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In the year 2000, the brothers Hanson finally released the much-awaited follow-up to their multi-platinum world debut "Middle of Nowhere". There had been a few little treats released during the 3 years between major albums to hold the kiddies over till the big shabang. Their collection of re-released indie tracks from their first attempts as an instrument-playing, three-piece poprock band called "3 Car Garage", a live album of recordings from their sold-out world tour ("Live From Albertane"), and a collection of old and new seasonal tunes called "Snowed In" did almost as well as MON and served to sustain millions of fans worldwide who were combatting symptoms of Hanson withdrawl.
So, on May 9th, 2000, the same day as my graduation from high school, I hurried down to Starship Records and Tapes (little plug for ya), grabbed my copy, sped home, and savagely tore the cellophane wrapper off to get to the disk. I was experiencing such an adrenaline rush that I probably could've lifted a small car. If you're not a fanson, you could never really understand, but try imagining the first time you realized you were in love, or that feeling you got when you rode your first rollercoaster and you actually loved it, or diving off the high dive into a cold pool on a hot summer day... Yes, for a fanson, it's THAT delicious.
I put the CD in and played it... and played it... and played it... and played it all damn day, and although I usually have to be doing seven things to feel fully entertained, I was ecstatic and completely enchanted for hours as I followed along in the lyrics and listened to the notes flowing, bouncing, and growling out of my CD player.
It was everything I'd known all along that it could be. And it was more. Taylor's voice was beautiful. It moved up and down the scale in fiery, sultry, swirling, rocking waves of perfectly landed absolutely amazing landscapes of seasoned auditory heaven. Zac's now deep, mature bass vocal chords vibrated extraordinarily well to create a sound totally beyond comparison to his choirboy Alto on "Mmmbop" and "Lucy", and Ike's voice came out smooth, velvety, melting into my ears like some sort of more masculine Elton John. Their harmonies were dead on, the lyrics weer surprisingly deep, emotional, and quite a bit less carbonated than the poppy MON. The instrumental side was noticeably more rock, and the guys had, in addition to keyboard, guitar, and drums, taken on the harmonica and added blues-rock greats Johnny Lang and John Popper (Blues Traveler) to a few tracks. A choir was brought in for the motivational "Dying to be Alive".
Overall, the songs gave me chills, not just as an all out fanatical Hanson fan, but as a lover of all varieties of music from the hardcore industrial goth-rock of Marilyn Manson to the classic rock and roll crooning of Janis Joplin to the soulful, infectious bouncing hip-hop of Lauryn Hill. There were traces of 70's rock in the inner lining of "Love Song", raw dynamic vocal structures very much like an early-90's Michael Jackson on "Save Me", and all around, there was a feeling of insight, wisdom, energy, emotion, and pure art in every note and every word. I'd just fallen in shameless love with the 3 boys all over again.
I was proud of them. I was happy for them. I was in awe of them. I couldn't wait to see what the world would think of it. I truly had been just dying for the teenies to scatter and distance themselves from my boys and for true music lovers to see what I saw all along; a serious band of dedicated artists creating lovely music for the purest of all reasons: They just love making music.
But the best album of 2000 fell on only two kinds of ears... There were the mindless robots of TRL fanatics and the deaf ones of the ignorant who never gave it a chance or even an openminded once-over.
Ask the people who address me in utter stupidity and make the stunned and appalled observation, "Dude! You're wearing a Hanson shirt!" what makes them hate Hanson so much. The answer is almost always a resounding "Mmmbop". They can't tell me the title or tune to any other Hanson song and they don't know a single word to "Mmmbop" with the obvious exception of the title.
So the ones who would have truly loved it never heard it, and the fans who were looking for more of "Mmmbop" didn't like it. It was a critical success, and still did very respectably on Billboard's charts, but "This Time Around" did not cause nearly as much mayhem as MON, and was not nearly as respected by those who consider themselves to be passionate connoiseurs of REAL music as it should have been and just plain DESERVED to be. I was angry at my generation for being so taken in by the cheap glitter and false aesthetic appeal of artists like Britney Spears and completely dismissing the very example and symbol of why we deserve to be taken more seriously and listened to by those in positions to run our world.
We are smart, we are sincere, we are not apathetic and self-centered, and... we chose Britney Spears as the voice of our generation?
Idiots.
In the end though, it didn't much matter. I still loved it. It still made me euphorically happy to listen to it, and the electric shock that ran over me at the taste of certain parts of it did not fade. I remained happy for them because I knew they'd made the album they'd set out to make and that they wouldn't be discouraged by lack of material or financial success. They're well-grounded guys and their love for the creation of good music is genuine.
My boys egos would not be bruised and their determination to make good music would not be weakened. In the end, the album WAS a success because THEY loved it, and as for the deserters and naysayers?
It's your loss.
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