Sunday, July 29, 2012

Song Of The Week: 7/29/12






Song: "The First Of Me"

Artist: Hoobastank

Album: "Every Man For Himself"

Year: 2006



"The First Of Me" appears to be a song about not selling out. It's about staying true to who you are and staying true in your art. It's about not conforming to what other people want or expect of you, it's about creating something that you are proud of and something that you stand by, whether that something is profitable or not. Better to be the first of you than be the next someone else. Be original. Hoobastank formed as a band back in 1994. They are from California. As a young band, Hoobastank shared the stage often with fellow band Incubus, perhaps this is why the two bands are often sited as having a similar sound. In 1998, Hoobastank self-released the album "They Sure Don't Make Basketball Shorts Like They Used To". This album garnered the band interest from Island Records who would eventually sign them. Hoobastank's major label debut, 2001's "Hoobastank" would prove to be a very successful album, thanks to hit singles like "Crawling In The Dark" and "Running Away". This album would reach #25 on the Billboard 200 album chart as well as hitting #1 on the Billboard Heatseeker chart. In 2003, the band released "The Reason". The title track of this album would prove to be Hoobastank's most successful single, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. At this stage of their career, Hoobastank was big enough to be headliners on most of their tours. Success would elude the band rather abruptly however. Their 2006 album, "Every Man For Himself" was considered a failure for the band. None of the singles really charted at all and the band clearly found themselves at a crossroad. Though the band really focused on making their next album, 2009's "For(N)ever", their most creative to date, The downward trend would continue for the band. They went from "The Reason" going double platinum, to "Every Man From Himself" going gold, to "For(N)ever" not even achieving gold at this time. The band would have to continue on relying on it's die hard fan base, which still rally around the band whether at shows or supporting their music. In 2010, Hoobastank released an acoustic album entitled "Is This The Day". This album, oddly enough, was only released in Japan with no date given for release in the U.S. as of yet. Currently, the band has released a new single called "This Is Gonna Hurt" in May of 2012. This is to be the very first single off Hoobastank's new album entitled "Fight Or Flight" which is scheduled to be released in August of 2012.

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