I recently encountered a book all about pop throughout the years. Being a Hanson fan of sound mind and body, I rushed as fast as I could through the book to the section about '90's artists. Seeing no Hanson, I continued on.

I found a two-page spread about "boy bands." Without thinking, I began scanning to see if Hanson was mentioned. When the name "*N Sync" caught my eye, I mentally slapped myself for even momentarily considering that Hanson could be pasted with the label "boy band".

Boy bands are assemblages of rather low-talent people. They can dance better than the average dancing boys and can sometimes sing better. These groups usually contain 4 or 5 members who only sing and dance.. they can't play instruments, or at least the instruments are not part of the image. Only the obsessed fans can tell you if they play instruments.

Hanson doesn't fit this. They're no assemblage. They're brothers. They can't dance, but they're wonderful singers. They have only 3 members who all play instruments and even someone who has only seen one of their videos once can probably tell you who plays what.

Boy bands are usually built to achieve popularity and teeny-bopper love. They feed on the young female population by catering to them with love songs, flashy dancing and charm that doesn't affect many people over 15. Hanson, while a teeny-bopper love, doesn't cater to the teenies as much. They're more of a free-for-all band.

Another difference between boy bands and Hanson is that Hanson writes all their own songs except for the covers. Boy bands' songs are normally written by other people for them. Hanson may get some help, but they've yet to put out a new song that they didn't write a majority of.

The last difference between Hanson and boy bands is that Hanson has more guaranteed longevity, despite the fact that they always seem to be losing fans.

As good as some boy bands may be, Hanson is just as good, if not better, but they're also different. Keep that in mind next time someone asks you, "Who's better? The Backstreet Boys or Hanson?"

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