So, looking back on 1997, the best thing that happened was Hanson. Yeah, Hanson was definitely the best thing by far. This time last year I wouldn't have dreamed that anyone like them would come along. This time last year I had no favourite band. In fact, I had decided that I wasn't a big fan of music. From what I had heard from the music everyone at school was into at the time (the grunge thing), I thought music was boring and dismal. It just did nothing for me. And if that was what music was, then I wasn't interested. So, I just didn't care.
But then, one day, I heard a song on the radio called MMMBop. I remember walking over to the radio and turning it up and thinking, 'I like this song'. And the weirdest thing was, I felt like I'd heard it a million times before. I honestly thought it was a cover of a song from ages ago. I still don't know why I thought that, but I did. But when the song finished the DJ said it wasn't a cover at all, it was a song by three brothers, aged 11, 14, and 16. I remember opening my mouth in surprise. They were so young!! They were like my age!! I decided that I liked that song a lot. I couldn't believe people my age had written it.
The next time I heard the song, I turned it up and ran around the house, turning it up on all the radios. Dad was ironing, and I remember running up to him and turning it up. I told him to listen, and that three brothers, aged 11, 14, and 16 did the song. Even then, I got a thrill over showing Hanson off. After telling Dad, I ran to my laptop computer, and carried it to a radio. I held the microphone up to the speaker and pressed record. I recorded about 15 seconds of the song, and I still have that recording. A recording of the second time I ever heard Hanson. I was so proud. It takes a very very good song to hit you straight off. More often then not, you must hear a song several times before it starts to grow on you. But every now and again you find a song which hits you straight off. And MMMBop was one of those.
A few weeks after that, I found myself spending the night at my friend's house. She had invited me and one other (Jacinta), so there was three of us. We were sitting on the couch and the other two were crazy with excitement. Hanson were coming to Australia. We tried to win a few phone competitions, and played the Hanson CD obsessively all night.
I felt left out. Those two yapped about Hanson the whole time, and I had pretty much no idea what they were talking about. I didn't even know Hanson's names yet. But I soaked up all the information I could about 'that MMMBop band', and I soon knew their names, what they looked like, and their basic 'personalities'. We played Middle Of Nowhere the whole night, and I liked the songs. I guess I didn't realise how much I liked them until I left my friend's house. I found myself humming the tunes days after I had heard them. I didn't know any words, but the tunes stayed with me, and I never forgot them. For nights after I went to sleep with Hanson harmony humming in my mind. I knew I loved those songs, but I didn't think to buy the CD. Now I wish with all my heart that I had. It was just that I'd never liked a band enough on the radio to buy their CD before. I didn't buy CD's. That wasn't something I did. So it never dawned on me.
The next thing I knew, I was looking forward to seeing Hanson's free Southland concert. The second of August, 1997. My two Hanson loving friends were going at 6:00 in the morning, but the concert started at 11:00. I was going with a group of other people at 9:00. I hoped we would be able to have decent spots, but I was shocked to the core when I saw the number of people there. It was phenomenal. I hadn't expected that many people at all. My other friends and I ended up balancing on top of shopping trolleys just so we could at least try to see the stage.
When Hanson finally arrived, and those piercing screams filled the air, I just stared. I guess I didn't realise just how much people loved Hanson and their music. And when Hanson began to play and sing those tunes, which I still remembered from my friend's house, I realised how much I had missed that music, and how fantastic it made me feel. And then, when they played MMMBop, it really hit me. It wasn't till I heard over 25,000 voices singing together as one till it finally dawned on me. I remember looking around. I remember laughing and smiling with amazement as everyone sang the same lyrics, clapped with the same music, showing their devotion to the same band. The power was incredible. All those people made so happy by three guys doing what they do best.
I remember wanting to sing so badly that I almost burst. But I didn't know the lyrics. I so desperately wished I could join in. I realised that there was something special about Hanson. Something different to any other band I'd ever known. I saw something at that concert that I had never seen before. I had never seen so many people happy. Even if they had tears on their cheeks as they screamed hysterically, it was still the same emotion. I could only imagine what Hanson themselves were feeling up there on the stage, in front of all those people. All those individuals who had chosen to love their music. And it was then that I wanted to become a Hanson fan. I looked around me, not looking at Hanson themselves on the distant stage, but at the thousands of people mouthing the same words. (The stage was so far away that I couldn't even tell who was who.) Right then and there I swore to get that CD as soon as possible, because there was something special happening here. I wanted to be a part of Hanson.
The next day, at long last, I got the CD. And oh how I loved it. I knew all the lyrics to every song in two days. My Hanson knowledge developed rapidly from then on, thanks to TV and the Internet, and I began to realise what all those people had been on about at that concert. I realised that not only could you love the Hanson music, but that there was the Hansons' themselves. I soon realised that they were fantastic people. For the rest of the year, when things got hard, I came to depend on the fact that I could just turn up their music and make the unhappiness go away. No matter how bad I felt, as soon as I hear those songs, all my problems seem to go away.
Now, Hanson posters are everywhere, and my room is almost constantly filled with music. I have every single and album they have released here in Australia. I have interviews taped off the TV and radio, video clips, sound recordings,… the list goes on. I have everything Hanson I can get my hands on. And I am so proud of them. I still get a huge thrill when they are number one on the countdown, or if I hear one of their song's being played somewhere. No matter where I go there is always Hanson, that's how famous they are. There are posters of them in what seems like every shop and their music is everywhere. No matter where I turn there is Hanson. But in a way it kind of scares me. I just don't want Hanson to ever fall out of fame, because I love having them there.
So I just hope that Hanson will make history with their success, and stay infinitely happy at the same time. The cool thing is that no matter how bad things get, or how many people seem to be against me, their music will always be there. I will always remember August the second as a special day. It was the first day I really felt the magic that I call Hanson. And with these thoughts, I enter the New Year with a smile, knowing that the next time they come back, I'll be front row.
Happy New Year
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