutes of silence. "Man From Milwaukee", the last song on Middle of Nowhere, plays after several tracks of silence.
- Homage:
- The video for "Thinking 'Bout Somethin'" is a near shot for shot recreation of the "Shake A Tail Feather" scene from The Blues Brothers.
- They're very fond of playing both "Shake a Tail Feather" and "Gimme some lovin'" in live shows.
- Idiosyncratic Album Theming: Track 8 on every album since Middle of Nowhere has been Zac led.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Considering their effeminate-looking appearances in their youth and being the heartthrobs of girls everywhere, the Hanson brothers were definitely this during the height of their success.
- Long-Runner Line-up: Hanson is still together, 30-odd years later.
- Lyrical Dissonance: "MMMbop" is about how we don't know who will actually be there for us later, "Where's the Love?" is about a relationship falling apart and "If Only" is about a guy who's too paralyzed by fear to tell the girl how he feels.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: They're the three oldest of seven children. Taylor's wife gave birth to the couple's seventh child in December 2020.
- One-Woman Song: "Lucy," "Madeline," "Lulla Belle," "Georgia".
- Parody Assistance:
- Taylor played the piano on "If That Isn't Love", the "Weird Al" Yankovic song spoofing them.
- The video for "River", directed by Weird Al, brings in Gloria Stuart to parody her role in Titanic (1997).
- Scatting: "MMMbop"
- Song of Song Titles: Three of them. "Been There Before" contains lines referring to the Otis Redding song "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" and Johnny Cash's version of "Swing Low Sweet Chariot". "Penny and Me" contains the lines: singing along to "Feelin' Alright"/ we're making it by in the pink moonlight. "Thinking 'Bout Somethin'" contains the lines: you're not too proud to beg/ I can give you some Respect.
- Team Dad: Isaac
- Truck Driver's Gear Change: Happens twice in "Give A Little". Once after the first chorus, and again after the bridge.
- Unplugged Version: Underneath Acoustic (which was actually released before Underneath) and Middle of Nowhere Acoustic (recorded for the tenth anniversary of Middle of Nowhere's release)
- Vocal Tag Team: Taylor sings lead on the majority of their songs, but both Isaac and Zac also step up to the mic, usually at least once an album.
