Hanson—the band composed of three young brothers, their cherubic faces ringed with auric halos of long blonde hair that flopped insouciantly while they rollerbladed through an eternal L.A. summer—will embark upon a 25th anniversary tour this May, as your inevitable creep toward death becomes a nauseating blur. The group originally formed in 1992, back when eldest brother Isaac was but 11, Taylor was just 9, and drummer Zac was a mere 6 years old, the adorable trio performing its first shows as an a cappella combo around their hometown of Tulsa. Today, Isaac is a 36-year-old father of three; Taylor is a 33-year-old father of five; Zac is a 31-year-old father of four; and you don’t know where the time went. One day you were just a teenager yourself, the days and nights stretched endlessly out before you, as full of joy and carefree nonsense as the lyrics of “MMMBop.” The next thing you know, those little kids from Hanson are popping out enough children to repopulate a dying Earth with several lite-rock bands of their own, and you’ve noticed that, when you raise your eyebrows now, your forehead wrinkles look like Krang (a reference none of your coworkers get, the little shits). And now Hanson is celebrating a quarter-century of music. Jesus Christ, you’re halfway to the grave.
Hanson’s upcoming “Middle Of Everywhere” tour also commemorates the 20th anniversary of Hanson’s debut, Middle Of Nowhere, the album whose smash hit singles—like “MMMBop,” “Where’s The Love,” and “I Will Come To You”—were among the first signs that popular culture was already passing you by, its strange, cheery sound aimed at a younger, livelier demographic who regarded your moody “alternative rock” as the music of crusty, Gen-X dinosaurs.
This feeling would only calcify on subsequent releases such as 2000’s This Time Around, 2004’s Underneath, and 2007’s The Walk, on which the group made bids to outgrow the sunny pop that made them famous through various stabs at brawny stadium rock and even funk—each of these records being branded by critics as a more “mature” direction for Hanson that you laughed off, with the cockiness that comes from being in the prime of your life, so certain of your own trajectory. But hey, who’s laughing now? It’s another goddamn decade later, and Hanson’s continued maturation has seen the brothers form their own independent record company, start a brewery, and launch The Hop Jam Beer and Music Festival. While you scoffed at them, the Hanson boys became Hanson men—entrepreneurs and captains of their own industries—and you just got older and more uncertain of your own place in the world.