MMMBop
Encyclopedia
"MMMBop" is a song written and performed by the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...

 band Hanson
Hanson (band)
Hanson are an American pop rock band formed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by brothers Isaac , Taylor , and Zac Hanson . They are best known for the 1997 hit song "MMMBop" from their major label debut album Middle of Nowhere, which earned three Grammy nominations...

 from their 1997 album Middle of Nowhere
Middle of Nowhere (Hanson album)
Middle of Nowhere is the third album by American pop rock group Hanson, and the first to be released on a major label, which was Polygram Records and Mercury Records. Released in 1997, it features slicker studio production compared to their previous indie efforts Boomerang and MMMBop...

. The song was nominated for two Grammys
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards
Grammy Awards of 1998
The 40th Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1998. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Rock icon Bob Dylan, Alison Krauss, and R...

 in February 1998, and is the band's most successful single to date.

By any measure, "MMMBop" was phenomenally successful, especially for a debut single, reaching number one in 27 countries including the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. In the United Kingdom, the song sold 710,000 copies and stayed at number one for 3 weeks. It was voted the best single of the year in The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...

Pazz & Jop
Pazz & Jop
The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics...

 critics poll, while also topping critics' polls from such media as Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

, Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...

, and VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...

, and was ranked as #20 on VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...

's "100 Greatest Songs of the 90s."

Due perhaps to the song's extrordinary success as well as its "sugary-sweet" pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 sound, "MMMBop" is also the target of considerable criticism and parody. The song was ranked at #17 on the list of AOL Radio
AOL Radio
AOL Radio powered by Slacker, , is an online radio service available only in the United States.- Roots :...

's 100 Worst Songs Ever in 2010, with Matthew Wilkening exclaiming, "The Dust Brothers
Dust Brothers
The Dust Brothers are the Los Angeles, California based, Grammy Award winning producers, E.Z. Mike and King Gizmo , famous for their sample-based music in the 1980s and 1990s, and specifically for their work on the albums Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Boys, Odelay by Beck, and the soundtrack to...

 produced amazing albums by Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...

 and the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....

, which almost makes up for this [song]." Additionally, Rolling Stone in 2011 voted "MMMBop" the 6th worst song of the 90's.

Background

The song originally appeared on the 1996 independent album MMMBop
MMMBop (album)
MMMBop was released in 1996 and is Hanson's second independent album after Boomerang . It contains a few songs that were later rerecorded for their third studio album Middle of Nowhere . Many of these songs were also rereleased on 3 Car Garage . This album was not available in many stores and was...

as a ballad, but was reworked as an upbeat pop track by hit producers The Dust Brothers. The song's lyrics talk about the brevity of friendship
Friendship
Friendship is a form of interpersonal relationship generally considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association are often thought of as spanning across the same continuum...

, referring to how friendships come and go in an "MMMBop", meaning a short period of time. The song therefore urges listeners to "hold on to the ones who really care. In the end they'll be the only ones there".

Like many songs that achieved extreme popularity, this song has experienced a backlash against its once ubiquitous airplay. Delone Catholic High School
Delone Catholic High School
Delone Catholic High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in McSherrystown, Pennsylvania. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg.-The History:Delone Catholic High School is a regional high school named for Charles J...

 in McSherrystown
McSherrystown, Pennsylvania
McSherrystown is a borough in Adams County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,038 as of the 2010 census.The headquarters of the popular Teddy Bear manufacturer Boyds Bears as well as the oldest operating family-run cigar manufacturer in the U.S. , F.X...

, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 held a student-created fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...

 called "Stop the Bop." The school played the song before classes begin in the morning, and between each period over the school PA system. The playing of this song was only stopped when the school raised $3,000 for hurricane relief and the school thereby "stopped the bop." After the fundraising had concluded, Hanson responded by matching the students' donation as well as sending a copy of their 2004 album Underneath for every student in the school.

This tactic was also used again in the famous "Stop MMMBop" charity campaign at Mount Douglas Secondary School, when the song was played nonstop before and after classes and even during lunch hour. It would play until the school raised enough money to build a school in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...

. As well as students paying to stop "MMMBop", a small group of students created the "Keep MMMBop" charity, which got students to donate to the same cause, but it would keep "MMMBop" playing instead of stopping it.

As "MMMBop" became more and more infamous due to massive airplay, Hanson appeared in a Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

sketch with host Helen Hunt
Helen Hunt
Helen Elizabeth Hunt is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She starred in the sitcom Mad About You for seven years, before being cast in the romantic comedy As Good as It Gets...

 and castmember Will Ferrell
Will Ferrell
John William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega...

. Two terrorists, played by Hunt and Ferrell, are so furious at the song's ubiquity they take the brothers hostage in an elevator and force them to listen to the song over and over until Zac and Isaac have gone completely insane and Hunt kills Ferrell, leaving Taylor unscathed.

On the Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

 show House
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...

, Gregory House
Gregory House
Gregory House, M.D., or simply referred to as House, is a fictional antihero and title character of the American television series House, played by Hugh Laurie. He is the Chief of Diagnostic Medicine at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, where he leads a team of diagnosticians...

 uses the song as his cell phone ringtone when the members of his team call him.

Due to the band's age difference between the time "MMMBop" was recorded and present day, Hanson have since come to perform the track (in addition to more songs from their earlier albums) in a noticeably lower key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...

 (a perfect fourth
Perfect fourth
In classical music from Western culture, a fourth is a musical interval encompassing four staff positions , and the perfect fourth is a fourth spanning five semitones. For example, the ascending interval from C to the next F is a perfect fourth, as the note F lies five semitones above C, and there...

 lower in this case) than when Zac was a child and Taylor and Isaac were teenagers.

Track listing

All songs written by Isaac Hanson
Isaac Hanson
Isaac Hanson is an American musician best known as a member of the pop rock trio Hanson, which includes his two younger brothers Taylor and Zac...

, Taylor Hanson
Taylor Hanson
Taylor Hanson is an American musician best known as a member of the pop rock band Hanson. He sings both lead and back-up vocals, and plays keyboard, percussion , guitar, harmonica, and piano...

, and Zac Hanson
Zac Hanson
Zachary Walker "Zac" Hanson is an American musician, best known as a member of the pop band Hanson. He plays drums, percussion, piano, guitar and also sings back-up and lead vocals...

.
  1. "MMMBop" (album version) – 4:01
  2. "MMMBop" (Dust Brothers Mix) – 4:28
  3. "MMMBop" (Hex Mix) – 3:26
  4. "MMMBop" (single version) – 4:01

Peak positions

Chart (1997) Position
Australia
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

1
Austria
Ö3 Austria Top 40
Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann...

1
Belgium (Flanders)
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

1
Belgium (Wallonia)
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

4
Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

1
Germany
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...

1
Finland 4
France
Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique
The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...

4
Ireland
Irish Singles Chart
The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...

1
Netherlands
NVPI
The NVPI is the Dutch tradeassociation of the entertainment industry...

2
New Zealand
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...

1
Norway
VG-lista
VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by...

2
Sweden
Sverigetopplistan
Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....

1
Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

1
Switzerland
Swiss Music Charts
The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75...

1
UK
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

1
USA
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

1


End of year charts

End of year chart (1997) Position
Australia Singles Chart 5
UK Singles Chart 11
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 12

End of decade charts

Chart (1990-1999) Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 57


External links

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