Hanson is a band made up of three young brothers from Tulsa, OK.  Exactly 253 miles Northeast of my house. Yes I live in Oklahoma. Obviously not Tulsa. No I have never met them *tear (oh joy oh rapture oh bliss I just made Hanson cry two tears each) runs down cheek* The three young boys, who learned to harmonize by singing grace around the dinner table, never expected the years to come.
    Music came naturally to the Hanson trio.  Taylor remembers that their "mom was always singing around the house," and so it was a "very natural thing" for the boys to become a group.  Soon the boys began to write their own songs.  Taylor says that their "parents used to joke that they'd tell us to do the dishes, and they'd come back and we'd have written a song."
    Hanson did not always live in Oklahoma.  Though they are originally from there, their fathers job took them to South America for a few years.  But the Hanson's could not possibly go anywhere without music.  So, they brought with them a series of Time Life tapes from the 50's - 60's collection.  The boys fell in love with the music immediately.  Soon they were all three harmonizing and doo whooping it up to the tunes of Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys, and others of that era.  Even after returning to Oklahoma they still preferred oldies to the new thing.  After the boys realized their love of singing they decided to start performing in public.  They started out locally performing at festivals in and around Tulsa.  Their first performance was at the Annual Mayfest in Tulsa.  At this time the boys were simply singing a capella and snapping their fingers to keep the beat.
    The people of Tulsa and the other places they played received the boys with great praise and applause.  Because of this the boys decided to put out and independent album funded by their parents in 1995.  They called it Boomerang.  It contained three covers, and seven original songs written by Hanson themselves.  The tracks are-

1.  Boomerang*
2.  Poison Ivy
3.  Lonely Boy*
4.  Don't Accuse*
5.  Rain*
6.  More Than Anything*
7.  The Love You Save
8.  Back To The Island
9.  More Than Anything (reprise)*
    *Songs Written by Hanson

1.  Day Has Come
2.  Thinking of You
3.  Two Tears
4.  Stories
5.  River
6.  Surely as the Sun
7.  Something New
8.  MMMBop
9.  Soldier
10.  Pictures
11.  Incredible
12.  With You In Your Dreams
13.  Sometimes
14.  Baby You're so Fine
15.  MMMBop (longer version)

     Sabec then took the album to Steve Greenberg a record exec of Mercury Records.  He was convinced it was a fake.  He loved the tape itself, but couldn't bring himself to believe that these kids were really playing and singing that music.  It was too good to be true.  And then he saw them in a live concert at a county fair in Kansas, "and they played and sang just as well as they did on the record.  There wasn't an adult in sight, except their dad, who was loading up the equipment, and their mom, who was selling T-shirts," Sabec remembers.  And so Hanson was signed to Mercury.
    The family spent five months in LA while the boys recorded their first commercial album Middle of Nowhere.  Middle of Nowhere includes 13 tracks.  Four of the songs were written solely by Hanson themselves-- track 1,2,12,21. The rest they co-wrote with other song writers such as Mark Hudson and Stephen Lironi (who also produced the album; except MMMBop & Thinking Of You which were produced by The Dust Brothers).
    In March 1997, MMMBop was released as their first single.  With a new beat, more bubble gum pop than R & B, as it first was, the song hit #1 almost immediately, and their hard work finally paid off.  The boys seemed to jump out at everyone and on to the music scene almost overnight.  Many first believed Hanson to be One Hit Wonders, but with the release of their second single, Where's the Love, Hanson made them all sit up and take notice.  Critics got their nasty comments shoved back down their snobby little throats.  Then came I Will Come to You, many people still thought of Hanson as immature little school boys.  Who could only jump around singing senseless songs.  Soon after the single was released, I Will Come to You changed all of that.  People soon realized that the group Hanson, were three talented and very mature young men.  Included on the single for I Will Come To You is a never before released song titled Cried.  Then they blowed us away with Weird- their fourth single off Middle of Nowhere, and the deepest song to be released off the album.  So soulfully deep that many didn't believe it was the same group who wrote MMMBop and Where's the Love.  Not even the beautiful melodies of I Will Come to You could compare to Weird.  Internationally the boys released another single titled Thinking Of You, which has it's first appearance on their second indie album MMMBop.  Middle Of Nowhere went Triple Platinum, selling over 3,000,000 copies world wide.  The track list includes:

1 Thinking Of You
2 MMMBop
3 Weird
4 Speechless
5 Where's the Love
6 Yearbook
7 Look At You
8 Lucy
9 I Will Come To You
10 A Minute Without You
11 Madeline
12 With You In Your Dreams
          *Bonus Track*
21 Man From Milwaukee

