Hoobastank made their mark on the mainstream first with their self-titled debut in 2001. The band’s 2003 sophomore effort, however, propelled the California-based group to new heights.
As the band approaches the 20-year anniversary of their album, “The Reason,” the record’s title track continues to rack up accolades. The single has been certified four times platinum and has hit the No. 1 slot on numerous chart positions. The song also propelled the band’s catalog to more than four billion streams across digital platforms.
Recently, “The Reason” racked up another milestone when it surpassed a billion views on YouTube. The song also previously garnered a lot of attention and a new fanbase when it found a surge of popularity via TikTok.
Hoobastank lead singer Doug Robb told Variety that he was first made aware of the TikTok trend from guitar player Dan Estrin, as well as their management.
“It started just like, ‘Hey, you know, there’s this thing they’re doing on TikTok using ‘The Reason,’ and it was building and building to a point where it was like, ‘Yo, you’ve got like 300,000,000 people using your song for this thing; maybe you guys should chime in.’”
TikTok users used the song to embrace and publicly admit their imperfections or misunderstandings. Hoobastank did their own post poking fun at their name.
The video shows Robb looking at Hoobastank’s accolades, with the caption: “Realizing 20 years later that you named your band Hoobastank.”
“Immediately when I heard about it, the first idea that came to my head was the name,” Robb told Variety. “It’s weird. We as a band have never taken ourselves super seriously. The music, yes, but almost every other aspect, no. I thought it would be a perfect choice to clown on the name a little bit.”
