At ten years old we’re all pretty
impressionable. It’s when we finally take that step outside the culture given to by our parents and
start creating our very own cultural identity. It’s also where we start getting
lured into embarrassing fads that will haunt us for the rest of our lives. But really it’s
an amazing time, we get our first celebrity crushes (even though we have no
idea what to do with them), we start going to the movies with our friends
rather than our parents and we purchase CD’s (iTunes downloads now I guess). These early tastes
are important, they affect how we interact with culture from that moment on, so
why is that we are so quick to dismiss our tween loves and childish.
In honour of all our early
introductions to popular culture today I am going to share with you one of the
many loves I found at the age of ten that have stuck with me throughout the
years. That is, of course my love for Hanson. Yes, that band of ridiculously
young boys from Tulsa that wrote one of the best pop songs ever, “MMMBop”. Don’t pretend you don’t remember that song,
even if you weren’t at such an impressionable age as I was when it was
released. It’s catchy as all hell and I love it, even if I am still trying to
work out what exactly an MMMBop is (I think it’s a measurement of time).
“MMMBop” was the first song I
ever remember impacting me in the way that great songs can and Hanson was the
first band I ever fell in love with… and I really fell in love, not just liking
but descending into the all-consuming madness that is true love. I distinctly
remember getting up on a Saturday morning and watching both Rage and VideoHits just so that I could see the film clip. I’m pretty sure I
even had it taped as well. When I got the CD, “Middle of Nowhere”, for my
birthday I actually squealed – yes I was one of those girls. Sure part of it
was the beginnings of my teenage hormones. I was sure that I was going to marry
Zac, I had it all planned out and everything. But it was the music I fell in
love with. For those of you that have not heard the album in a while or ever I
would suggest giving it another listen because it really is fantastic.
So many memories of my youth are
associated with that album; in fact I’m pretty sure one of my first ever popular
culture arguments consisted of arguing with girls at camp over whether Taylor
or Zac was hotter. Considering the fact that it’s kind of my job to argue about
popular culture now that's a pretty big deal.
Of course, as I got older and
society forced me to become more and more ashamed of my love of popular culture,
Hanson got pushed into the background. They were never forgotten, and
even though I wouldn’t have told any of my friends I still listened to their
music in the privacy of my own room. Secretly I was still a Hanson fan even if
I wasn’t man enough to admit it. That said my secret relationship with Hanson
basically consisted of replaying “Middle of Nowhere” over and over again. It
wasn’t until I was about fifteen that I added another new Hanson experience to the relationship.
In the year 2000 Hanson released
their first studio album since “Middle of Nowhere”, and the first single was
called “If Only”. It is a testament of how much my tastes had actually evolved that
when I saw Hanson’s video for “If Only” I realised that Isaac Hanson, who I had
dismissed when I was younger, is actually really attractive. But this story isn’t
about which Hanson brother I would most like to sleep with, it’s about the
awesomeness that is pop music and the shame surrounding it. A shame that forced
me to hide my new found Isaac crush and my love of Hanson in general.
It’s been fifteen years since I heard
MMMbop for the first time and I am finally willing to express my love for
Hanson… you might say that I am willing to “Shout it Out”. Not only is “Middle
of Nowhere” one of my most played albums on iTunes but I totally love their
latest album as well – it’s called “Shout it Out” in case you didn’t understand
my awesome punnage and the song “Give a Little” is pretty much on repeat on my
iPod at the moment.
Anyway the reason I felt the need
to express my fifteen year love affair with Hanson today is because last night I got
to see them perform live and I can officially tell you that it was everything I wanted
and more.
It’s pretty clear that Hanson
have not lost their appeal to the ladies because the Enmore Theatre was pretty oestrogen
heavy last night… and I have not heard girls squeal like that in years. I’m now
a little deafer and my voice is gone but it was totally worth it because Hanson
rocked my world and ate it. Man do those boys know how to put on a good show, I
spent the entire night dancing and singing along (yes I know all the lyrics) and I definitely wasn’t the
only one. Until you’ve experienced a large venue full of people singing along
to “MMMBop”, you have not lived. My personal fav was to "With You in Your
Dreams" though. They just had so much energy and considering they have
been doing this for fifteen years with people labelling them a one hit wonder
for about 12 of them it’s incredible.
Well there you have it, I’m a
Hanson fan and I’m not ashamed to say it. I don’t really know what else to say
about it, except thanks Hanson for bringing some awesome pop music into my world.
What about you? Do you love
Hanson like I do? Maybe you have a similar experience with another band when
you were young and impressionable. Or maybe you’re having a secret love affair
with a band that Hipster’s only like ironically. Share your story in the comments.
