Waxing philosophical...
... about my Hanson fandom.
People have often asked me why I am a Hanson fan. Well, aside from the typical "Because I am." answer, I never really gave an honest to goodness answer. I found about Hanson when I was in the 7th grade, just before I transferred to Huntsville City Schools, namely Huntsville Middle School. I remember sitting in the classroom in New Hope, talking to my friend Holly (when I should've been paying attention to the teacher probably), and seeing an orange CD cover in her bag. I asked who it was and she told me it was a group called Hanson. I'd never heard of them except for one girl (who was absolutely obsessed with Taylor) that I'd met at VBS earlier that summer. Holly told me that I should go get their CD and listen to it because it was really good. I wrote down the name of the album (Middle of Nowhere) and asked my mom to get it the next time she went to Wal-Mart. She did and brought it back home. When she gave it to me, I started to walk into my room, but she stopped me and told me that if she heard one cuss word from the album, it was going back. I put on my 12-year-old whine and said, "Mooooom, the youngest one is my age! I don't think there's going to be any cussing!" She told me that what she said stood. Well, I went to my room and put the CD in, and from the first notes of "Thinking of You" to the last notes of "Man from Milwaukee" (which took me forever to find because it was the bonus track, lol) I was enthralled. I started buying the teenie magazines, because, let's face it, I was a teenie, and I couldn't help it. I remember the first time I ever saw Hanson on TV was when they sang the National Anthem at a World Series game in 1997. I remember nearly crying because I couldn't record it, because I didn't know about it beforehand. I don't think I breathed during the whole song, and they did a wonderful job of it. Then we moved to Huntsville, and I was still just fresh into my newfound fandom. Well, most everyone in Huntsville followed the trends, so they'd give up on Hanson already, and I remember being teased mercilessly at times for liking them. Especially when I had to tell what I'd done over the summer of '98 when we got back into school. I'd gotten to see Hanson on my 13th birthday (which was so amazing), so that's what I said, and got teased mercilessly for liking that "stupid, girly, gay" band. But I didn't care, because I liked the music, and didn't really give a flip whether or not people didn't like me purely for the fact that I liked Hanson. Then came the first "Hanson Drought." I survived and was pestering my mother because she wouldn't take me to Wal-Mart to get the This Time Around CD. It finally was shipped to me from a friend of my mother's (& mine) who had bought it for me off Amazon.com as a surprise. I ripped into the CD wrapping and ran to my room to play it. I was strangely disappointed to hear it wasn't the same as MON at first, but then I actually sat down and listened to it, and realized just what a fucking awesome album it was. It became my favorite album and I listened to it practically non-stop for a good while. Then I found out Hanson was going to come to Birmingham for a concert and begged my mother to take me. Just as I was getting her away from a "we'll see" to a "yes," I found out Hanson had cancelled the concert in Birmingham. Yes, I cried. I was still a teenie. I was depressed. Then came the "Great Hanson drought" from the end of 2000 to early/mid 2003. We had only teasers of new songs, and we (Hanson fans) kept hearing "soon" as the answer to when we'd have the new album. We still hate that word to this day. When someone says "soon" I always ask in my head (and sometimes outloud, if they'll know what I mean) "Do you mean the real "soon" or Hanson's "soon"?". Around the summer of 2003, we heard rumors of Hanson going to split with their record label. We finally heard that it was true, that Hanson had left their record label, Island Def Jam. We found out later on that IDJ had been treating them like shit and telling them that their music wasn't good enough to be put on an album. So Hanson decided to leave and start their own record company, 3CG (stands for 3 Car Garage) Records. They recorded a live acoustic album (Underneath Acoustic) and sold it to satisfy the fans' taste for new music. I know many fans, myself included, fell in love with Hanson all over again. We got to hear the very core of what Hanson is, 3 guys who love to make music. And then we finally got what we had been waiting for for the last 3 and 1/2 years, we got the new album, Underneath. And again, we fell in love all over again. Most of us did, anyway.
So. Hanson has gone through hell to put this latest album out. It's a great album. All three major albums that Hanson have put out are great albums in their own ways. Each one has songs that will fit any mood you're in.
I am a Hanson fan, and I'm not ashamed for everyone to know that. You don't like the fact I'm a Hanson fan? Too bad. You're not going to change me now. I know what good music is. I enjoy Hanson because they put out good music. If people can't see that, that's their problem. In my opinion, and many others, Hanson rocks, plain and simple. 'Nuff said.
