Best and Worst of the Year:

Teen-Market Act With the Most Integrity: Hanson, who put on a fine show at the Warfield.

Teen-Market Act With the Least Integrity: Everyone else.

~San Francisco Chronicle, December 24, 2000

Thanks to Mary for today's great picture. You can join her updates list by e-mailing her at DreamOfITZ@aol.com.

**Check out all the past TADs and HADs at our website: http://www.oocities.org/tay_a_day_2000/. While you're there, please sign our new guestbook, we love to hear from you guys!

****************************************************************************************************

TAD/HAD SITE OF THE MONTH

We here at TAD/HAD are starting something new. We plan to feature a different website once a month. The websites that we choose will be ones that we find to be excellent sources of information or entertainment; sites that for one reason or another have become favorites of ours. We hope that you will pay these sites a visit if you haven't already been lucky enough to find them. You'll be glad you did.~ TLS & TC

February Site of the Month: The Hanson Hotel

The Hanson Hotel is THE site to go to for accurate and timely information on the latest in Hanson News. It is the very first place we check every morning when we get on the web. Established in 1997 by Lisa, the Hotel posts only information that has been verified to be true - absolutely NO gossip or rumors will be found here. Current webmaster Becka has done an *excellent* job of maintaining the integrity with which this site has always been run. Wondering where to find the latest articles about our favorite band? Dying to know when Hanson's next appearance will be? Looking for the most recent scans and captures from magazines and television appearances? To find these and many other fun and interesting features, visit http://www.hansonhotel.com !

"When I see you produce your own album, collaborate with Jonny Lang, Ringo Starr, and John Popper. When I see you tour the world. When I see you overcome the ridicule and disses these three young men have recieved. Then...then you will be able to diss these boys."

~Liana, rockstar-mag.com

Isn't that one HELL of a quote? We thought so.

Today's artwork is by Patterson Lundquist of Atlanta, Georgia. Thanks, Patterson!

Zac: Okay, so let's say he fell here. Most likely he would impale himself there, and then-

Ike: You're obsessed with impaling.

Zac: -slam into that tree. If he didn't die, let's say he breaks his legs, hits a few branches on the way down, and then lands in the road.

Dad: Guys, this is gonna be an award-winning picture, and my light-

Zac: Then a Mack truck is coming, but his legs are broken-

Tay: Why do I suddenly feel very awkward?

Zac: -and he can't use his arms-

Ike: You're psycho.

~Zac discussing Taylor's demise, "Never Mind the Mmm-bollocks", Spin Magazine article by Kate Sullivan, June, 2000

"We went to see Lenny Kravitz last summer in Austin and he was awesome. His show was just awesome. I mean, like, when you see some of these great bands, you sit there and think, man, if only we were that tight, you know?" ~Isaac, "Hanson!", Interview Magazine, July 2000

Isaac, we think you're pretty "tight" as you are. ;o)

"I think every band has an image thing to get by, whether it's the Black Crowes that are a 70's rock band reincarnated; Aerosmith being too old for their underwear; Britney Spears is fake and has plastic boobs. Every band has something to get over, and all we've ever said is, "We're just a band. Listen to the music and if you like it you like it. And if you don't, you don't."

~Zac, "Hanson: This Time Around", Music Biz Magazine, September 2000

Paradoxically, they also seem keenly human right now - three adolescent boys conciously dressing hip, aware their bodies serve as visual munchies for a plant of fickle cannibals.

~Never Mind the Mmm-bollocks", Spin Magazine article by Kate Sullivan, June 2000

"I don‡t think I‡m particularly addicted to anything. An occasional cigar here or there or a maybe some wine at dinner every once in a while."

~Isaac, "Hanson and Why They‡re Not A Boy Band", by Shannon McCarthy, for Real Detroit Weekly, September 14, 2000

"I know drummers are supposed to be crazy people, but I know thinking straight helps me be the backbone for the band."

~Zac, 'Second Time Around', by Dan Aquilante, NYPost.com, September 8, 2000

But if you're taking bets on which of today's crop of pop stars will be around in, say, five years, or played on the radio a decade hence, the smart money is on these guys.

~"At Warner, Hanson Takes A Step Beyond Cuteness", by David Segal for the washingtonpost.com, September 16, 2000

"I think it's because we are songwriters and musicians, and weŕve never falsified who we are or been anything other than that," he says via phone, as the band prepares for a performance in Washington, D.C. "When it all comes down to it, our love for music and for what we do, and our pure need to (play), that is hopefully what shows."

~Isaac, "Blonde Ambition", by Wendy Case for detnews.com, September 22, 2000

"A little flash ain't bad, but I don't think I'm a good enough drummer to really deliver the crazy stuff, so I focus on the fat sound and do my best with that."

~Zac, 'Second Time Around', by Dan Aquilante, NYPost.com, September 8, 2000

With their fledgling bravura, pink cheeks, earnest smiles and tousled blond hair, the Hansons meld the insouciance of rockers with the fresh-scrubbed innocence of the boys next door.

