Retro Video of the Week: "MMMBop" and "Where's The Love" by Hanson

In honor of yesterday's Tuesday Top Ten about teenage rock stars, today's Retro Videos of the Week will be two of the songs discussed in the post:  "MMMBop" and "Where's The Love" by Hanson.  Perhaps, for Gregerson's sake, we can finally settle the debate about which is the better song.  For the next week, there will be a poll at the top of the right sidebar (above my profile), so you, fair GMYH reader, can vote for whether you think "MMMBop" or "Where's The Love" is a better song.

Both songs come from Hanson's multi-platinum major-label debut album, Middle of Nowhere.  As I mentioned in yesterday's post, when "MMMBop" hit #1 in May 1997, the Hanson brothers ranged in age from 11 to 16.  That's insane. The song was originally a ballad, but then famed producing duo The Dust Brothers reworked it with the band to make it into the happy-go-lucky megahit that it became. Yes, the same Dust Brothers who produced Beck's Odelay, The Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique, and, of course, Tone Lōc's Lōc-ed After Dark, produced "MMMBop." Of course, if you listen to the lyrics, they don't seem to make any sense whatsoever. In fact, I think an reputable horticulturalist or botanist should be able to tell you whether a daisy or a rose will grow faster, so, pardon my double negative, but that is NOT a secret no one knows.

"Where's The Love" was Hanson's follow-up single to "MMMBop."  It didn't quite have the same success as "MMMBop," but it's tough to top a song that was #1 in 27 countries.  "Where's The Love" did manage to get to #27 on Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay charts, but failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 meaning that, while it received a good amount of airplay on radio stations, it did not sell well enough to make it onto the Hot 100.  I think this song does a better job of featuring all three brothers than "MMMBop," which we can all agree is a little Taylor-heavy.

The videos for both songs are below.  Listen to both and vote, as this may be the only time in history you will be able to choose which song you like better.