MmmBop

• Performances
• History
• Lyrics
• Artist
  • Phish
  • Fish
  • Mike
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History

Those of us searching for the moment in history that made the musical scourges known as the Backstreet Boys and N’Sync a potential future reality should look no further into the past than the summer of 1997. With the release of their first single, Ike, Tay and Zac – now known the world over as the Brothers Hanson – became seemingly overnight sensations. In an “MmmBop” the musical genre that presently drains the piggy banks of pre-teen girls around the globe was reborn from the ashes of Menudo, The Monkees, and New Kids on the Block. First appearing (twice!) on their independently released album MmmBop, the tune was remixed by the Dust Brothers for Hanson’s major label (Mercury) debut Middle of Nowhere. Since then “MmmBop” has been re-released on two of the four subsequent Hanson albums; the exceptions being a collection of Christmas songs released in 1998 called Snowed In and a batch of new originals entitled This Time Around released in 2000.

Phish, "MmmBob" –  7/6/97, Desenzano, Italy

The first (and likely only) Phish performance of the song was during an open-to-the-public soundcheck for a show at Spiaggia Di Rivoltana, Desenzano, Italy on 7/6/97. In defiance of Trey’s assertion that “Hanson is going too far,” the Fishman of Soul belted out the insidious chorus in the guise of James Brown, and paid tribute to young Zac, doing it like an 11-year old “Sex Machine.” 

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