Transcript
Speaker: lampmp ramp wa It's another trombonist episode. It's just Rob, Engineer Joey, and a pocket full of dreams as we question the historical significance of basketball shorts with the inscrutably named Hoobastank on Check Your Past, the SCODcast.
Speaker: They've got puns, can't be pros by none. It's cause the game come on everyone. It's not too long, neither is this song. Check it past, man, you can't wrong.
Speaker: It's such a bonus.
Speaker: What up Checkerheads? Welcome to Checkered Past the Scottcast with Slyn and Rob. The show where an Enki Long Beach short bus and a Faith No More Bad Town explore the history and impact of a different band each episode hope to bring in new fans along the way.
Speaker: I'm Rob this is my co-host with the most toast, Engineer Joey. Hello. Hey Joey. Those were EnkiBus and Faith No More. Yeah, so they're bands.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, rap rock bands. How feel about those bands? ah yeah I'm not a fan of either of them, to be honest. Incubus, like every now and then people are like, oh, you're the right age that that should be one of your favorites. And I'm like, no sir.
Speaker: And Faith No More. i mean, Faith No More does have a couple of bangers. I cannot deny that they do have a few bangers, but I'm generally not a fan.
Speaker: Hard not to be on the Mike Patton train a little bit. ah Yeah, i like I like a lot of his other work. um i like you He did Fantomas and such, right? That was him. And Mr. Bungle.
Speaker: Mr. Boongle. But yeah, like his really weird. like out there stuff and i i like a lot of mike patten stuff but finnamore is not one of them they all have right like that all those guys that are in that kind of like paul gilbert had mr big you know what i mean but paul gilbert yeah just shreds all the time like that's he's he's a way cooler guitar player than he is a hair metal guy right yeah for sure um And I don't know who else like that. Like Devin Townsend, you know, like he does cool stuff or Les Claypool.
Speaker: It's just like weird guys always have their coolest of guys. What you're saying? Only the coolest dudes who are all super weird guys.
Speaker: Maynard James Keenan. Every single one of these dudes is weird a bal a weird bald guy.
Speaker: Is that part of it? i don't know. wait Imagine sitting at a table with those guys. No thanks. Just having a convo. don't know. but Paul Gilbert seems pretty cool. I've watched quite few of his Instagram videos.
Speaker: Paul Gilbert's just a dork. He's just going to talk video games. He's going be fun. And he's fun to watch play guitar because he's like super natural and been doing so doing it for so long. he just The way he talks about it is really intriguing. It makes me laugh because he just kind of i love it doesn't give a fuck but that he's really good.
Speaker: i It is really funny, too, because like part of the reason why Paul Gilbert is such a good guitar player is because his hands are fucking enormous. And so if he can like stretch across like seven frets at once. And when you see him play, you're like, well, that's not humanly possible. So, of course, you're great at this. He's like a basketball player. Yeah. Like he's like ah like a human anomaly that is specifically put on this earth to do that one thing.
Speaker: Yeah, which is play Apregios really, really fast. yeah Yeah, exactly. Just shred. Just shred. All day. Sweet picking, right? Yeah, yeah. Sweet picking like it.
Speaker: um should i okay like this isn't a real pick it up but it's been a couple weeks and i know people are asking i know people are asking because i wasn't on last week's episode episode we did what you guys did witchy with mitchy i wish to go back and listen to it but that meant that there was no update on poop talk 2025 oh right i'm sure the people are asking what's going on in everyone's asking everyone's wondering what more poop Yeah.
Speaker: yeah And not BMs, DMs. Yeah. That I've been reading while taking BMs. So good news. We've heard not hide nor hair from our doctor.
Speaker: The butt situation is fine. There is no worms as far as we know. Mission accomplished. Now, mission that's right. I was on a frigate in the ocean, pointed at the banner.
Speaker: Made sure everyone knew. ah perfect
Speaker: But I was at the pool today. got the everyone out of the pool and wash with soap and water. i had that moment again today, which it's like, for Christ's sake, every time.
