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| Bob Weir (Grateful Dead)
"Hanson are the real thing. It'll be interesting to see if the youth of America want music that speaks to them and not for them, or if they want candy-coated horseshit." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
Why Hanson? I can't stop listening to this music. It's like an addiction. Makes me smile from the inside out. Where did these boys come from?
They came from Tulsa, Oklahoma, the city I've called my home for most of the 20 years I've been on this planet. I've never met them. Not that I don't want to, but it's a pretty big city, especially compared to what people usually expect. There just haven't been any opportunities so far. They don't walk around town in broad daylight anymore, I assure you. Mostly for fear of being mauled by teenage girls.
I hope this page explains a little more clearly why I love them so much and put so much on the line to be free to enjoy their music. If not, then all I can tell you is that to understand, you'd have to be inside me to feel what it's like to hear them play live through my ears and into my mind... It's a feeling that's indescribable. It's not some silly crush on three adorable boys, although I can't deny their aesthetic appeal. I just love everything about them, and this is why...
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BOYBAND???
NO. They are not a boyband. If they are a boyband, then all the other boybands need to be stripped of that title because other than the all-male factor, they really have no other similarities.
Hanson writes their own songs, and have been doing so from the very beginning. They play instruments (usually Taylor on keyboards, Zac on drums, and Ike on guitar). They do not dance. They do not use pyrotechnics or fancy props or even costumes at their concerts. If you go to a Hanson concert, you can expect three guys onstage, probably in jeans and tshirts, playing and singing their hearts out. No gimmicks, no cheesiness. They're a little goofy and like to do things like spray silly string or fire water guns into the crowd, but they are not choreographed or otherwise puppeteered. They have no need for the theatrics. The music speaks for itself, and no other frills or extras are needed.
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OVERNIGHT SUCCESS?
Wrong again. These guys have been writing (yes, WRITING), recording, and playing for nearly 10 years. They started singing together when they were little kids. When they finally got something together that was more definite, they started playing around town at Big Splash (a local water park in Tulsa), at the Fair, at Mayfest, in other neighboring states.
They made two demos before finally getting signed to Mercury records, after about three years of performing around town and getting no national attention. Finally, someone saw something in them, and knew that the fans would see the same thing. "Middle of Nowhere" was released, with the infamous "Mmmbop" as the main arsenal to kick off the phenomenon known as Hansonmania... And then it all came together, after nearly five years of waiting and playing dead-end gigs that brought them local fame, but nothing like their current status.
These guys have worked very hard to achieve what they have now. They put out their first album when they were 8, 10, and 13. What were you doing at age 8? I think I was still watching Disney movies and making mudpies to throw at my grandmother's house... How about 13? I still played with Barbies at 13.
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SELF-PROCLAIMED DORKS...
Yes, I like dorks. I like people who seem down to earth and funny and even awkward at times. I like people who don't pretend to have it all figured out. I like people who know they're odd, but are fine with it, or even cherish it as a part of who they are and wouldn't change it for anything. I like people who have a goofy sense of humor and smile a lot. Hanson are these kind of dorks. Or at least, that's how I see them.
I, myself am a dork. Bigtime. So this type of mentality and persona is easy for me to relate to. Dorks are more interesting, a lot of the time, than regular people. They have querks that regular people don't. And most regular people are really dorks who are masquerading as normal people.
So they make me laugh. They make me think. They make me curious. They make me love them.
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VOCALS...
To me, Taylor Hanson's voice is one of the most lovely things in the world. It's soulful, with a little rock edge to it. I'd love to hear him sing a Bad Company song because his voice has a lot in common with Paul Rodgers'...
Their vocals have a sincerity that is not found in most pop acts, and some of the songs have a retro feel to them that can only be described as classic 70's rock. The bouncy feel of "Mmmbop" is vaguely reminiscent of older soul groups from the 50's because Hanson's original main influences were 50's rock and roll and soul artists such as Otis Redding, Chuck Berry, and Aretha Franklin.
I can hear some of Aretha's raw soul in Taylor's voice. The longing in his voice on "Save Me" nearly takes my breath away... The meloncholy and loneliness he expresses vocally on "A Song to Sing" makes me feel the words. Isaac's smooth Baritone has an almost Elton John-ish quality to it, but with a little more testosterone and rock, rather than pop. His vocals on "Love Song" are flawless and almost eerily serene... Zac's voice is developing nicely and when he belts out "OH, I LIKE TO DREAM!" on their cover of Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride", it's positively animalistic and amazing.
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LYRICS...
"I've heard them say that dreams should stay in your head. Well I feel ashamed of the things that I've said. Put on these chains and you can live a free life. Well I'd rather bleed just to know why I died."
"We have so many relationships in this life. Only one or two will last... So hold onto the ones who really care. In the end, they'll be the only ones there... In an mmmbop they're gone..."
"When you live in a cookie cutter world, being different is a sin, so you don't stand out, but you don't fit in... Weird."
"We're segregated. Consciences are fading. You're thinking that it's me you're foolin. Where's the right in all of our fighting? Look at what we're doing... Face down, on the ground, pick us up at the lost and found. We've gotta change our point of view, if we want the sky blue."
"All that I have found in reason is reason just to not believe. When all that you're left is treason, it's treason just to let it be... These blue yonder dreams and second-hand shoes. You're so far gone that you live to lose, and it's too late to go home all alone. You're the tar in that old cigar and the worn out cable on a cable car and you're too tired to admit you've got to choose."
"The people you touch, the way you've touched them. I hope they've touched you too. Cuz in this life, it's hard to tell, what's false and what is true... I'm dying to be alive. Not trying to just survive. Let's not go through our lives without just dying to be alive."
"If only I had the guts to feel this way. If only you'd look at me and want to stay. If only I'd take you in my arms and say 'I won't go, cuz I need you.'"
"Suddenly the sky is falling. Could it be it's too late for me? If I never said I'm sorry, then I'm wrong, yes I'm wrong. Then I hear my spirit calling, wondering if she's longing for me. And then I know that I can't live without her"
From the pain, confusion, and sheer bliss of love, to social consciousness, to general loneliness, to being an outcast, to contemplating the expression of love to someone clueless to your feelings for them... They express things with their lyrics that everyone goes through, and the way they do it is nothing short of poetic and ingenious.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Why not Hanson? |
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