People have often asked me why I am a Hanson fan. Well, aside from the typical "Because I am." answer, I never really gave an honest to goodness answer. I found about Hanson when I was in the 7th grade, just before I transferred to Huntsville City Schools, namely Huntsville Middle School. I remember sitting in the classroom in New Hope, talking to my friend Holly (when I should've been paying attention to the teacher probably), and seeing an orange CD cover in her bag. I asked who it was and she told me it was a group called Hanson. I'd never heard of them except for one girl (who was absolutely obsessed with Taylor) that I'd met at VBS earlier that summer. Holly told me that I should go get their CD and listen to it because it was really good. I wrote down the name of the album (Middle of Nowhere) and asked my mom to get it the next time she went to Wal-Mart. She did and brought it back home. When she gave it to me, I started to walk into my room, but she stopped me and told me that if she heard one cuss word from the album, it was going back. I put on my 12-year-old whine and said, "Mooooom, the youngest one is my age! I don't think there's going to be any cussing!" She told me that what she said stood. Well, I went to my room and put the CD in, and from the first notes of "Thinking of You" to the last notes of "Man from Milwaukee" (which took me forever to find because it was the bonus track, lol) I was enthralled. I started buying the teenie magazines, because, let's face it, I was a teenie, and I couldn't help it. I remember the first time I ever saw Hanson on TV was when they sang the National Anthem at a World Series game in 1997. I remember nearly crying because I couldn't record it, because I didn't know about it beforehand. I don't think I breathed during the whole song, and they did a wonderful job of it. Then we moved to Huntsville, and I was still just fresh into my newfound fandom. Well, most everyone in Huntsville followed the trends, so they'd give up on Hanson already, and I remember being teased mercilessly at times for liking them. Especially when I had to tell what I'd done over the summer of '98 when we got back into school. I'd gotten to see Hanson on my 13th birthday (which was so amazing), so that's what I said, and got teased mercilessly for liking that "stupid, girly, gay" band. But I didn't care, because I liked the music, and didn't really give a flip whether or not people didn't like me purely for the fact that I liked Hanson. Then came the first "Hanson Drought." I survived and was pestering my mother because she wouldn't take me to Wal-Mart to get the This Time Around CD. It finally was shipped to me from a friend of my mother's (& mine) who had bought it for me off Amazon.com as a surprise. I ripped into the CD wrapping and ran to my room to play it. I was strangely disappointed to hear it wasn't the same as MON at first, but then I actually sat down and listened to it, and realized just what a fucking awesome album it was. It became my favorite album and I listened to it practically non-stop for a good while. Then I found out Hanson was going to come to Birmingham for a concert and begged my mother to take me. Just as I was getting her away from a "we'll see" to a "yes," I found out Hanson had cancelled the concert in Birmingham. Yes, I cried. I was still a teenie. I was depressed. Then came the "Great Hanson drought" from the end of 2000 to early/mid 2003. We had only teasers of new songs, and we (Hanson fans) kept hearing "soon" as the answer to when we'd have the new album. We still hate that word to this day. When someone says "soon" I always ask in my head (and sometimes outloud, if they'll know what I mean) "Do you mean the real "soon" or Hanson's "soon"?". Around the summer of 2003, we heard rumors of Hanson going to split with their record label. We finally heard that it was true, that Hanson had left their record label, Island Def Jam. We found out later on that IDJ had been treating them like shit and telling them that their music wasn't good enough to be put on an album. So Hanson decided to leave and start their own record company, 3CG (stands for 3 Car Garage) Records. They recorded a live acoustic album (Underneath Acoustic) and sold it to satisfy the fans' taste for new music. I know many fans, myself included, fell in love with Hanson all over again. We got to hear the very core of what Hanson is, 3 guys who love to make music. And then we finally got what we had been waiting for for the last 3 and 1/2 years, we got the new album, Underneath. And again, we fell in love all over again. Most of us did, anyway.
So. Hanson has gone through hell to put this latest album out. It's a great album. All three major albums that Hanson have put out are great albums in their own ways. Each one has songs that will fit any mood you're in.
I am a Hanson fan, and I'm not ashamed for everyone to know that. You don't like the fact I'm a Hanson fan? Too bad. You're not going to change me now. I know what good music is. I enjoy Hanson because they put out good music. If people can't see that, that's their problem. In my opinion, and many others, Hanson rocks, plain and simple. 'Nuff said.