April 21, 2014

Underneath: How I Became a Hanson Fan

Ten years ago yesterday, Hanson released their third studio album, Underneath. It was their first independent album, and their first risk at taking complete control of their music career. Ten years and three independent albums later, I think it's safe to say it was a smart decision. Underneath debuted at #1 on the Billboard Independent chart and had a handful of other bragging rights, but you're welcome to visit Wikipedia for a more thorough lesson (or better yet, watch their documentary Strong Enough to Break).

Believe it or not, I'm not writing this to tell you a list of accolades Underneath has achieved in the last decade or how the songs have stood the test of time. This is a more personal story. Most of my posts here are related to traveling and seeing recent Hanson shows. For once, I want to rewind--not to 2004 when Underneath was released--but to 2006, the first time I heard it.

Maybe I should start by coming out of the closet. Hi, I'm Holly! And I haven't been a Hanson fan since 1997 like a lot of the hardcore fans in this fan base. Sure, I heard "MMMBop" in 1997, and I loved it. I had Middle of Nowhere on cassette, and I listened to it every day for hours on end. And then one day, I just didn't anymore. In fact I pretty much forgot about Hanson until 2006. Curiosity struck and one day I found myself Googling Hanson, wondering what in the world had happened to those three long-haired brothers that sang "MMMBop" and defined the summer before 4th grade.

What I found was that they were still making music, and their most recent album was called Underneath. I ended up at Wikipedia, the very same page linked up there in the first paragraph. I planned to skim the track listing and search a few of the titles on Youtube to get an idea of their new sound. So at 18 I sat there in my little dorm room, rediscovering this band that means so much to me now, and this was the very first thing that I read:
Track Listing:
1. Strong Enough to Break Wind
I'm not even kidding; that's how I got reacquainted with Hanson. All I could think was "Have they really gone that far downhill and taken some strange, uncharacteristic Weird Al turn?" (no offense to Weird Al, who is a lyrical genius as far as I'm concerned--but not just anyone can pull that off!) I almost closed the page and left Hanson right there in that 4th grade vault, but after a moment of harsh judgment, I kept reading to see what other ludicrous titles might accompany such an absurd first track. When I reread the list and realized my mistake, I stopped and laughed so hard that I cried. My eyes had somehow merged together "Strong Enough to Break" and "Dancing in the Wind," and to this day I think it's the best reading mistake I've ever made.

After I finished crying over my own stupidity, I eventually made it over to Youtube and heard "Broken Angel" and "Crazy Beautiful" for the first time, and that was it for me. If you ask a Hanson fan about the moment they became a fan, you'll get a lot of stories about the first time someone heard "MMMBop," a few mentions of Oprah and MTV, and some laughs about mistaking them for girls the first time. Truthfully, I don't remember how I discovered Hanson in 1997, but if there was a "moment" for me, it's this one, made up of Youtube and accidental potty humor and an album called Underneath. What a love story.

9 comments:

heidi said...

This story gave me a good laugh. Thanks for that!

(PS. Your subscription emails are sending out the entire text of the blog posts, you might want to change it so that it just shows a snippet. People will be less likely to come to the site if they can read the whole thing in their emails.)

Unknown said...

Love your blog! It's good to hear of a fan that came around a little later in the guys career and being so die hard about their music! My first show was during the underneath acoustic tour and same thing, while I have much respect for their early days and learn to love those songs as well. I didn't realize how great Hanson was till after Underneath came about. It's all history from that point, :).

Unknown said...

Such a cool story! I love hearing how people became Hanson fans! Amazing!

Unknown said...

I couldn't stop laughing! You do such a great job with your blogs and I enjoy reading them.

Unknown said...

I too had a period of time where I didnt listen to Hanson for a while. I remember even saying I dont like them as much. It was during their fallout with IDJ. I did become a fan in 1997 but late in that year after I knew they wernt girls [hides face] I recieved a postcard in the mail from their magazine fanclub MOE and traveled 6hrs to see them and I was rehooked forever...

Unknown said...

It was a postcard for their Underneath Acoustic tour.

Anonymous said...

Holly, have you ever done a review of the songs from Underneath or do you think it's something you would ever want to do? I'd really love to read your thoughts and interpretations of the songs/lyrics. A review of Underneath Complete...

Holly said...

"have you ever done a review of the songs from Underneath or do you think it's something you would ever want to do? "

I've never considered reviewing albums that were already released and out for a while. I don't know why, it just feels like there's always more to uncover about something new vs. analyzing something everyone has already formed opinions about. I'll think about it once Underneath Complete is out!

Anonymous said...

I can understand that! Would love maybe a smaller take on the added song to Underneath Complete. I know a lot of us have not heard those songs as much or if ever.