Hanson is back
By: Kayla Hillier
Issue date: 11/15/05
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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."
One of the other ways that Hanson managed to keep ownership of their music is through retaining their publishing, which is half of a song's royalty.
"We at an early point in our career took a stand and said we're not selling our publishing. We're never giving that away, we're always going to maintain ownership of that and we always have," said Hanson.
The music industry itself seems to be a sore spot for Hanson as he explains that their choice to release sub-par albums has upset fans. Mind you he does recognize that it has resulted in some positives, such as an open doorway for fans to pick and choose their own life soundtracks and to investigate independent bands that otherwise would get little to no attention.
"Here's the thing, I believe that the Napster problem was not really the fans problem, I believe it was the industry's problem. Although fans have a responsibility not to be disrespectful to the artist that they love, at the same time the industry as a whole, has a responsibility to prove that their products are consistently quality products. During the '80s into the '90s there became a more and more prevalent problem as the music industry got larger. The quality as a whole began to shrink because there were more records being released and there was less quality control behind those records in many cases, so fans started feeling as though albums were good only for a couple of songs and not a full album experience," said Hanson.
"Technology was catching up and giving fans a way to avoid getting ripped off. I think the internet allows for bands to expose their music to literally the world through one Web site, and anyone can instantly access that information, think that's huge for the music industry I think its going to force quality control on the industry more."
The experience of taking three years off to look at music from an entirely new perspective while creating their own label has aided the Hanson brothers up to their most recent album Live and Electric. They are presently touring along with holding screenings of their documentary Strong Enough to Break at local colleges and universities along the way.
"Artists need to stop pretending like they're islands in the middle of the ocean," adds Hanson. "We need to start building a lot more bridges. I think that a community of artists working together is a successful community. We need to be able to fuel each others' careers and strengthen each others' careers."