Hoobastank’s “The Reason” is back. Thanks a lot, TikTok.
One of the most polarizing songs in the history of alt-rock radio was “The Reason,” the horribly sappy 2003 track by Hoobastank. Despite being so cringey, the song was massive hit, spending 38 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching as high as number two.
As a program director, I hate it. The music director hated it. And every single on-air announcer marched into the office one after another asking why the hell they had to keep playing such a terrible song.
“Look, I get it,” I said. “But every time we do audience research, the song comes back with some of the highest scores we’ve ever seen. Lots of people out there really, really like it.” So we kept playing it for months before it finally died out.
Gawd, I even hated cutting and pasting that video.
Now, though, Hoobstank and “The Reason” are back–and it’s all TikTok’s fault.
If you look for #NotAPerfectPerson (the first line of the song is “I’m not a perfect person”), you’ll see that it has more than 515 million views. “The Reason” appears in no fewer than 73,000 videos. Listening to the song has increased 1,737%.
Hoobastank is quite enjoying this. They now have their own TikTok account, posted some stuff, and now have more than two million views and close to 100,000 followers.
@hoobastank ##notaperfectperson ##fyp ##thereason ##bandnames ##badbandnames ##radbandnames ##hoobastank ##chumbawamba ##jamiroquai
♬ The Reason – Hoobastank
Here are some examples of the resurrection of “The Reason.”
@norbertojaimes I miss you dad, I’ll try to come see you next year. ##dadtok ##mexico ##thereason @esmeraldajaimes2
♬ The Reason – Hoobastank
@sethmcfarland69 yup
♬ The Reason – Hoobastank
@justinyi_ im fine.
♬ The Reason – Hoobastank
@justme.rod Excel? Never heard of her ##work ##millennial ##workfromhome ##office ##workdistractions
♬ The Reason – Hoobastank
Damn. You probably hate “We Built This City” too.
Yep.
but it was built on rock n roll!
I feel validated by this article. I am literally the only person I know who hates this song, and boy, do I ever hate it. Thank you!