Not just 6th-grade heartthrobs
Campus fans prove Hanson craze is still going strong
By Sara Murray

October 26, 2005

As the line of Hanson-obsessed fans snakes through two hallways and up around two stairwells, giggling girls periodically rush into the bathrooms for one last primp before a supposedly washed-up band takes the Hoff Theatre stage.

An impromptu concert at the South Campus Dining Hall yesterday afternoon evoked a similar response when the Hanson boys paraded in, guitars and tambourine in tow, to serenade shocked but receptive students with “Penny and Me” from the band’s 2004 release Underneath.

Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson popped up in a few unexpected venues yesterday to encourage students to attend the 9 p.m. showing of their documentary Strong Enough to Break at the Hoff. The film follows their musical transition to their independent label and the challenges that come with breaking away from big-name labels.

Hanson left its label, Island Def Jam, when the challenges for their 2004 release became overwhelming. “After two-and-a-half years of struggling with a record company that didn’t have any real creative outlet, that didn’t have people that really understood what we were doing, we started our own label,” Taylor, 22, vocalist and keyboardist, says.

But most in the eternally long line were there to see their childhood heartthrobs ridiculously close.

“I’ve been waiting like 10 years for this,” admits Adrienne Dukes, sophomore Spanish and education major. “I was one of those super-insane teeny bopper people. It’s like reliving my childhood.”

Courtney Pierson, a freshman at Quince Orchard High School, waited at the Hoff with so much excitement that spontaneous combustion was a serious concern. Pierson was a back-in-the-day fan until she dug out her old CDs and got addicted all over again.

“You can write down my phone number too,” she says. “Ya know, in case they read this.”

The Hanson wishfuls ranged from those looking for dates to those looking for record deals.

John Soares, junior business and music major, brought his solo CD in hopes of giving it to the band at the show.

“I heard the whole documentary is about them breaking away from their record label and trying to take over their career,” he says. “I’m not a big Hanson fan, but I respect what they did because they could be on TRL right now, but they’re not, and that takes guts.”

And with that, Soares cemented Hanson’s mission: to inspire people to own their music. Not in the monetary sense, but in the I’m-so-sick-of-hearing-“Shake-It-Off”-and-I’m-going-to-complain sense.

“Now more than ever I think the traditional outlets are giving you less choice,” says Zac, 20, the band’s drummer. “The traditional terrestrial radio stations are playing fewer songs than they’ve ever played, and they’re playing them en masse.”

“People got annoyed with ‘Mmmbop,’ and ‘Mmmbop’ was only played 6,000 times a week,” Isaac, 24, guitarist says. “Now the number one is played 9,000 times a week. No wonder people are sick of it.”

The guys say they hope to reach fans on a peer-to-peer level. They’re not interested in inspiring 50-year-old artsy film-festival critics. It’s about bringing music industry concerns to the demographic that controls music — students.

“We just want to hopefully spark something, to maybe create some kind of spark in people that says I’m interested in more,” Taylor says. “If you want music, if you want it to be out there, and you want your generation to be represented by great artists and have a future in music, you need to take a more active role.”

Hanson, formed in May 1992, has used a decade to transform from their doo-wop, R&B-based Middle of Nowhere (1997) days to its recent indie-rock release Underneath (2004), closely followed by their compilation album, Live & Electric (2005).

But the guys know they can’t outrun that “Mmmbop” cloud. And they don’t give a rat’s ass.

“We’ve always done just what we do and not apologized for it,” Taylor says. “We want to be able to be a band that can take you from a song that’s rooted in R&B like ‘Mmmbop’ or a song that’s ethereal rock like covering a Radiohead song.”

Isaac does have one minor apology.

“I do apologize for ever being credited in any way, shape or form for the boy bands, because I had nothing to do with that,” he says. “I refuse to have any connection with that whatsoever because if you listen to Middle of Nowhere and then you listen to any of those other records, you will see the very clearly defined difference — which is there’s a band. And we’re songwriters. And we’re musicians, and the list goes on and on,” he says.

Some were doubtful of the Hanson fanbase on the campus. Some expected the Hoff to be nearly empty. Some will feel awfully foolish when they see this.

In The Diamondback office, one cinder block on the wall, meticulously designed by Zac for half an hour reads “Are You Listening.” Judging by the hundreds of girls still poised to rip off their tops for a phenomenon that started more than a decade ago, the answer is obvious.

Hanson still has an audience from the reminiscing teeny boppers to the die-hard fans. That is exactly why they just might appear in your dining hall to say...well, whatever the hell they want.

Contact reporter Sara Murray at murraydbk@gmail.com.