Nothing like a new Hanson album to zap you back into reality. A year ago, we honestly thought that a potential airdate for Space Ghost was worthy of comment. Haircuts were a big deal. Studio pictures at Hansonline were analyzed, manipulated in Photoshop, posted, reposted and reanalyzed until we were darn sure that they revealed something earth shattering.

And now the behemoth is in our laps. It's here. Island is frantically hyping This Time Around, pressing it at us insistently with smiles that say, "Try it. It's good for you." What they don't realize is that we're not the crowd that needs to be told. We want the world to finally see, to understand that we're not crazy, that there was something in Hanson beyond Mmmbop that was worth investing in. We want every moment of our suffering to pay off, to wave it in the face of every person who ever told us "Hanson sucks," to show them that another blockbuster success is not only possible for Hanson, it's inevitable. We want This Time Around to be as much our triumph as theirs.

On a personal level, we’re struggling with what kind of Hanson we want for ourselves. Do we want Blockbuster Hanson that can pack stadiums and break sales records? Or do we want another kind of Hanson, one that sells fewer albums, travels fewer miles and earns fewer dollars? One part of us wants to be a piece of something big, a phenomena that can sweep the country and sell two million albums in one week. Another part wants to be able to see them in a crowd that has no compunction to scream during ballads, one that will stay interested without staying obsessed and will be loyal without being frantic. We want a less generic Hanson that can cater to us because we were unique enough to choose their music in the first place.

Or do we? What does "success" mean right now, in a world where album sales for the Backstreet Boys and Nsync are charted not by copies sold, but by copies per capita? In a world where entire albums are written, produced and recorded in three weeks so they can accommodate a fickle market? The reality is that Hanson can't compete with that. This Time Around will not be Middle of Nowhere II. It's a disappointing, harsh reality, but its true. They don't have the blanket appeal that those other acts have, the ability to get their songs played on top 40 stations, adult contemporary stations and urban music stations all at the same time. The bright side of that reality is that it's happening for the right reasons. What makes those Backstreet Boys songs appeal to a broad spectrum of the market is their generic quality, the blandness that can inspire mother and child, friend and foe to all spin the same CD at the same time.

But is that all the music industry is right now? A haven for the bland and the uninteresting, a parade of look-alike, sound-alike teen queens, pseudo-Latin crooners and boy bands? And is that what we want for Hanson? Yes, we wish them all the commercial success in the world. That's the only thing that will keep them visible to us, that will keep them making music and touring. But do we want commercial success for them if commercial success inevitably goes hand in hand, even at the level of public and critical perception, with musical immaturity. Yes, getting them on TRL means more exposure for the band, but do we consider Mandy Moore worthy company for them?

We're not the only ones perched precariously between these stools it seems. Take one look at the This Time Around video, and it suddenly becomes clear that Island/Def Jam is just as, if not more confused about what to do with the New And Improved Hanson than we are. They were trying to strike an awkward balance between what would sell to the masses and what would be worthy of the song. Unfortunately, it's clear that they leaned further in one direction than the other and what we're left with as a result is a video that's neither here nor there for a song that declares plainly and strongly what it stands for, on a literal level and a symbolic one.

And so ready or not, This Time Around is descending upon us, whether the masses buy it or not. It will not topple sales records, nor will it even commercially compete in the realm of No Strings Attached, Millennium, Baby One More Time or any other album that has broad, mass appeal. Why? Because Hanson, like most critically lauded bands, doesn’t have mass appeal anymore. They’re a pop band, in the same sense that the Beatles, the Beach Boys or Queen were pop bands. But those bands were popular back when rock and pop were the only real genres of marketable music. Now, Hanson competes for airtime with Sisqo, Shania Twain and Korn. In a market structured like that, it is the blandest and the most palatable of each genre that will rise to the top of the charts. When it comes to pop bands, it’s the Matchbox Twentys and the Vertical Horizons of the world that will score big hits, even while a band like Hanson arguably makes more interesting, and more artistically valid music.

Another reason for the less-than-stellar quality of today’s popular music is the growth of the music industry. People are buying music at record rates. Record companies, in order to keep up with the demands, are being swallowed by larger and larger media companies. It puts music makers, book publishers, web companies, movie studios and news outlets all under the same roof, giving them the capability to release Hanson CDs, put Hanson on movie soundtracks, publish Hanson books and make Hanson t-shirts all within one company. It’s a smart, incredibly profitable business model, but what suffers is the art. Suddenly you have businessmen who haven’t bought a single album since 1970 running the music industry. The focus becomes less on putting out quality albums and more on the almighty bottom line. The acts that will get signed, promoted and hyped, regardless of the reason, are the acts that will sell, and sell big. Enter Britney Spears and her midriff.

Just take a look around you and you’ll see it in action. There’s not one version of the Backtreet Boys, there’s six, and in an Mmmbop you could assign each one to their respective record company. Mercury had Hanson and ten seconds later, Atlantic had turned the Moffatts into a blond, nonsense-syllable singing pop act.

For quality music, these are trying times. That’s why getting into the stores and buying This Time Around is so critical. If we, as fans, don’t make a financial dent, we may not get another chance in the future. Why does Hanson give us things like MOE, and Hanson.net and Hansonline? Yes, because they’re good to us, but also because they know that their future is irrevocably tied to ours as fans. If we stay, they’ll stay. So take a minute to vote, to e-mail, to request, to make noise about Hanson.

Taylor is fond of the word "evolution." The very implication of the word is that change is continual, that this Hanson is not the eternal Hanson, that there are still universes uncharted. In five years, Hanson may find themselves light years beyond Albertane when it comes to their music. May we as fans have the courage to stay on their heels for the entire journey.