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MMMBop

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This article is about the song. For the album, see MMMBop (album).
"MMMBop"
Song

"MMMBop" is a song written and performed by the American pop rock band Hanson from their 1997 album Middle of Nowhere. The song was nominated for two Grammys at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards in February 1998, and is the band's most successful single to date. "MMMBop" was phenomenally successful, especially for a debut single, reaching number one in 27 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Mexico.[1] 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 Pazz & Jop critics poll, while also topping critics' polls from such media as Rolling Stone, Spin, and VH1, and was ranked as #20 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the 90s."

Due perhaps to the song's extraordinary success as well as its "sugary-sweet" pop music sound, "MMMBop" is also the target of considerable criticism and parody.[2] The song was ranked at #17 on the list of AOL Radio's 100 Worst Songs Ever in 2010, with Matthew Wilkening exclaiming, "The Dust Brothers produced amazing albums by Beck and the Beastie Boys, which almost makes up for this [song]."[3] Additionally, Rolling Stone in 2011 voted "MMMBop" the 6th worst song of the 90's.[4]

Background

The song originally appeared on the 1996 independent album MMMBop 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, 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 in McSherrystown, Pennsylvania held a student-created fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Katrina called "Stop the Bop." The school played the song before classes began 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."[5] 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. 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.[6]

As "MMMBop" became more and more infamous due to massive airplay, Hanson appeared in a Saturday Night Live sketch with host Helen Hunt and castmember Will Ferrell. 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.[7]

On the Fox show House, Gregory House uses the song as his cell phone ringtone when the members of his team call him. The song is also used in the show Lizzie McGuire in the episode "Lizzie's Eleven".

In David Michael Sirois' award winning play "Brothers Beckett", The character Doug uses the first few lines of the song lyrics as "words of wisdom" to help the boys understand how to treat friends and relationships.

Due to the band's age difference between the time "MMMBop" was recorded and present day, Hanson have since come to perform the track (as well as other songs from their earlier albums) in a noticeably lower key (a perfect fourth lower in this case) than when Zac was a child and Taylor and Isaac were teenagers.

Track listing

All songs written by Isaac Hanson, Taylor Hanson, and Zac Hanson.

  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

Chart positions

Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number one single
May 24, 1997 - June 7, 1997 (3 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK Singles Chart number-one single
June 1, 1997 – June 14, 1997
Preceded by ARIA Singles Chart Number 1 single
June 1, 1997 – July 27, 1997 (9 weeks)
Preceded by Billboard Top 40 Mainstream number-one single
May 24, 1997 - July 12, 1997 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
"Con Te Partiro (Time to Say Goodbye)" by Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli
 Irish Singles Chart
June 14, 1997 (3 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Succeeded by
{{{after}}}
Preceded by
"Can We" by SWV
 New Zealand Singles Chart
June 22, 1997 (2 weeks) 		Succeeded by
{{{after}}}
Preceded by
"Vivo per lei- Ich lebe fur sie" by Andrea Bocelli & Judy Weiss
 Swiss Singles Chart
June 22, 1997 (4 weeks) 		Succeeded by
{{{after}}}
Preceded by
"Sonic Empire" by "Members Of Mayday"
 German Singles Chart
June 20, 1997 (1 week) 		Succeeded by
{{{after}}}
Preceded by Canadian Singles Chart
July 14, 1997 (3 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
"Ecuador" by Sash! feat Rodriquez
 Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart
July 12, 1997 (4 weeks) 		Succeeded by
{{{after}}}
Preceded by Austrian Singles Chart
June 29, 1997 (3 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Swedish Singles Chart
June 6, 1997 (1 week) 		Succeeded by

References

  1. ^ KFM - The Cape's No. 1 Hit Music Station
  2. ^ "Hanson Wraps a Decade into a Complete Sound". National Public Radio. September 30, 2007. Retrieved April 25, 2011.
  3. ^ Wilkening, Matthew (September 11, 2010). "100 Worst Songs Ever -- Part Five of Five". AOL Radio. Retrieved December 24, 2010.
  4. ^ Greene, Andy (September 6, 2011). "'Barbie Girl' Tops Rolling Stone's Worst Songs of the '90s". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
  5. ^ Brian Dakss (September 13, 2005). "'Stop The Bop' To Raise Katrina $$". The Early Show. CBS. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
  6. ^ "Backstage donates to UNICEF and stops MMMBop". Backstage. June 18, 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
  7. ^ YouTube recording of Saturday Night Live skit
  8. ^ http://www.aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-end-of-year-charts-top-100-singles-1997.htm
  9. ^ "Top Singles - Volume 66, No. 15, December 15 1997". RPM. Retrieved 2012-10-05. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ "Billboard Top 100 - 1997". Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  11. ^ Geoff Mayfield (December 25, 1999). 1999 The Year in Music Totally '90s: Diary of a Decade - The listing of Top Pop Albums of the '90s & Hot 100 Singles of the '90s. Billboard. Retrieved October 15, 2010. {{cite book}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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