The key to Hanson's success?
Jul. 9th, 2010 11:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
armanyaI have been musing on this for a while, but today reading this article brought the question up for me again. What was it that made Hanson so popular, so huge - that no band since have been able to replicate quite the same success? Dropping record saled being a trend notwithstanding, Hanson still have the record for the loudest (a record previously held by The Who) and the largest audience - proving that they inspired mania on a scale that we have not seen since.
It's tempting to say that they were young teens themselves, the same age as their target audience - and let's face it they were never bad looking guys, and that this is the only secret to their success. But if it was, surely the young disney stars of today should all inspire the same obsession, the same huge following?
But you know, their youth is one half of the key to their success I think. The second half? The fact that unlike child stars of today, and many child stars of the past, Hanson's music remained relatively untarnished by adult hands. They wrote the songs - songs with lyrics that their target audience could relate to, because they were actually written by people the same age. Really, I think this is where all the record company suits that are obviously churning out pre teen popstars in and effort to replicate the success of days gone by go wrong. If you have adults write the songs, teens are not automatically going to relate to them because you put someone that age on stage singing it.
And you know what? I have come to realize that the same fact is the reason that Hanson have had <i>lasting</i> success. While most young bands that remain on big labels never seem to grow up - the preferred strategy being to cash in on their youthful cuteness and then ditch them to find some new twinkle eyed toddlers to exploit - Hanson have always fought for their music and continued to grow both as song writers and musicians. Meaning that they grew up with the fans and continued to stay relevant to their audience.
I guess it sort of baffles me that the big record label executives have yet to realize this fact. It sort of proves that to major labels, musicians and pop acts are a mere commodity, and an esily replacable one at that. The way to go is to get as much sucess as possible and milk it until the audience grows out of it, then find a new similar artist to appeal to the next generation. (Because, let's face it, kids are normally not going to find it cool to listen to the same things as their parents or older siblings.)
I kind of hope that sometime in the near future, the music industry will be forced to reform and go back to valuing real, lasting, timeless music instead of passing fads.
(Yeah I have no clue what the point of this ramble was... merely an exercise in creative writing, perhaps)
It's tempting to say that they were young teens themselves, the same age as their target audience - and let's face it they were never bad looking guys, and that this is the only secret to their success. But if it was, surely the young disney stars of today should all inspire the same obsession, the same huge following?
But you know, their youth is one half of the key to their success I think. The second half? The fact that unlike child stars of today, and many child stars of the past, Hanson's music remained relatively untarnished by adult hands. They wrote the songs - songs with lyrics that their target audience could relate to, because they were actually written by people the same age. Really, I think this is where all the record company suits that are obviously churning out pre teen popstars in and effort to replicate the success of days gone by go wrong. If you have adults write the songs, teens are not automatically going to relate to them because you put someone that age on stage singing it.
And you know what? I have come to realize that the same fact is the reason that Hanson have had <i>lasting</i> success. While most young bands that remain on big labels never seem to grow up - the preferred strategy being to cash in on their youthful cuteness and then ditch them to find some new twinkle eyed toddlers to exploit - Hanson have always fought for their music and continued to grow both as song writers and musicians. Meaning that they grew up with the fans and continued to stay relevant to their audience.
I guess it sort of baffles me that the big record label executives have yet to realize this fact. It sort of proves that to major labels, musicians and pop acts are a mere commodity, and an esily replacable one at that. The way to go is to get as much sucess as possible and milk it until the audience grows out of it, then find a new similar artist to appeal to the next generation. (Because, let's face it, kids are normally not going to find it cool to listen to the same things as their parents or older siblings.)
I kind of hope that sometime in the near future, the music industry will be forced to reform and go back to valuing real, lasting, timeless music instead of passing fads.
(Yeah I have no clue what the point of this ramble was... merely an exercise in creative writing, perhaps)
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-09 11:20 pm (UTC)Yeah, sometimes the state of the music industry kind of worries me.... as Zac said in an interview once...
"In fact, much of our generation is being defined by music that they don't really enjoy or identify with or even listen to. Radio doesn't really represent the music that people want to hear. People need to speak up."
no subject
Date: 2010-07-10 07:19 pm (UTC)I wouldn't say it worries me. It bothers me. The same songs are played over and over. It gets annoying. Play new stuff. It's not that hard.