Hoobastank - The Reason

I don't think I'll go to the extent of fighting for honour but hands down this has to be one of my all time favourite albums.  Since 2003, this album has been on and off every piece of portable music I have had and continues to play still (hence me discussing it).

While Hoobastank have not been the kind of band you see doing major headlines around the world playing to sold out stadiums, their 10+ million album sales are nothing to shy away from.  The group did luck out and managed to create a single (aka "The Reason") that would throw them for a one hit wonder loop, but the group continually came back with hook after hook making them known for something a little more than one single.

In 2003 when "The Reason" was being released, Hoobstank consisted of:

Doug Robb - Vocals | Dan Estrin - Guitars | Markku Lappalainen - Bass | Chris Hesse - Drums

"A lot of it is about asking questions or questioning all that people see. It's not all about religion. 'Out Of Control' is about that and about opening your eyes after being blinded by being devoted to anything." -Robb



"The Reason" was officially released on December 9th, 2003 via Island Records.  The album would only receive moderate play (peaking at #45 on the Billboard charts) on the radio for their first single "Out of Control".  It wasn't until their self titled single "The Reason" that the band would reach #1 on the Billboard in the US and world modern charts.  Other singles would follow for a total of four.  The album would sell 2.3 million albums alone in the US.

1. Same Direction
2. Out of Control
3. What Happened to Us?
4. Escape
5. Just One
6. Lucky
7. From the Heart
8. The Reason
9. Let It Out
10. Unaffected
11. Never There
12. Disappear

Extra credit for the album go to Lostprophets' members Ian Watkins and Jamie Oliver and their guest appearance on "Out of Control".  The group had two notable men working behind the mixing board.  Mixing of the album was done by Chris Lord-Alge (Deftones, 3 Doors Down, AFI, Breaking Benjamin, Cheap Trick, etc.) while production of the album was done by Howard Benson (Cold, Theory of a Deadman, Papa Roach, My Chemical Romance, Seether, etc.).



While their isn't much need to convince people this album is good (the numbers speak for themselves).  I like to find areas where this album can occupy my time such as cooking, cleaning, working out or even recreational time.  The album has a very fine blend of hard guitar driven tunes but Robb also brings everything back into a lovely melody that millions of fans have grown to sing along to now.

The drum work from Hesse is the middle piece of this equation.  He can play fast and and some great beats when called for in songs such as "Out of Control" or "From The Heart" and vice versa for songs such as "The Reason" and "Unaffected" where the drum beats aren't the forefront of the song.  What I found interesting while reading through various reviews of the album was the close ties and comparisons that people were making between Hoobastank and Incubus.  Both within that purgatory area where 'they aren't heavy enough for some and too heavy for others'.  That limbo I find is what can separate them from the other bands coming out at the time.  You have the ability to cater to multiple genres, tour with all kind of various bands and still be able to make the music you love to do.



Hoobastank is still reducing teen angst (over love, escape, or a higher power) to digestible phrases, and writing sandpaper smooth rock symphonies around those couplets. So it's a formula, and one that remains unchanged from the debut. But Robb, Estrin, bassist Markku Lappalainen, and drummer Chris Hesse are a better band now -- endless touring will do that. "Same Direction" and "Just One" are standout anthems, raucous and righteous all at once. Lead single "Out of Control" lets Robb and Estrin shriek and shred with some reckless (yet still melodic and ready for radio) aggression. Meanwhile, the other, softer side of the band is represented best by "What Happened to Us?" and the drifting departure "Disappear," which both unfold as much more focused versions of Hoobastank's sometimes clunky attempts at nuance (think "To Be With You"). In the end, The Reason is really a better version of Hoobastank, written and played by more mature versions of Hoobastank. -All Music

Another interesting piece when reading interviews was the hype of downloading when this album was released.  I completely forgot that for however many albums they were selling at the time, there were thrice as many downloads for the album as well.  Designer magazine sat down with vocalist Doug Robb after the release of "The Reason" and wanted a personal opinion about the whole downloading craze.

Designer Magazine: So how do you feel about the download situation seeing as "The Reason" was downloaded about a trillion times.

Robb: Yeah, we got the report through. Hoobastank's "The Reason" is the most downloaded song of 2004. It's like great, buy the album. People are going to always download it cos it's free and it sucks. I have friends that download, but i'd feel bad if I was doing it. It hurts because record companies in the States will look over here to the UK and say you're not really selling that many albums, it's hard to grasp how many fans you have when people are just downloading music. Over in the States the local record shops are closing down and printed magazines are folding because fans have already downloaded the album before a review comes out - whichever way you look at it, it is hurting people.

The thing is we are an album's band, but every song we do we try and think of it as a single. Before there we all these one hit wonder bands where they had one huge song and the rest of the album sucked. I guess that's why the whole downloading thing is going so well because a label will sign a band on the basis of one song and the rest of it is just filler music. When I was younger I used to listen to tapes so you kinda had to listen to the whole album, when CDs came in you didn't even know track names - it's just track 1 or track 7 or whatever. 

You can read the whole interview here.

So in closing, the album is still available either physically or digitally.  If you like the album the buy it because it's one that will likely stop working from overplay (if you got a physical copy of course).  I still find myself coming back to this album even ten years later.  If after all this time it hasn't been overkill for moi, I highly doubt it ever will.  AFGM recommendations for "The Reason" are:

Same Direction | Out of Control | Just One | From The Heart