      While doing promotional tours around the world, Hanson shot footage that was to be put on to a long form video- Tulsa, Tokyo, and the Middle of Nowhere.  The fans eagerly devoured the chance to see the boys on tape singing their favorite Hanson tunes, as well as taking part in their trip and the fun they had.  The video includes shots of the boys swimming and jumping off a cliff into the water, riding different rides at an amusement park, which included "the most insane thing [they]'ve ever done. [They]... try to fly," says Taylor.  Other footage is the boys tours of London and Milan.  There are six songs included on the video-

1.  MMMBop
2.  Where's the Love
3.  Man From Milwaukee
4.  Madeline
5.  Thinking Of You
6.  A Minute Without You

    It also includes the MMMBop video, and a longer version with new footage of the video for Where's the Love.   The video was produced by Hanson (executive producer) and David Silver (who was also the director).  The video came out in November of 1997.
    During November of 1997, Hanson put out a Christmas Album entitled Snowed In, to help ease the fans anxiousness for their next album.  The boys were busy traveling the world doing promotional tours and were getting ready to kick off their first world tour the next summer.  Snowed In was produced by Mark Hudson and Hanson (executive producer).  Three of the songs on Snowed In were written by Hanson- 4; 7; 8 .  The rest were classic Christmas Melodies that the brothers love.  Snowed In is now listed in the number four position of All Time Best Selling Christmas Albums.  The track list includes:

1.  Merry Christmas Baby
2.  What Christmas Means To Me
3.  Little Saint NIck
4.  At Christmas
5.  Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
6.  Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
7.  Christmas Time
8.  Everybody Knows the Claus
9.  Run Rudolph Run
10.  Silent Night Medley
11.  White Christmas

      During a little down time Hanson began their official fan club- MOE- Middle Of Everywhere.  For twenty dollars fans could get four quarterly issues of their 36 page fan magazine, a member card (which can double as a backstage pass if you're lucky), a letter from the guys (printed from the computer, including printed autographs), and a poster only available from MOE.  After the third issue the poster was dropped from the list and in it's place the boys now offer an Official MOE Enhanced CD.  The CD included a Special Hanson World 3D Chat Room, Exclusive Hanson Interview, A MOE Mouse Pointer, MOE Screen Saver, MOE Wallpaper, and three original tracks from their first indie album Boomerang/two original tracks from their second indie album MMMBop (these two did not appear on Three Car Garage *keep reading to find out what this is*).  The tracks include the tittle track of Boomerang, an a capella number- Rain- which was the very first Hanson song, and three other songs, all are written by Hanson.

1.  Boomerang
2.  Rain
3.  More Than Anything
4.  Baby Your So Fine
5.  Incredible

      One album was not enough to sustain the hungry appetites of the fans so, they released an album in May of 1998, almost exactly one year after Middle Of Nowhere's release, and called it Three Car Garage- the indie recordings '95 - '96. The album contains the original versions of MMMBop, Thinking Of You, and With You In You Dreams.  And is a re-release of their second indie album MMMBop.  All songs were produced and written by Hanson.  The album was also produced by Hanson.  They released one single off of the album- River.  The video was directed by Weird Al Yankovic, and was a spoof on Titanic.  The fans snatched up the album ravenously.  The track listing is:

1.  Day Has Come
2.  Two Tears
3.  Thinking Of You
4.  River
5.  Surely As the Sun
6.  MMMBop
7.  Soldier
8.  Stories
9.  Pictures
10.  Sometimes
11.  With You In Your Dreams

      In the summer of 1998, Hanson went on their first world tour- The Albertane Tour.  The tour was originally planned to end in early September after about 25 - 27 shows, but they had to add dates and it ended up lasting until the end of October and being 36 shows long.  During the Seattle, Washington performance on July 21, the boys recorded track for their next album, Live From Albertane, which they released in November of 1998.  It was produced by Hanson and Elliot Scheiner (he also recorded and mixed it).  The album has 12 songs on it, including two covers, one song from their first indie album Boomerang, one song from their second indie album MMMBop, one previously unreleased song, and seven songs from Middle Of Nowhere.  More Than Anything made it's first appearance on Boomerang.  Then an R & B number written by the boys, it turned in to a slow love ballad sung solo by Isaac playing the keyboards.  The boys decided to perform Ever Lonely, an upbeat rock pop number, that they had never before done for an album.  They covered a medley of Gimme Some Lovin' and Shake A Tail Feather, both originally sung by Chuck Berry.  The second cover on the album, is Money (That's What I Want), the first song ever released by Motown Records.  One of the concerts of this tour sold out in 11 minutes. I think it was one in Philadelphia. The track list is-

