IT'S TEMPTING to say the cuddly blond brothers in Hanson have become rock's elder statesmen. They're three-year veterans of the music business, and "mature" is the prevailing catchword for their latest album, "This Time Around" (Uni/Island). Meanwhile, in the three years since "MMMBop" became a smash hit, a powerful, hitmaking teen-pop industry has emerged to capitalize on their success.
But while today's teen-pop world is filled with adults, 19-year-old guitarist Isaac Hanson hastens to point out, Hanson stars three bona fide teenagers. "We're younger than most of those guys," Isaac said in a recent phone interview. "Except for the youngest guys of both 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys. Most are probably half a decade older than we are. A couple are close to 30." In what Isaac Hanson estimates as "well over thousands" of media interviews since 1997's "Middle of Nowhere" (Polygram), the three Hansons-who play the Hammerstein Ballroom Monday-have gamely analyzed their appeal. Handing off the phone like a baton from brother to brother on a tour stop in a Tampa, Fla., hotel room, they reach for sound bites and generate thoughtful enthusiasm for the teen-pop questions they've heard a zillion times this year.
"I will be completely honest: I do not listen to Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync or Britney Spears. It's just not appealing to me on a musical level," Isaac Hanson said. "I think what it comes down to is sincerity...I feel bad for the teenagers out there because they're buying into someone else's agenda to a certain extent.
"But it's not about those bands," he added diplomatically. "More power to 'em, they're doing great. They're working their butts off." The three brothers from Tulsa, Okla., have done the same since 1994, when they showed up unannounced to sing at an annual music industry conference in Austin, Texas. Their rich, high harmonies caught the right people's attention, and Hanson hooked up with all-pro producers and songwriters for "Middle of Nowhere." "This Time Around," all Hanson-written, attempts to compensate for its lack of an "MMMBop" hit with sincere love ballads and mid-tempo, bluesy rockers.
Because of this heftier approach, Taylor Hanson, the band's 17-year-old heartthrob keyboardist, acknowledges the "M" word comes up a lot in the press.
"I guess it's better than 'immature,'" he says. "Probably that just comes from the stuff we're writing about-life and things that are going through our heads." But that doesn't mean William F. Buckley has begun to show up at Hanson concerts. To the contrary, in Taylor's estimation, the fans are still young girls. "What I might think theoretically would have evolved and changed a lot would have been the screaming thing," he said. "That's still there in a very big way." Drummer Zac Hanson, who at 14 is experiencing a kind of traveling puberty, knows the reverential-fan feeling well. The last Hanson to take the phone, he talks about performing among Brian Wilson and James Brown at the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction for Wilson in June. "Carole King and Paul McCartney are at either shoulder, and I'm singing 'Stand by Me,' one of my favorite songs ever," he said. "I was like, 'OK, I can die now. I can get hit by a car tomorrow. I'm satisfied.'" WHERE&WHEN Hanson, Monday, 8 p.m. Hammerstein Ballroom, Manhattan Center, 311 W. 34th St. Sold out.
Thursday, Sept. 7, 2000