Older, taller and with shorter hair, Hanson made its Northwestern debut to thirteen men and a room full of women Tuesday night.

The band that catapulted into world fame and teenybopper stardom in the early ’90s stopped by to promote independent music and draw attention to the problems plaguing the music industry today.

The band showed its documentary “Strong Enough to Break” and held a question-and-answer session at McCormick Tribune Center Forum. It was sponsored by the Center for Student Involvement.

Kate Simons, a Weinberg sophomore who sat in the front row, called herself a “huge fan” and said she’s attending both Hanson performances tonight and Thursday night at the House of Blues. But she didn’t rush the stage when the band first appeared.

“I don’t want them to think I’m too weird,” she said.

The event sold out soon after tickets went on sale last week, said Erica Futterman, a Medill senior and a CSI student supervisor. Twenty minutes before Tuesday’s event started, 34 students were waiting in a line set up for people without tickets. They all got seats.

Fans ranged from students to NU staffers. Teresa Earp, a Student Financial Services program assistant, brought her daughter Melissa, 20.

“My daughter used to be a huge fan, so I thought I would like to visit with her,” she said.

During the question-and-answer session, the band members weren’t shy about their roots.

“Of course everyone knows us as the band who did ‘MMMBop,’ and I’m proud of it,” Taylor said.

But in the years following their initial success, everything changed for the three teenagers from Tulsa. “Strong Enough to Break” chronicled their struggle to create 2004’s “Underneath” album. The documentary takes its name from a song on the album. The band fought an uphill battle against executives from their label who wouldn’t give the go-ahead for a full record because they doubted Hanson’s commercial viability. Eventually, Hanson formed its own label, 3CG Records, and released “Underneath” on its own.

The lyric “Just a figure in a big monopoly game,” from the song “Strong Enough to Break,” “is not a reference to Milton Bradley,” Isaac said. “It’s a reference to corporate monopoly.”

Going independent helped their careers move upward again. Hanson toured more than 30 countries last year, and “Underneath” was the best-selling independent record in the world shortly after its release, the group said.

“We’re in a more dynamic position than we’ve ever been,” Taylor said. “Sometimes, as an artist, you have to pull from the crap but also pull from the good stuff.”

Hanson wasn’t the only band frustrated with a major label, the brothers said. Fiona Apple, Jewel and Wilco all had similar crises, and that’s why the brothers made the documentary, they said; people need to know how the industry stifles some artists by emphasizing hit singles.

“It’s an epidemic, of sorts, within the industry,” Isaac said.

Hanson is only truly independent in America; outside the United States, they license records to other labels. In Southeast Asia, the group is on a major label because of the lack of a strong independent music scene.

During the presentation, the brothers kept asking for comments on the documentary. They didn’t sing any songs. They were touring colleges to promote their message: Students can help change the way the music industry operates.

“It’s important for people to recognize that they have an extra responsibility,” Zac said.

Magy Hoyer, a Weinberg freshman, said she is not a huge Hanson fan but decided to attend the event after purchasing their latest album. Hanson can promote independent music despite their bubblegum beginnings, she said.

“Even though people heard of them as the boys who look like girls, at least they have a bar to build on,” Hoyer said. “They have a name, and they can change their image.”

But most of the event’s audience didn’t seem to care as much about the band’s message as they did about the brothers. After the question-and-answer session, audience members could fill out questionnaires and get free copies of “Underneath.” But most swarmed the stage, asking the brothers for pictures and autographs.

Emily Vaughan, a Medill freshman who had been the first in the line of people without tickets, pushed her friend toward the front of the room, away from the free CDs.

“Pictures are more important,” she said.

Reach Tina Peng at [email protected].