Anyone who knows anything about me knows that since the summer of ‘97 when I was thirteen-years-old Hanson has been my favorite band. Obsessed might have once been a good word to describe my fascination with them. I feel like maybe I’ve finally grown out of that, though. The only time I listen to them is when they come up on shuffle on iTunes, and I actually only have about ten of their songs on my iPod, and considering I have about 400 Hanson songs in my iTunes library, I’d say that’s a pretty small percentage that I listen to.
I’ve noticed my own lack of enthusiasm toward the band just because I used to always check up on Hanson related news as soon as I got online. Now it’s more of an afterthought. But I think maybe my family are starting to notice my new indifference. My grandma called to tell me they were going to be on TV, and I told her I wasn’t interested. My mom cracked a joke about someone calling in to request “Mmmbop” on the radio, and I scrunched up my nose. That may not sound like a lot, but I used to watch everything they were on. I used to buy their CDs as soon as they came out. I still haven’t bought their acoustic album, and I doubt I will.
I haven’t liked any of their new stuff that I’ve heard recently. Once upon a time, I’d love anything they did just because they did it. I feel like this is a major sign of growing up for me. I look at the other fans, and, in general, I think most of them are insane, but even my opinion of Hanson themselves is lacking lately. Most every piece of news I see about them revolves around one of their wives either being pregnant or having a baby. They used to always keep stuff like that so secretive, and now it feels like that’s all I hear about. I mean, congrats to them on parenthood, but where’s the news about the music? Other than being tacked on the last paragraph of an article about how many kids them have?
The weirdest thing, though, is the Hanson Fan Bus. They decided to either rent or buy a bus for fans to follow them around on tour. The price tag on this endeavor is pretty hefty, and it baffles me that fans have that kind of money to just shell out. They’re also doing The Rock Boat, and it’s pretty expensive too, but at least there are several different bands involved with that. I think I would go for that before I’d spend a week or however long on a bus with a bunch of Hanson fans. Talk about a nightmare.
I guess I just feel baffled by it all, and mostly because once upon a time I might have been one of those fans that were crazy enough to want to go to such events. Right now I’m not even interested in seeing them in concert. I don’t really know when this huge change happened. It’s just weird. I think part of it is that a lot my friends - most specifically the friends I talk to online the most - that are Hanson fans have all been slowly departing from the fandom as well, so I didn’t notice the distance I was putting between myself and the music I used to be obsessed with. In a way, I feel like this is a good thing, though. For so long Hanson has been such a huge part of my life - probably too big a part - and now I don’t feel like my life revolves around them like it used to. It’s kind of liberating. Where I was once scared because I didn’t know how to not be a fan, I feel okay about not being as interested or into them as I used to be. I feel like it’s opened my eyes to so many other things out there that I’d been overlooking, and it’s nice to have a fresh outlook that isn’t hindered by some ridiculous loyalty to Hanson I seemed to feel bound to.