100 songs (03/100) – MMMBop.

This was bound to happen at some point in time… a Hanson song on my list of 100 songs that have defined my life. Recently, when talking to my dad, I was reminded of a time when this song was a big deal to me, and up until that conversation I had completely forgotten about it. So I won’t drag this on, despite my shame and embarrassment over this.

#3. Hanson – MMMBop (youtube)

Every aspect of life is life changing; small decisions can alter the course of your life.. refer to the movie The Butterfly Effect. However, I believe that in our lives we have a few big moments, moments that don’t just change the course of our lives but change our identity.

In 1997, I had an encounter with someone that would change my life forever. I was in the Zone at The Salvation Army’s Camp Arnold. A boy at the table looked over at me and told me I reminded him of Taylor Hanson, to which I shrugged; I had never heard of this person. Every time they were near me, they would sing this Mmmbop song.. and when I got home I decided to buy this strange CD.

And I loved it. At some point, I acquired the Mmmbop single. My dad recently reminded me of this when he reminisced about a long drive we once took where he let me play any CD I wanted and my 12-year-old self put in the Mmmbop single. Twenty minutes into the five hour drive, my dad looked at me and asked if the CD had any other songs. I laughed, and we kept driving through the early morning, listening to Mmmbop.

I became a Hanson Fan. From what I’ve heard about the TV show LOST, it’s about a bunch of people who go through something that they share and is inexplainable to those who didn’t experience it. This is how I see living as a Hanson fan. There are few (music) fandoms I know of that take up so much of your identity. In recent times, I’d compare this to Harry Potter or Twilight. You know what I’m talking about if you have ever encountered someone who really deeply loves either of these.

However, when I was fifteen my love of Hanson started to wane from fanatical to just deep. I wish I could say the same for some of my fellow Hanson fans, but they are as infatuated with them as they were when we were twelve. Except now they have credit cards of their own, and I applaud Hanson for brilliantly using this to their advantage.

All of this to say that I owe a huge part of my identity to Hanson and their music and the song Mmmbop, although it has never been my favorite of their songs. If I was more clever, I would’ve posted this on Hanson day… except I forget when that is. Sometime in the first week of May or something.

ps once I met Taylor Hanson!!!