Hoobastank is the second studio album and debut major-label album by American rock band Hoobastank, released on November 20, 2001, by Island Records. Three singles were released from the album: "Crawling in the Dark", "Running Away", and "Remember Me". The album went Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) due to these hit singles and reached No. 25 on the Billboard 200 album charts and No. 1 on the Billboard Heatseeker chart. recruiting bassist Markku Lappalainen and drummer Chris Hesse.
The band has provided several explanations for its name's origin, and it is unclear where it stems from. Claims include a mispronunciation of a German street, slang for someone who owns many sneakers, or a word the band came up with while "joking around".
Hoobastank started playing at Cobalt Cafe in Los Angeles with Incubus and Linkin Park. They recorded their first full-length, self-released album in 1998, They Sure Don't Make Basketball Shorts Like They Used To, which features a saxophone section headed by Jeremy Wasser, who recorded the "Summer Romance" saxophone solo on Incubus' S.C.I.E.N.C.E. and executive-produced the album.
By this stage, Hoobastank had developed a reputation in Southern California. This attracted interest from Island Records, who signed the band in 2000. At the time of signing, the group had completed a second full-length album, Forward, also featuring Wasser. However, they felt the direction they were heading would work best without a sax, so Wasser departed the group, and the album was shelved. A few tracks were rerecorded for Hoobastank's self-titled 2001 release. The original recordings from the Forward sessions made their way to the internet via peer-to-peer sites in late 2001.
Critical reception
The album's music and vocals have been compared to the band Incubus, who originated from the same suburban area of Southern California. In a December 2001 MTV interview, guitarist Dan Estrin commented, "we have a lot of people that bash us because they think we sound just like Incubus", adding that "a lot of people don't understand that we're all the same age, we grew up in the same neighborhood and we're influenced by the same bands. Both our singers were heavily influenced by Mike Patton from Faith No More."
Despite garnering heavy comparisons to Incubus, it was met with some positive reviews upon release, with AllMusic's Michael Gallucci awarding it four out of five stars.
In a 2002 review of an Incubus and Hoobastank concert, MTV's Leah Greenblatt labelled the sound of the two bands as "sensitive hunk rock [for] teenage girls", and described Hoobastank as having "crunchy, Faith No More-esque riffage." In his book The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Colin Larkin categorized the band's sound as "melodic metal", also comparing it to Incubus and Faith No More. A negative review came from Rolling Stones Steve Knopper in November 2001. He critiqued their lack of originality, commenting that "we've heard all Dan Estrin's big-metal guitar riffs before [and] singer Doug Robb has the moany high pitch that's going around metal these days."
Track listing
Personnel
;Hoobastank
- Doug Robb – lead vocals, rhythm guitar on “Too Little Too Late”
- Dan Estrin – lead guitar
- Markku Lappalainen – bass
- Chris Hesse – drums
;Production
- Jim Wirt – producer, engineer
- CJ Eiriksson, Dave Holdredge, Matt Marrin – assistant engineers
- Jay Baumgardner – mixing
- James Murray, Mark Kiczula – mixing assistants
;Artwork
- Louis Marino – art direction, design
- Ray Lego – photography
- Rick Patrick – creative director
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Weekly chart performance for Hoobastank
!scope="col"| Chart (2002)
!scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
!scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)
| 67
|-
!scope="row"| Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
| 84
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Year-end chart performance for Hoobastank
!scope="col"| Chart (2002)
!scope="col"| Position
|-
!scope="row"|Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
| 192
|-
!scope="row"|Canadian Alternative Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
| 62
|-
!scope="row"|Canadian Metal Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
| 32
|-
!scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 75
|}