I saw Hanson twice in the ’90s and each time it epitomized joyful innocence. Which led me to wonder how only six years later, here I was, nodding out with a needle in my purse as the band covered “Optimistic” by Radiohead, which was a band I listened to way more than Hanson at that point. What had gone wrong in my life that couldn’t even prevent me from sullying the very best, most sacred blond memories of early adolescence?
Writers tell PopDust about their youthful experiences with boy bands.
Strangely, Amber Earnest’s heroin-during-a-Hanson-concert tale is not the most distressing one—that honor goes to Jen Doll, whose mom apparently tried to convince her that her boy-band crush “probably had such horrific acne that when he smiled his zits popped.”
