"We had a song that was humongous, but we were just dumb and young." How Hoobastank wrote a billion-streaming hit single and entrenched themselves in pop culture forever

People who use the sneering term 'one-hit wonder' usually haven't had a hit of their own, and even if they had, they've certainly not achieved it like Hoobastank.

It's 2003 or thereabouts. Buoyed by their successful tour in support of their million-selling self-titled debut album, guitarist Dan Estrin began to demo ideas for their second full-length at his mother's house. While he was possibly waving away gently persistent offers of potato waffles and beans for dinner, he found on a chord sequence which sparked a flurry of creativity.

"I came home just started writing songs or coming up with different guitar parts and ideas," Estrin told American Songwriter. "The Reason was one of them. I ended up demoing the entire song at home that evening by myself with guitar bass, drums. I did everything and then sent it to Doug."

Luckily for the band, vocalist Doug Robb didn't have to dig too deep when it came to writing lyrics for the Estrin's rock tearjerker.

“I used to get asked all the time ‘Who’s it about?’ because everybody would think it’s about a specific person that I’m talking to," Robb told writer Cillea Houghton. "But lyrically it was written by piecing together a bunch of old lyrics that I had not used and other stream-of-conscious-type writings. And so after 20 years of being asked that question and thinking about it, the song is really about me, I guess.”

Hoobastank - The Reason (Official Music Video) - YouTube

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The band, who were often and fairly compared to their contemporaries Incubus, completed work on the album with producer Howard Benson (Motörhead, Less Than Jake, Sepultura). To announce their brand new album – also titled The Reason – they chose the heavier, far less-ballady Out Of Control as the lead single in 2003.

Early the following year, their label serviced The Reason to radio stations, stood back and watched it firmly plant itself on playlists around North America and much further afield. The band would land a number one single in Bolivia, Canada, Ecuador, and Italy, and see the ballad peak at number two in the US Billboard Hot 100.

They were nominated for two Grammy Awards: Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. They won neither, but the song's success propelled the album to shift over two million copies.

The Reason had a string section. It had a video centring on a heist gone wrong. It showed young men could be vulnerable in a post-Crazy Town world. It was bound to be a hit, really.

"Looking back on it, I didn’t realise at the time that we were just fucking lucky," Estrin told 100 Per Cent Rock. "Yes, we had a song that was humongous, but we were just dumb and young."

The Reason enjoyed a resurgence some two decades later, thanks to its inclusion in the Friends episode The One Before The Last One. The flashback show, which was aired just before the final-ever episode in May 2004, was viewed by an estimated 52 million people in the US.

Of course, a song as ubiquitous as this was bound to attract some playful digs. In 2021, the second episode of the Patton Oswalt-voiced Marvel animation M.O.D.O.K., the band are described "the Beatles of the '90s". For balance, the Fab Four were described as "the Hoobastank of the '60s". They also found themselves at the centre of a TikTok trend named #NotAPerfectPerson, soundtracking users' confessions.

"We've been named checked enough," Robb told Grammy.com. "More often than not, I feel like it was kind of a punchline. I think years ago it might have stung a little bit, but I think some of it's pretty funny, man. I get it.

"In our old age and wisdom, we pride ourselves of being a band that's really self-aware of who we are and how we approach things," he adds. "I think we're in a place where you can say whatever you want, and it's just water off a duck's back, so I get a good laugh out of it."

Indeed, the band set up their own TikTok account so they could contribute to the trend, stating: "Realizing 20 years later that you named your band Hoobastank."

Most recently, the song was covered in the Channel 4 sitcom We Are Lady Parts and popped up in the Netflix show Beef.

To date, the song has been streamed almost 1.5 billion times on Spotify, earning a place on the Billions Club playlist. Over on YouTube, the video has been viewed 1.2 billion times. In the real world, it's a popular cover song and you're likely to hear it in any karaoke bar around the world. Co-songwriter Estrin is delighted.

“Every single day, we get tagged in videos of people covering it," the guitarist told Billboard. "It’s pretty amazing. All different styles, from funk versions to Steve Aoki doing a remix at Tomorrowland. We’ve seen a country version, a group of dads that sing and harmonise together, punk rock versions, heavy metal versions, people playing it on drums, guitar, bass and piano, and so on. It’s insane! My favourite karaoke videos are when it gets to the bridge where the lyrics belt out 'and the reason is youuuu'. Watching and hearing the entire bar sing it together is always awesome."