Hoobastank is an American rock band, best known for their 2004 hit 'The Reason' and other hits 'Crawling in the Dark' and 'Running Away'. They formed in 1994 in Agoura Hills, California, with singer Doug Robb, guitarist Dan Estrin, drummer Chris Hesse, and original bassist Markku Lappalainen. They are signed to Island Records and have released four albums and one extended play to date. Their fourth album, For(N)ever, was released in January 2009. They have sold 10 million albums worldwide.

Hoobastank formed in the Los Angeles County suburb Agoura Hills in 1994. According to drummer Chris Hesse, vocalist Doug Robb had known guitarist Dan Estrin for some time before competing against him in a high school battle of the bands competition and subsequently, they decided to form a band. They then recruited Markku Lappalainen and Hesse to form Hoobastank, which at the time was spelled Hoobustank (pronounced the same way as "Hoobastank"). In an interview with Launch Yahoo!, Doug Robb said the name had no particular meaning: "You're going to ask me what it means. It doesn't mean anything. And it's really cool, it's one of those old high school inside-joke words that didn't really mean anything." However, on the December 16, 2003 broadcast of Loveline, Hoobastank, guests on that show, claimed Hoobastank was the name of a gas station in Germany near where a friend lives.

Hoobastank started playing gigs at the local venue Cobalt Cafe along with Incubus, 311 and others. They recorded their first full-length self-released album in 1998 called They Sure Don't Make Basketball Shorts Like They Used To. It featured an unusual saxophone section headed by Jeremy Wasser, who executive produced said album and recorded the Summer Romance saxophone solo on Incubus' S.C.I.E.N.C.E. album. By this stage, Hoobastank had developed a strong reputation in Southern California. This attracted interest from Island Records, who subsequently signed the band in 2000. At the time of signing, the band had completed a second full length album, titled "Forward", also featuring Jeremy Wasser, however Island execs felt that the direction they were heading in would work best without a sax, so Jeremy departed the band and the album was shelved. A few tracks were rerecorded for release on the bands 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.