What Happened to Hanson? (from Mmmbop to Independent)
In 1997, Hanson recorded the song
Mmbop. That song took over the world and they became one of the pioneers for
the teen pop wave of the late 90s and early 2000s. This era was boxed them in,
but over time Hanson wanted to prove themselves that they were more. And Hanson
quietly had one of the more impressive runs, in the independent lane. Today we
going to tell the story on how three brothers from Tulsa took the world by storm,
before taking matter into their own hands.
What
Happened to Hanson? (from Mmmbop to Independent)
Our story begins in Tulsa,
Oklahoma. In November 17, 1980 Clarke Issac Hanson was born. March 14, 1983
Jordan Taylor Hanson was born. October 22, 1985 Zachary Walker Hanson was born.
Their father Walker Hanson was an accountant for a drilling company. In fact,
for a period of time, they lived in South America. Because of this, the family
traveled frequently and was homeschooled by their mother. At an early age, the
brothers found a love for music and would often harmonize around the house. The
brother would perform in public for the first time at their father’s company
Christmas Party. Their mother realized that her sons loved to perform in front
of an audience so she started booking the Hanson Brothers in any and
everywhere. Restaurants, schools, birthday parties you name it. Not to mention,
the boys started getting involved in songwriting. They would often write songs
instead of doing chores.
All of the brothers started to play
instruments. They all started on piano but older brother Issac would eventually
move to guitar and younger brother Zac would take on the drums. In the early
90s, they started to shop for record labels to sign but as many as 12 labels
rejected them, likely due to age. Time waste for no man, or boys, so with the
help of their parents finances they recorded their first album Boomerang,
released in May 1995. The next year they released Mmmbop. But labels still were
ignoring them but then they caught a break. The Mmmbop demo landed in the hands
of Steve Greenberg of Mercury Records. He was blown away on what he had heard.
But he needed to see them live to make sure they are for real. He caught the
brothers performing, playing live and was blown away. After their performance,
he wanted to sign the Hanson Brothers to Mercury and they accepted almost
immediately. One more thing changed. The Hanson brothers dropped the brothers
from their band name and simply just went by Hanson as their permanent band
name.
To help out with their debut album,
a producer collective called the Dust Brothers helped produce the album. The
producers took a liking to Mmmbop and decide to rework the song to make it more
pop friendly. In March 1997, the song was released as the band’s debut single.
The song blew up worldwide going #1 in various countries. The song was also one
of the pioneering songs that ushered in the teen-pop era of the late 90s-early
00s. While the iron was hot, Hanson released their debut album The Middle of
Nowhere. The big test was can they follow up Mmmbop? The answer was yes. Their
next single was Where’s The Love. This was ineligible to chart on Billboard due
to their rules at the time, but made top 40 radio. The third single was the
ballad “I Will Come to You” that one was eligible to chart going #9 on the Hot
100. Middle of Nowhere was highly successful going platinum six times over.
Thanks to the success of Mmmbop, Hanson saw itself nominated for three Grammys,
two of which included Record of the Year and Best New Artist and with this,
younger brother Zac became the youngest to ever be nominated for said award, a
title he still holds til this very day.
Hanson would spend the next year or
two embarking in Hanson-mania. To this point, there were multiple unauthorized
biographies done on the brothers. So to combat that, they were kind of forced
to work to publish their own in 1998. The biography Hanson: The Official Book
became a New York Best Seller. To capitalize on Middle of Nowhere, they
released a holiday album in 1997 called Snowed In. The next year, they released
a live album Live From Albertane and it was accompanied with a documentary of
the same name. Another documentary Tulsa, Tokyo and The Middle of Nowhere
documentary was released a year earlier. Hanson then re-released their first
two independent albums in response to the demand. Their hometown of Tulsa, OK
declared May 6 Hanson Day.
In the late 90s, the brothers
started to work on their second album. During this process, their label Mercury
was on the verge of falling apart, and the label merged to Island Def Jam. In
May 2000, Hanson’s second album This Time Around was released. The album saw a
shift with less bubblegum music and more classic rock, pop rock elements. The
first single was If Only and that featured harmonica player John Popper.
However, the song failed to chart in America despite faring well
internationally. The next song was the title track and that one was able to
chart in America peaking at #20 on the Hot 100. This Time Around didn’t match
the same success of Middle of Nowhere only going Gold. Their label struggled to
market to album, if they even did so. Some said Hanson got consumed by
something they help pioneered as the boyband boom reached it’s peak in 2000. To
add on to the frustrations, Island pulled funding for their tour after the
album underperformed expectations. Meaning Hanson toured out of their own
pockets. For Taylor his personal life was taking shape. He met Natalie Ann
Bryant and the two married in 2002. That same year the couple gave birth to a
son, the first of seven children.
Between the years 2000-2003, Hanson
started to work and record tracks for their third album. They recorded about 80
songs but Island Def Jam turned down every single one as they thought their
music wasn’t marketable for the mainstream. After a three-year struggle with
Def Jam, Hanson demanded (and granted) release from Def Jam. Shortly after,
they founded their own independent label 3CG Records. In April 2004, the band
released the album Underneath. The album reached #1 on the Independent Charts
as it became one of the biggest independent albums of 2004.
In 2007, Hanson released their
fifth album The Walk. During the recording of The Walk, the brothers released a
second documentary, titled Taking The Walk as a continuation of their struggles
and successes of writing, recording and producing their own album. During the
making of The Walk, Hanson made a trip to Africa to record some tracks with the
African Children's Choir. That same year they released The Middle of Nowhere
Acoustic Version to commemorate that album’s 10th birthday.
In 2010, a fifth album Shout It Out
was released. The album reached #2 on the Independent Charts. Then that same
year, the band was suppose to perform a free concert in NYC with Drake on the
billing. But the show was abruptly cancelled as the concert struggled with
overcrowding. They’ll spend the rest of the decade releasing multiple
independent projects with Anthem being released in 2013 & String Theory
released in 2018. In 2009, Taylor created a supergroup called Tinted Windows.
Members included James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins, Bun E Carlos of Cheap Trick
and Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne. They recorded one album and that
was released in 2009.
In 2020, younger brother Zac was
caught in a scandal. His Pinterest was leaked and it showcased several right
winged, pro guns, transphobic themes. He at first doubled down but later
apologies stating that his beliefs doesn’t aligns with the Pinterest account. Should
be noted the year before he was involved in a serious motorcycle accident which
he recovered from. He has his own YouTube family channel called Zaccidental
Gamer and in 2023 became an ordained deacon in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
The next year, Hanson appeared on
the Masked Singer as Russian dolls. They became the first band to participate
in this show. This was a segway into them releasing Against All Odds in November
2021. And how about another independent release for good measure in 2022 with
Red Green Blue & Underneath: Complete in 2024. Their mainstream run was
short, very short but they took matters in their own hands and become icons in
the independent circuit and today they still perform/release music and have
zero intention in slowing down.
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