1.  Gimmie Some Lovin'/Shake A Tail Feather
2.  Where's the Love
3.  River
4.  I Will Come To You
5.  Ever Lonely
6.  Speechless
7.  With You In Your Dreams
8.  A Minute Without You
9.  Money (That's What I Want)
10.  More Than Anything
11.  MMMBop
12.  Man From Milwaukee

      Along with the live album, Hanson released their second long form video, The Road To Albertane.  The video was produced and directed by Hanson, Walker Hanson (their dad), and Ashley Greyson.  It includes footage from numerous concerts, backstage areas, a tour of their bus, meet and greet sessions, and a water fight between the two tour buses.  The video has 15 songs including two covers, one that appears on the live album Gimme Some Lovin'/Shake A Tail Feather, and another called Good Lovin', Ever Lonely a previously unreleased number which is also on the live album, eight songs from Middle Of Nowhere, and four songs that first appeared on MMMBop, their second indie album, and later appeared on Three Car Garage.  There is also a small portion that shows Isaac playing his acoustic guitar and singing softly to himself, a song which will appear on their next album, the song is Love Song.  The track list of full songs is-

1.  Gimmie Some Lovin'/Shake A Tail Feather
2.  Where's the Love
3.  River
4.  Stories
5.  Look At You
6.  Weird
7.  Sometimes
8.  Ever Lonely
9.  With You In Your Dreams
10.  Good Lovin'
11.  A Minute Without You
12.  Soldier
13.  Speechless
14.  MMMBop
15.  Man From Milwaukee
    *Bonus Snippet*
8 1/2.  Love Song

    For a while after their tour, Hanson was only found in the studio recording.  But after a long wait, the fans finally got their wish, when Hanson released their fifth commercial album titled This Time Around, in May of 2000.  By this time, Hanson had signed to a new record label, Island Def Jam Music Group, two of them, Isaac and Taylor had opted for shorter do's, Taylor picked up the Harmonica, and Zac had finally caught up to his brothers in height.  The album was produced by Hanson and Stephen Lironi, with Mark Hudson producing the vocals.  The album includes guest appearances by Rose Stone, John Popper, and Johnny Lang.  The first single off the album is the title track This Time Around, which debuted at number five on TRL.  It was released only in the United States, while the rest of the world got If Only as their first single.  Soon the US got their second single, the same as the first for everywhere else, If Only, which holds the number one spot on TRL most days.  The third single off of the album is expected to be Save Me or Runaway Run.  The 13 Tracks Include-

1.  You Never Know
2.  If Only
3.  This Time Around
4.  Runaway Run
5.  Save Me
6.  Dying To Be Alive
7.  Can't Stop
8.  I Wish That I Was There
9.  Love Song
10.  Sure About It
11.  Hand In Hand
12.  In The City
21.  A Song To Sing  *on the US album it says this is track 21; on the International it says 13*

      Hanson's second tour kicked off on July 27, 2000 in their home town of Tulsa, Oklahoma.  So far the fastest selling out of a concert from this tour has been 20 Seconds!  Wow!  MOE has sent out nine issues and the tenth is a work in progress.  In issue nine, the fans, received some bad news.  MOE will be canceled after issue twelve- as a snail mail fanclub.  Instead it is moving to the internet.  Hanson has an official site located on the web, the address can be found in the Contact Hanson section of this site.  They also have their very own ISP at hanson.net, and soon MOE will be joining forces with that site.  Those fans that joined MOE now have gained very special treasures that will, no doubt, be worth much money in the years ahead.
    The fans can only sit and wait now.  They can wait for the next single, next issue of MOE, the tour stop closest to their hometown, and perhaps for another long form video & live album.
    Hanson has grown and matured into very talented young men.  When Middle Of Nowhere was released in 1997, the boys were 16, 14, and 11.  At the release of This Time Around in 2000, they were 19, 17, and 14.  They've grown physically, mentally, and musically.  They are a once in a lifetime type of group.  It's not everyday that you find a wholesome family oriented pop rock star group.  Let's hope that the road ahead brings them only more fame because they definitely deserve it.  There aren't any other groups in the pop world that sing, write, and play as well as Hanson.  Of course this is only my opinion, but the years to come will prove it's truth.  And if you are reading this and do not like Hanson... I have only one thing to say to you-  MMMBop, go read the lyrics and you'll see what I mean.