Just can’t get it right! It’s been 20 years since Hanson’s Zac, Taylor and Isaac Hanson released their 1996 megahit “MMMBop.” While their infectious, iconic track has been covered by an innumerable amount of musicians, the brothers revealed in a new interview with Vulture that everyone’s been singing it wrong.
“You know why? People can’t sing the chorus right,” Isaac, 35, explained of the covers he’s heard. “Most of the time they syncopate it wrong.”
While every act — including One Direction, Phish and The Vamps — that’s taken a stab at recreating the ‘90s magic that once was have failed in the eyes of the former teen heartthrobs, Hanson is waiting for the day when a singer is able to do “MMMBop” justice.
“Someone needs to either make it totally their own in a genuinely unique way, or it needs to be a band that has a sensibility for old R&B,” said Taylor, 33. “Fitz and the Tantrums could maybe do it.”
Added Isaac: “If Bruno Mars were interested, he’d probably find a way to kill it.”
During their chat with Vulture, the men of Hanson made a shocking revelation about the feel-good tune fans used to love blaring from their boom boxes: The song has a much darker meaning than its bouncy melody might suggest. In case you forgot the lyrics, let Us refresh your memory with a few lines:
“You have so many relationships in this life/ only one or two will last/ you go through all the pain and strife/ then you turn your back and they’re gone so fast”
“So hold on the ones who really care/ in the end they’ll be the only ones there/ and when you get old and start losing your hair/ can you tell me who will still care?”
“I think a lot of people did not [realize the song’s underlying tone]. And that makes sense,” Taylor noted of the hidden message behind “MMMBop.” “But hopefully over time, the staying power of that song is about the fact that it’s more than it looks like at first glance. That hook is what gets you in, but what’s below that is what keeps you there.”