~"The Rocking Boys Next Door", by Letta Tayler for Newsday.com, September 13, 2000

"Hanson are wonderful, wonderful musicians. The music they write together, the energy they have playing it. And I think they are really suffering because they can play, and they can write, and they can sing, and so they can't be manipulated."

~Sharon Corr of The Corrs, September 29, 2000

Thanks to Regina for the magnificent collage!

"Hello my darling, I love you!" ~Isaac (quote obtained from the Hanson Quote Search Engine)

Happy Valentine's Day!

~TC & TLS

"I've been playing the guitar for five years, which is kind of sad. I've been playing for five years and I STINK!"

~Isaac, Making the video, TTA

Awwww, no WAY, Isaac! We think you're GREAT!

Nashville photo courtesy of Kris. :)

"Hanson is first and foremost a group of musicians who live for the music."

~Portrait of Hanson, By Jeff Napier, Indianapolis, October 2000

*Thanks to Mary of "Dream Of ITZ" for the wonderful pic.

"If someone likes our music, whether they're 1 year old or 93, that's awesome."

~Zac, "Hanson: From Boys to Men", Cinci post, 10/12/00

Ahhhh....what a LOVELY picture from Daytona Beach! And to think, TLS and TC were THERE! ::sigh::

Q: What is the one place you would love to go in your spare time that you have never been before?

Isaac: Rome. I would say that is pretty high on the list.

Taylor: Italy has very interesting people. There is a large percentage of beautiful women there.

Zac: And if they're not pretty, they can cook!

~"Atlanta Girls Get to Hang With Hanson", Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The band's also playing mid-sized venues, not arenas. But they've filled them with fans, who toss everything from roses to stuffed animals to underwear on stage.

"I've also gotten pelted in the face with a couple dollars' worth of change before, which really hurts," said Isaac. "Like half a dozen quarters in the face, bam, pow."

~"Catching Up With Hanson", Erie, PA, October 15, 2000

Awww...poor Isaac! :(

"(This Time Around) is the furthest thing from what you'd think a group of brothers aged 14, 17, and 19 would produce. The songs on the record blend into a warm cushion of harmony, good grooves, and even more butt-rocking than a Hootie record. Echoes of everybody from Stevie Wonder to Crosby, Stills, & Nash turn up. Even a song like "Love Song" that could easily be a slow backstreetish kinda thing is saved from that grisly fate by a bubbly, SoCal kinda peaceful easy vibe."

~"Portrait of Hanson, by Jeff Napier, Indianapolis

Thanks, Shirley, for the Atlanta pic!

You gotta give it up to a group of young men who have worked with John Popper and The Dust Brothers and have gotten fan letters from the likes of Trent Reznor and Bob Weir. For they could have followed the scent of money and donned sparkly suits and learned dance moves and made generic boyrock and sold another bazillion copies. But they followed their own muse and made the record they wanted to make. Call Hanson DIY rebels or call them lucky. Just don't call them cute rock stars.

~Portrait of Hanson, by Jeff Napier, Indianapolis, October 2000

Hanson
"MMMBOP"
Album: Middle of Nowhere
Release date: May 1997
Peak Chart Position: No. 1 for three weeks (twenty-two weeks on the chart)
Songwriters: Isaac Hanson, Taylor Hanson, Zac Hanson
Producers: The Dust Brothers, Stephen Lironi

"I call it a fluke," says Zac Hanson of his band's greatest hit, the impossible-to-deny "MMMBop." "We were looking for a background part for this song we were recording. That didn't work, but the word, 'MMMBop' ended up being something that stuck in our heads." Zac was only nine when he and his brothers wrote the song in their Tulsa, Oklahoma, living room. Isaac Hanson, then fourteen, recalls coming home to find twelve-year-old Taylor bashing out the melody line on a keyboard. From such homespun beginnings, "MMMBop" would hit Number One in twenty-seven countries.

The song only became more irresistible when L.A. producers the Dust Brothers added scratching and loops, "I remember hearing the demo and just freaking out," recalls Dust Brother Mike Simpson. "It took me back to childhood. My favorite band was the Jackson 5, and hearing, 'MMMBop' gave me the same feeling as when I first heard, 'ABC'. Honestly, their original garage recording would have been just as big a hit. It's just one of those undeniable classic songs that's got that chord structure that makes you feel good. It's one of those guilty-pleasure songs that people who don't even like pop just love."

The only hitch came straight from a Brady Bunch episode. "At the time, Taylor's voice had just started to change," recalls Simpson. "so there were two high notes in the song that he couldn't hit. Recording the music only took three or four days, but the vocals took about two weeks because we had to wait for his voice to settle down."

As for the subject matter, Taylor says, "There's this perception of what an upbeat song it is, but lyrically it's about making sure to hold on to things that matter and how short life is. The opening verse is, 'You have so many relationships in this life/ Only one or two will last/ You go through all this pain and strife/ Then you turn your back and they're gone so fast.'"

Why such heaviness? "We've always been that way," says Isaac. "We were writing about infidelity and lost love ever since I can remember."

