MMM, Whatever happened to Hanson?

MMM Bop was (rightly) one of the most loved songs of the 90s and the child stars that made the record were briefly bigger than the Beatles, or at least The Bay City Rollers, for a couple of years circa 1997. I just heard their latest single and it's become my favourite of the moment, mainly because of the brilliant intro, some gutsy vocals and a fun video that doesn't take itself too seriously. Reminds me of the Blues Brothers. The clip is below but having heard it I got to thinking why I hadn't heard of them for more than a decade. What had happened since Mmm Bop?

Before I began a little internet research I imagined that I would find they had gone the way of most child stars: the fall from the top of the charts, a couple of ill-judged comeback attempts or changes of direction followed by a long painful struggle to adapt to being normal again, just mild curiosities or nostalgia turns. Usually the last part is accompanied by some drugs, deviancy or weirdness as the former star tries to compensate for his or her loss of fame in other ways.

But this isn't the Hanson story. Pretty ordinary actually. The hits dried up sure, but they carried on as a band and released music all the way through to this point where they have a modest hit on their hands with "Something Other Than You" and a new album. There has been a record company dispute and a fair bit of charity work by the look of things but nothing to suggest a sordid and sorry decline.

Anyone thinking that the little drummer kid with long hair would have gone wild by now and become a kind of Mid Western Amy Winehouse, will be disappointed to learn he - and the other two - are all happily married with kids and not a hint of scandal between the lot of them ( that I could find any way with a couple of Google searches). Enjoy the single. It is quality.