"MMMBop"

Hanson
(Mercury, 1997)

An ephemeral pop song about ephemeral pop moments, like the one embodied in the repeated made-up word of the chorus. The lead-in verse anticipates loss -- precious pre-teen doggerel -- but the hook is about having. And it's made more credible by the urgent delivery -- "MMMBop," the name of the song, the name of the hook. "It's a secret no one knows," sing the Hanson boys. But for one song at least, they knew it all.

-- Jon Garelick