The meaning of this band's name has really not been nailed down. The most plausible explanation I could come up with is that Hoobastank is a 'shortened' version of 'Who's butt stinks?' They used to spell it Hoobustank, but according to what I read, that spelling made for a lot of pronunciation errors. The band got so tired of the question that they started to make up answers (one of them said they saw it on the Discovery channel - imprinted on the side of the space shuttle) as to what it means. Whatever the origins, Hoobastank and their self titled (major label) release is a damned good album and worth the purchase.

Many people have said Hoobastank sounds pretty much like Incubus, but aside from the similarities between lead singers, it's hard for me to understand how anybody thinks they sound the same. Hoobastank (Lead Singer Douglas Robb, Guitarist Dan Estrin, Bassist Markku Lappalainen and Drummer Chris Hesse) has a sound of their own. All of the people making the comparison and claiming Hoobastank is an Incubus 'rip-off' are mostly Incubus fans who probably haven't heard more than one song. It's an excellent mixture of straight up rock and roll with a little dose of punk thrown in on a few songs ("Crawling In The Dark and "Too Little Too Late") The lyrics are deal mostly deal with heartache despite the up tempo sound of the tracks, but aren't so 'deep' that listeners cannot relate to some of what Robb sings about.

The best track on the album is clearly "Running Away." It's one of those rare songs where everything just comes together lyrically, musically and vocally, but the other tracks are very good as well. The one thing I did not like is when they tried to mix in these electronic beats. I suspect the producers thought this might make it sound more like other things being played these days, and that is how it comes off — as if they didn't want this crap in there but went along with it. Maybe after the success of this album, they'll have more creative control on their next disc.

My other problem (and this is not so much with Hoobastank as it is with so many good bands these days) is the total lack of a guitar solo. Dan Estrin is obviously a good guitarist, so why nix the solos? A few of their songs are under 3 minutes long so adding a solo would take on, what 10-15 seconds? Let's hear it!

Aside from those two minor flaws, this CD is one of those ones that just keeps spinning in my CD player. I just do not get tired of it. If you're a rock fan, you'll like Hoobastank, stupid band name notwithstanding.