Hoobastank formed in the Los Angeles 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 decided to form a band.  They then recruited Markku Lappalainen and Hesse to form Hoobastank, which at the time was spelled Hoobustank (though pronounced the same as Hoobastank).  The band came up with their name remembering how Doug had pronounced the name of a street by his brother’s house in Germany.  The street’s name was Hooba Street, and before Doug could pronounce the name, he called it Hoobastank.

Hoobastank started playing gigs in their local area, starting in Cobalt Café along with Linkin Park, Incubus, Avenged Sevenfold and others. 

They recorded their first full-length, self-released album in 1998, titled They Sure Don’t Make Basketball Shorts like They Used To.  They attracted the attention of Island Records, who signed them in 2000.  Their reputation continued to grow on tours with the similar sounding band, Incubus.

They released their self-titled debut album in November 2001.  The first single was “Crawling in the Dark”, which was a breakthrough hit for the band.  The second single was even more successful, entitled “Running Away”.  The Hoobastank album went Platinum thanks to these hits, however the album received many negative reviews including a 2.5 stars review by All Music Guide.  “Remember Me” was the third single released, and was a moderate hit.  The band also made a song titled “Losing My Grip” for the movie The Scorpion King, and in late 2001 Hoobastank was invited to pay in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame due to the success of the album.

Their second album, The Reason was released in December of 2003.  The single “Same Direction” was available for download on the band’s website, and was fairly successful.  The title track was released as a single in the first half of 2004.  It quickly became a big hit, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the US and World modern Rock charts, #1 on a World Airplay chart in May 2004 and #10 in Australia.  The song was also played during the final episode of the television show, Friends.  In Canada, it spent 20 weeks at the top, setting a new record for the most weeks at number one.

A year later, the Let It Out DVD collected the band’s videos.

Their third album, Every Man for Himself, was released in May 2006 and debuted at #12 on the Billboard chart.  So far the singles, “If I Were You”, “Inside of You” and “Born to Lead” have been released.  The album has been certified Gold in the United States.