Hanson's "mmm bop" - cool or stool?

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I like the song "mmm bop" by Hanson. I think it's a great uplifting pop song. Does this mark me out forever as some kind of freak with no taste in music?

― pihkal boy, Wednesday, 3 January 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago) link

At the time I thought "Mmmbop" was a bit rubbish - hearing it more recently I don't think it's rubbish exactly but there's something a bit too jumpy-happy-clappy about it for it to entirely convince (sort of like "Love Makes The World Go Round" by the Powerpuff Girls) - it's a fine line with this stuff. The Jackson 5 managed it and endless disco overplaying of "I Want You Back" cannot quite dim its majesty; Hanson tried much the same trick and went too far.

What pissed me off at the time was the marketing - here was the year's press-sanctioned pop song (with 2 backyard indie albums of the little tykes playing their own instruments to back it up). I can understand why I reacted against that but it was a bit dumb of me nonetheless (cf. also "I Want It That Way" which got the same treatment but unlike Hanson's record is a magisterially great song.)

Um, yeah, in answer to your question: no.

― Tom, Wednesday, 3 January 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago) link

I detest Hanson - their rock star teenage posturing. That said oneof the funniest pieces of rock journalism from the last couple of years have been from a journo (Barbara Ellen I think) interviewing them and describing how much she wanted to punch Zack.

MmmBop is a brilliantly stupid record though, and of course you should have no trouble in liking it. You are in no way a paedophile.

― Pete, Thursday, 4 January 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago) link

I've never posted here before so excuse me if I say something stupid.

I think the problem with Hanson is not that their songs were hideously awful - in unguarded moments I found myself humming "Mmmbop", it was that their fans would laud them for being so talented for their age - but when people disagreed the defence was largely, "Hey they're young! Give 'em a break!". You cannot have it both ways, I'm afraid.

So, "Mmmbop" is a stool, but not so terrible as to be completely unlikeable. Not unlike the thread on here a while back about otherwise cool bands ruined by their fans. Sort of ungood bands rendered completely unbearable by their fans.

― Edward Okulicz, Friday, 5 January 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago) link

What Hanson suffers from is "Catchiness thru Repetition," which is to say that they're not very hooky, but they repeat the chorus so much you THINK it is.

It's really just shite...

― J.M., Saturday, 6 January 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago) link

eight months pass...

"Stool," obviously, but I still have to stand up for Hanson. I was partly converted when I heard them live, doing a rendition of "Gimme Some Lovin." They actually sounded pretty good! Their 2nd flop album has some great, stones-ish rockers too.

― Jack Redelfs, Tuesday, 25 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

one year passes...

mmm bop sucks and so do you

― gordy, Tuesday, 14 January 2003 05:54 (twenty-two years ago) link

you forgot "u r gay"

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 05:55 (twenty-two years ago) link

I like "Weird" which they really are. Or is it that they're so "normal"? Also "Thinking of You".

― gabbneb, Tuesday, 14 January 2003 08:54 (twenty-two years ago) link

no discussion of Hanson is complete without mentioning "Soldier", which begins with the lines:

Can I hear the story about the one legged soldier?
Please?
And can you tell me the story of the soldier?
Please?
One more time
Or I'll knock your nose off

― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 09:44 (twenty-two years ago) link

Mmm Bop is cool with me; I have the single!

― Sean (Sean), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 15:49 (twenty-two years ago) link

mmmmmmmmmmmmmbop is cool as was "Sugar Sugar", "ABC" & that DiFranco Family song ... sure, they suck, but they have their place. And liking any of them is inexplicable but totally excusable.

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 15:55 (twenty-two years ago) link

Mmmbop was a classic pop single, I thought,

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 21:17 (twenty-two years ago) link

Actually, the best phrasing goes like " ______ [insert artist/song title here] sucks and You Suck for Liking it/him/her/them!"

In this case, I can't imagine anyone being that bitter an individual to deny the sheer pop perfection of "MmmBop." Hey, it may not be what you necessary like, but as far as pop goes, it's the quintessential essence of the genre in its purest form. Personally speaking, what makes it for me is the turntable scratching during the chorus (invariably an addition by the Brothers of Dust, and not the Hanson brothers' doing). I never thought it was particularly fair that Hanson were lumped in with the Backstreet Boys and N'Sync etc., as for a start, they were a svengali-manufactured act (they're brothers, for chrissakes!) and secondly -- wait, let me dust my official SHAMELESS ROCKIST badge here first -- they PLAYED THEIR OWN DAMN INSTRUMENTS and didn't dance about like a gaggle of trained gibbons. And if they stay a one-hit wonder (and don't come to me trying to convince me that "Where's the Love?" counts as a second hit), then so much the better.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 21:24 (twenty-two years ago) link

neccessarILY

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 21:25 (twenty-two years ago) link

Whoops, Jesus...I gotta stop sniffing glue before logging on, I meant to say they WEREN'T a svengali-manufacture act, blah blah blah. Nevermind.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 21:27 (twenty-two years ago) link

Yes, that's exactly why I like the record: they played their own instruments.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 22:53 (twenty-two years ago) link

So cool it makes me cry with glee.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 23:33 (twenty-two years ago) link

It does make my wife insanely happy.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 23:34 (twenty-two years ago) link

Rockist bubblegum. You know this warms my heart.

