What’s an mmmbop? And why does anyone care? That was the burning question of 1997.
I turned 12 years old that year and was completely obsessed with the bubblegum pop hit, “MMMBop” by Hanson, three teenage brothers from Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was the song of the summer!
Everyone knew the song, yet nobody could figure out what an mmmbop was, despite it being laid out clearly in the lyrics. Because they didn’t understand it, society soon turned on the song, labeling it annoying and cringeworthy. The brothers were even featured in an episode of Saturday Night Live, memorably held up by gunpoint in an elevator, forced to listen to “MMMBop” on repeat, and “suffer” just as the rest of the world did that summer. By late 1997, it was very uncool to like “MMMBop” (even though we all still secretly did).
@hansonized This aired in 1997 @hanson #Hanson #snl #snlskit #90s #mmmbop ♬ original sound - Hansonized
Here’s the thing, though. MMMBop wasn’t nonsense. It was actually deeply insightful, written by kids who somehow already understood that most things in life don’t last and that people will leave just as fast as they came in. The meaning is spelled out in the verses.
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
An mmmbop is a moment in time. A phase. A person. Something you think is forever, but then it isn’t.
In an mmmbop, they’re gone. In an mmmbop, they’re not there.
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The musical cheerfulness clashes directly with lines like, “So hold on to 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?”
Life is unpredictable. People come and go. You don’t know who, or what, will last. Time and fate decide for you.
But because the song feels so cheerful, most listeners never absorbed that message. They dismissed it as gibberish. Therefore, it became easy to mock. If a song sounds happy and has silly words nobody has heard before, it must be shallow. That’s how “MMMBop” became annoying rather than insightful.
However, all was not lost. The release-heavy musical structure is what pulled people in in the first place. People sang along without caring what it meant. The meaning may have slipped past us, but the emotional effects of the upbeat music latched on. Its incongruity is exactly why the song has lasted nearly 30 years in our hearts and minds.
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| Hanson, now and then |
As adults, we finally understand the meaning. Friends drift away. Chapters end. Relationships aren’t what you thought they were sometimes. Suddenly, “In an MMMBop, they’re gone / In an MMMBop, they’re not there” doesn’t sound like gibberish nonsense anymore.
As kids, we were obsessed with a fun, energetic tune. As adults, we finally understand what it means.
Were there any songs from your childhood that mean something completely different to you now that you’re an adult? Name something that means something entirely different now that you understand its intended meaning. Why do you think this was the case?
Emily, I was at a much different age than you were when this "bopper" hit the airwaves, and I too was singing along! Until I read your post, I had never bothered to ponder what an MMMBop was! I just knew it rolled off the tongue and was fun to belt out in the car. That song truly did make an impact (whatever that impact was) in the catchiest of ways.
ReplyDeleteTo your question, my oldest daughter, when she was young, would ask me to play the Wallflowers' "One Headlight" so we could bounce around to it. She called it "the Cinderella song" after a lyric from the chorus. A great tune. I came to learn later that the song is about losing one's way, and perhaps the death of creativity. No matter. It'll always be the Cinderella song in my family!