~Rolling Stone, Top 100 Pop Songs, MmmBop-#28

**Thanks to Shirley for the wonderful picture from the "MmmBop Days". :)

"I think people have this ill-conceived notion that, because (fans) are screaming and because they're fanatical like that, that they don't appreciate the music. Maybe, to a certain extent, that can be true, but I find that most every single one out there is singing along. They really do appreciate the music and really do enjoy it in a very passionate way. That's what's great about it."

~Isaac, Blond Ambition, Wendy Case for the Detroit News

Q: So, I have these five fill-in-the-blank questions.....the first is 'I know my brothers are secretly jealous of my BLANK'.

Isaac: Bulging pectorals........That's harder than it sounds. My incredible guitar playing ability, ha ha! You can put that but put a "ha ha" and a smiley face after it.

~TeenStar, Kansas City, October 19, 2000

A teenager trying to concentrate on learning the riff to śCrosstown Traffic” hates to be interrupted by Mom shouting into the basement that he needs to clean his room. Imagine how Isaac, Taylor, and Zachary Hanson must have felt as they played that Jimi Hendrix chestnut on Monday night at the Hammerstein Ballroom. They were slamming away at guitar, keyboards, and drums, trying to grab that groove, and the girls just kept screaming! And they wouldn'tĂt stop during HansonĂs entire set!

Hanson, the trio whose 1997 debut, śMiddle of Nowhere” (Mercury), signaled the advance of teen pop, is the most genuinely adolescent of todayĂs youthful stars. Home-schooled in a large Christian family, writing songs modeled on their parentsĂ favorite 1960Ăs hits, the Hanson brothers lack the hard-edged savvy of Disney trainees like Britney Spears. The siblingsĂ slightly awkward innocence has been packaged; nonetheless, itĂs real. And that sincerity is becoming harder to encapsulate and sell.

Hanson is touring in support of its second full release, "This Time Around," which has not had the commercial impact that the group's current label, Island/Def Jam, expected. Its songs still ride on ebullient choruses, but the caffeine-high beats and shiny production have been tempered to make room for band interplay and slightly more pensive songwriting.

The title track, featured at Monday's concert, seems to be about Cassie Bernall, the Columbine High School murder victim whom some have fashioned into a martyr. Another song confronts the death of a young soldier of crime victim. "I'm dying to be alive," Taylor Hanson shouted soulfully, leading the crowd in one of the stranger teeny-bopper chants of the year. These green attempts at existentialism were surrounded by love songs that also captured some real teenage angst. "I'm definitely sure that I'm not sure about it," the brothers harmonized, sounding more like the boys fans would meet in school than dream lovers.

Hanson's new musical direction also shows signs of teenage equivocation. Some moments on Monday did edge toward hippie jamming, especially when the youthful blues guitarist Jonny Lang sat in. But Hanson worked through a lexicon of hooks, from 1980's arena rock to Michael Jackson imitation to beer-commercial blues, and brought home-schooling onstage by covering war horses by Janis Joplin, Chuck Berry, and the Rolling Stones.

Adolescence is a sweet stumble toward awareness, and Hanson is taking it in front of a fickle audience. Sometimes on Monday night, the boys seemed to wish they really were in the basement their image evokes. That this teen pop group wants any kind of interior artistic life makes it an exception. It's not a marketing plus, but caring about music and about themselves might help Hanson survive.

~"Definitly More Aware, Guys, In an Innocent Sort of Way", by Ann Powers, The New York Times, September 15, 2000

Many thanks to Sarah for sending in this article!

"I'm not going to curl up and die because a record doesn't sell well. I'm in this for the long haul. I couldn't stop playing music if I tried. It's like a drug. I'm addicted to it."

~Isaac, "Hanson Works To Bridge Gap From Teeny-Bop To Adulthood", by Steve Penhollow for journalgazette.net, October 8, 2000

"I've never really had a drummer hero. There are lots of great drummers out there who do fancy rolls and that stuff, but what I admire is the ability to make a solid rhythm. When you think of all the great soul music, the drummers on those records just sit in their groove and keep the beats steady and fat. That's what makes the music good."

~Zac, "Second Time Around", by Dan Aquilante, NYPost.com, September 8, 2000

Ably backed by a bassist, second guitarist, and keyboardist, Hanson opened the show by diving blissfully into the bubble-gum pop of ''You Never Know,'' a new number that segued into ''Thinking of You,'' a slice of blue-eyed soul off the group's multiplatinum 1997 debut, ''Middle of Nowhere'' (Mercury). The latter tune featured a keyboard solo by middle brother and ultra-hottie Taylor (an outgoing showman who has emerged as the bandleader) and a guitar solo by taciturn eldest brother Isaac. Drummer and youngest brother Zac is still cute, although that Led Zeppelin T-shirt he was sporting hinted at his growing taste for less cuddly fare (besides, as everybody knows, Zep's John Bonham was, like, the greatest drummer ever).

~"At Orpheum, Love Is Blond", by Jonathan Perry for Boston.com, September 23, 2000

Check out the cool Hanson icon below made by one of our HAD members. If you would like to see more of these icons, visit our website at http://www.oocities.org/tay_a_day_2000 and scroll to the bottom of the page. Thanks so much for sharing your icons with us, Laura! :o)