― kate, Tuesday, 14 January 2003 23:48 (twenty-two years ago) link

it should be noted that the song may well be the first song to make adult-contemporary radio that included record scratching. A forgotten bit of hip-hop influence trivia.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 23:54 (twenty-two years ago) link

Hanson should team up with Wesley Willis.

― Curtis Stephens, Tuesday, 14 January 2003 23:57 (twenty-two years ago) link

Hanson sucks dick, lets leave it at that!

― Hanson sucks, Wednesday, 15 January 2003 14:27 (twenty-two years ago) link

Yes, that's exactly why I like the record: they played their own instruments.

Emo band play their own instruments too. Does that make them good?

― paul cox (paul cox), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 14:32 (twenty-two years ago) link

Sorry, Paul: I was being sarcastic. I should have used a sarcastic emoticon.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 22:40 (twenty-two years ago) link

Now you see the troubles I have, Martin.

Just make me think of a time and place now, 1996 or whenever. That weird mid-nineties pseudoglow. I feel nothing more than that either way.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 16 January 2003 02:52 (twenty-two years ago) link

I remember that right when the video came out, my (male) friend asked me if the fact that he was attracted to the blonde girl made him a pedophile. Oh, if only it were that simple.

― Chris H., Thursday, 16 January 2003 03:13 (twenty-two years ago) link

What the fuck does a sarcastic emoticon look like anyway? They never offer what I want - I rarely wink at people IRL either. Grr. (And what is an angry one?!)

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 16 January 2003 21:25 (twenty-two years ago) link

would have been cooler if they had medlyed it with 'sweet jane'

― ddd, Thursday, 16 January 2003 21:27 (twenty-two years ago) link

three years pass...

I heard "Mmm Bop" in the grocery story today. When this occurred, I had just picked out fennel seeds to place in my cart, and was trying to locate red pepper flakes.

― Joe (Joe), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 03:51 (nineteen years ago) link

Grocery store, that is

― Joe (Joe), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 03:51 (nineteen years ago) link

You do realize you are now obligated to write a shopping-list-cum-rap entitled "Grocery Story", don't you?

― Okeigh, Tuesday, 21 February 2006 04:35 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh dear. When one says that word in conversation it comes across as a sign of mild erudition, or at worst pretension; when typed out on the internet it looks decidedly unsavory. I did intend it to be pronounced "coom".

― Okeigh, Tuesday, 21 February 2006 04:38 (nineteen years ago) link

we had a disagreement at work the other day about the exact meaning of the latin cum. i started to google it and then realized that was a bad idea.

mmmbop, of course, is classic.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 05:17 (nineteen years ago) link

Come come, don't be silly

― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 10:40 (nineteen years ago) link

It's a pity "cool or stool" didn't stick.

Mmmbop is a perfect slice of pop pie.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 11:26 (nineteen years ago) link

I was always convinced it would make a brilliant mashup with 'Bugged' by Head Of David.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 11:48 (nineteen years ago) link

cum

― Mädchen (Madchen), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 12:37 (nineteen years ago) link

i used to live just up the road from chorlton-cum-hardy.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 15:47 (nineteen years ago) link

I read that as chorlton-cum-in-handy.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 15:50 (nineteen years ago) link

Whoa, I was just reading this thread and got up to get something to drink, looked at the TV and saw Hanson on MTV Cribs. Weird.

Also, their crib sucks (and so do you)

― Guy Incognito (Guy Incognito), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 03:29 (nineteen years ago) link

They are not a one-hit wonder...They made it on two "Now" albums ("MmmBop" and "This Time Around")!

― Tape Store (Tape Store), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 03:38 (nineteen years ago) link

Didn't Marilyn Manson once say that he found Hanson to be 'disturbing'?

― Joe (Joe), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 18:33 (nineteen years ago) link

MmmBop
Middle Of Nowhere
Where's The Love
I Will Come To You
Weird
This Time Around
If Only

All charted in the Top 40.

― Vg (1411), Thursday, 23 February 2006 06:27 (eighteen years ago) link

mmmbop was aaiiight, I always thought of it as one of those songs that serves no other purpose, no 'identity' other than announcing the band to the world, which is probably exactly how I'm supposed to process it. 'Lost Without Each Other' is fantastic however. Did they do anything else as good?

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Thursday, 23 February 2006 06:36 (eighteen years ago) link

wow, respect to alex in nyc for digging this song!

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 23 February 2006 07:07 (eighteen years ago) link

'Thinking of You', the other Dust Brothers production, is truly fantastic.

― BARMS, Thursday, 23 February 2006 12:52 (eighteen years ago) link

Hi guys. I just came across this page and I decided to reply after reading everyone elses. Ive been a Hanson Fan since the very beginning, and Im still going strong! Ofcourse, most people hated the boys but I never quite understood why...Every song they have written has made me extremely happy...kinda like an anti-drug. LOL.
I guess the makes me uncool, but hey...I can admit my faults.

― Cretha, Monday, 6 March 2006 01:00 (eighteen years ago) link

six years pass...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-18340256

― it looks like something rupert the bear would wear (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, 7 June 2012 00:33 (twelve years ago) link

one year passes...

I guess the makes me uncool, but hey...I can admit my faults.

― Lesbian has fucking riffs for days (Neanderthal), Saturday, 15 February 2014 05:15 (eleven years ago) link

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