diplomacy |
girlfriends
It occurred to me recently that what draws us to Hanson--the music--often causes us to think that their lives are as completed as the songs they choose to publish on their albums. For this reason, there is a temptation to gather, to horde and to examine every revelation about their lives. Because, well, you never know. At any moment, they might reveal how you too, can either enter their world by achieving just the right level of devoted fanhood or sketch out a blue print of that wholeness for yourself. Paradoxically, we're also drawn in by the messiness. They have been up front about their imperfections. Isaac's ramblings, Taylor's impatience with fast food employees, Zac's low tolerance for unimaginative questions by the press. Often, we've heard them insist that they are "just normal people." As "normal people" they seem accessible, but at the same time . . . the conventions that exist between you and your friends would then have to apply. This means you can't ask them to bite off the top of a muffin and then ask for it back, so you can keep it stored in a box to show your grandkids that this rotten cake of mold was once touched by ::gasp:: Hanson. And yet, there's a bleeding boundary that Hanson has already occupied. A space my friends have never entered. I don't ask my friends to sing a song for me in the middle of the night when I wake up from a nightmare. My friends can't always be with me as I'm driving across icy patches in the winter and the only thing that is keeping me calm is their reassuring voices coming from my car stereo. Good friends definitely enter my moods and listen, but they can't reach me in the same places and at the same moments that music can. Does this mean that the musicians and the music are inseparable? And in this way, our souls belong to them in unexplainable ways? hmmm. And this is where the girlfriend question steps into the gap. Taylor has said recently that he feels that relationships are something that he considers as just between "you and that other person." That's true, to some extent. But, even with my close friends, I spend time with their boyfriends and girlfriends and eventually fiancés and spouses. These people become a part of my life. Invitations were extended on both sides--rare gifts. I know how difficult relationships can be . . . the uncertainty of them. They're both a little scary and exciting--all at once. As Hanson takes the mic to discuss the girlfriend question, I think of all of the things they've already shared. I also remember how difficult it is to answer similar questions about relationships that are just forming. I can't deny that Hanson have offered a sense of security through their music, but their lives are just as fragile as mine. This is both joy and sorrow. I take comfort in the fact that I am not alone in my own moments of uncertainty . . . Yet, I will not turn to Hanson themselves for relationship counsel, as I'm sure they will not turn to me. However, their music will continue to speak of the highs and lows of my life in a language that neither they nor I completely understand. This connection is as genuine and unbreakable as real-life relationships, but somehow completely separate. boy bands Over the past year--since May 2000 to be exact--Hanson have addressed one issue more than any other. At first, I was going to predict the hair-cuts would float their way to the top of the Most Annoying Issue list, but I should have known better!! Of course, if I was paying attention I would have predicted the hair being eclipsed by another, far more pressing concern: critics' distaste for current teen pop culture. Yes, I'm referring to the ubiquitous "boy band" question. The irony is that just about every review, interview or article involving Hanson in recent history clearly distinguishes Hanson's genuine musicianship from their contemporaries. Hanson's music provides the clearest answer to the pressing "boy band" question. Unless the reporters doubt their own ears, why bring this up in conversation with the band? I've compiled a list of Hanson's quoted answers to the question that asks them to comment on their status among their peers. These snippets trace the evolution of their responses. So if any reporters are still unclear about Hanson's perspective on their musical place in current pop culture, I encourage these writers to investigate the following sources. Overheard:
"I hope we're not responsible for that (success of
pin-up bands)." "We're the only ones who actually are teenagers. Those
other guys are, like, 30! The other guys should be called boy groups or maybe boy
ensembles . . . Believe me--you don't want to see us dance." "The musical style is a little rockier, a little
harder than 'boy bands.' I think people do that because of our fan base--lots of teenage
girls. I think that's fine. You look back to the original guys who started rock and roll
and their fans were all teenage girls. So I definitely don't have a problem with it." "Technically, we are boys. We are a band. In
truth, we're really just a band. The reason we get put in the boy-band category is because
we have a lot of young fans. There is definitely a certain bias because we are
young." "We're not butt ugly." "They're doing a good job--they're selling a lot of
records!" "I don't think one band can take credit for a whole
group of people coming out. I think it all existed and was waiting to be revived again.
Our music is so different in a lot of ways that I think that it's hard to compare us to
those bands at this point. I'm definitely not weird about it, because the music speaks for
itself." "There's more in the rhythmic pop area and the harder
rock-rap thing. In the middle there isn't that much and we fall in there. The
main reason we get lumped in there is because of our fan base. We have lots of teen
girl fans, which is fine. They're great fans, very devoted. But when you
listen to the styles of music we are very different from rhythmic pop bands." "It's good for kids to have someone that is their own
age to identify with. We understand their emotions and concerns. People call the
Backstreet Boys a boy group. I don't think so. Guy group is more like it." "I will be completely honest, I do not listen to
Backstreet Boys, 'NSync or Britney Spears. It's just not appealing to me on a musical
level. 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. More power to 'em, they're doing great. They're working their butts
off." "Our only connection with those groups is we are not
talking about cheating people; we're just doing music that's genuinely positive in some
way, and we have a general group of fans that are younger and more in their teens and so
that is really our only connection." "I think it's because we are songwriters and
musicians, and we've never falsified that we are or been anything other than that. When it
all comes down to it, our love for music is who we are, what we do, and our pure need to
(play), that is hopefully what shows." "Every era has a lot of crap and a lot of good stuff.
The '60s were great, but there was a some crap then, too. There's a lot of crap now,
to be honest. But there's also a lot of great music. Put it this way, I'm really proud of
what we're doing, and I hope we can be doing it for awhile." Final Notes: My hope is that the poor dead horse can be laid to rest. Two of my favorite Hanson articles of this year, Spin and Interview, mercifully ignore this topic altogether. Coincidence? Not exactly. (c;. |