MTV Week in Rock


KURT: Those weary of pop stars who spend most of their time whining about how tough it is being a pop star will surely cheer the arrival of these three young brothers from Tulsa, Oklahoma, ages 16, 13, and 11, who on Monday take over the number one spot on the "Billboard" chart with their first national single, "Mmmbop." Are they excited? Let's find out.

MTV: Hanson's "Mmmbop": it's instantly catchy, these days it's inescapable, and as of Monday it's the #1 single in the country. All of which has the boys more than a little excited.

ZACHARY: Yes, we did it!!!! (GETS UP AND DANCES AROUND)

ISAAC: You can never expect that. I mean, you can maybe expect to be in the Top 40.

MTV: For Hanson, it all began five years ago when the three brothers Isaac, Taylor and Zachary, started singing as an a capella group. Three years later, they picked up instruments and became a band.

TAYLOR: We got the drums and the instruments and then a week later we played live. But that doesn't mean we were good when we played live.

MTV: The Hanson Brothers, as they were originally called, became known in their home town of Tulsa, Oklahoma, by playing over 300 local gigs and selling their two independent records at those shows. Now on their first major label album, "Middle Of Nowhere," they are joined on two tracks by producers of the moment, The Dust Brothers.

ISAAC: Yeah, The Dust Brothers, which is very cool.

ZAC: The Dust Brothers... they have a very clean house.

TAYLOR: They're not really dusty. I was surprised. I was actually looking for a little dust.

MTV: The Dust Brothers produced "Mmmbop," which for the record, does mean something.

ISAAC: One of the parts in the song says "In an Mmmbop they're gone,/In an Mmmbop they're not there." So Mmmbop is like a second or a minute or a year.

TAYLOR: An instant.

ISAAC: Probably more like an instant, yeah, like a short frame of time.

MTV: And in what seems like an instant, Hanson have become one of the most adored bands around. All that adoration leads to crazed promotional appearances and photo shoots for likes of "Seventeen" magazine. And while people are ready to pigeon hole Hanson as a Partridge Family for the 90's, these brothers act a little more like...brothers.

TAYLOR: And then...

ISAAC, (interupting):Hey, you know, you may want to blow your nose.

TAYLOR: Why?

ISAAC: Just so you know, your nose is running. (TAYLOR SNIFFS, TRIES TO RUB HIS NOSE, GIVES UP AND MAKES A FACE)

ISAAC: (SHOWING THE SEVENTEEN PHOTOGRAPHER A PIECE OF HIS HAIR) You know what? We had a wedge before, and see...

TAYLOR, (interrupting): Ike, who cares about your hair?

ISAAC: Zac is definitely very crazy.

ZAC: Ike would be the romantic one that would dedicate songs to people.

TAYLOR: I'm the quietest one, obviously.

ISAAC: I'm definitely very goofy.

ISAAC, (from photo shoot:) immitating Butt-Head: Wouldn't it be cool, if there was like this chick on stage.

ZAC: He's goofy funny. I'm goofy stupid.

ISAAC: No, I'm goofy stupid, you're more goofy funny. I don't know...

ZAC: We're both goofy and we're both stupid and it's funny sometimes. Oh God!

KURT: Looks like it may be nap time for Zac there. Hanson's album debuts at number nine on Monday's "Billboard" chart .