Speaker: shouldn't say every time. I go to the pool like every week, but at least once a year, you've got that moment. when you go If you're going to the pool that often. And like, yeah you know, the whole time, like, Will's like, what's going on? Oh, my God, what's going on? I was just like, God, someone pooped in the pool.
Speaker: So they got the pool skimmers. Can we go back in that pool? No, we're not going No. No, sorry, dude. And all I can think of and all I can think of is, my God, these life lifeguards are doing it. Of course they are, right? They don't have hired help to come in and do it.
Speaker: No, no. That is the most thankless fucking job ever. Like, being a lifeguard. That's the worst part of that job. I mean, like, there's like... Were you lifeguard because you were a diver? Did you do that gig? Hell no.
Speaker: God, no. Definitely not. I don't... i I'm old, so I went through... Oh my god, this is going to be weird and specifically Canadian, but ah swimming lessons were colors when I was a kid.
Speaker: too. And maroon was notoriously difficult. ah Most people kind of got marooned on maroon, and I was one of those, which did not stop me from diving, but i definitely... ah you You had to have like your level 2 or level 3 or something, which was probably four steps above a maroon to to become a lifeguard, and i never made past maroon, so...
Speaker: There it goes. This never happened. It's okay. You missed out on having the think most thankless job ever, right? Like, shout out to... If we got lifeguards listening, damn, you're doing the Lord's work. Like, serious.
Speaker: For sure. And they gotta be, like, ah fairly physically... Like, lifeguards have to be, like, in good physical condition to sit there and make sure your kids don't drown and then fish poop out of a pool.
Speaker: That just... Just think about that. That sucks. Just think about the work, the effort, years of training. Yeah, like they have to do like go to the gym regularly and you're going to the pool like for exercise for you and your kid and that person is going to the gym outside of work to then make sure you and your kid don't drown and then when your kid poops in the pool they got to clean it up.
Speaker: That's no good exactly right. and And the idea that I'm going there to exercise and I'm not there because Will has invented some inscrutable game that I have no idea what the rules are. And he has to explain how it relates to a YouTube video that he watched.
Speaker: That's what that's what going to the pool is like. OK.
Speaker: Yikes. And then the lifeguards have to deal with that. They're watching us. You know, they're watching. And yeah, making sure everyone else is not drowning. Follow the simple rules. And people are incapable of following the simple rules, such as don't run.
Speaker: Don't poop. Don't poop. Don't have diarrhea before you go. It's such a fair rule. Honestly, when you read and it's like, don't have diarrhea two weeks before swimming. Fair.
Speaker: Very fair. Yeah, you don't want there to be like a risk of that anywhere. Yeah, add add the, you know, freaking pink eye to everything else that can happen at a pool. I don't need that in my life.
Speaker: Yeah. Anyway, Poop Talk 2025. It's really important. and And really all we're doing is delaying Poop Talk 2025 because we're going to talk about a band that I don't think either of us are fan of.
Speaker: yeah Joey, why are we here? what What got us to this point? Four years into this ah podcast, almost 200 episodes. A meme, I guess. Memes?
Speaker: Memes kind of got us here, I would assume. ah The reason we're here is this band started as a ska band, is what I've heard.
Speaker: but That's not true. I have heard pre-breakout song by them that had horns on it. But the one that I heard, I would have had trouble saying that it was ska. I think it was more funk.
Speaker: Yeah. And so that's the only thing I knew about them is like this whole. And it was this was a legendary thing about this band going back to when they started. So we're talking about Hoobastank. We're talking about Hoobastank. Hoobastank. When they broke when they broke out, not Hoobastank. We're not a perfect podcast.
Speaker: We're there's going to be a lot of those. Man, it's. It's out of control. It's out of control. That's what saying. When they first were like huge in like the early aughts, they're like, oh man, did you know that they had like saxophones and were like a ska band?
Speaker: And you're like, yeah, bullshit. Like, no, like that's, that's gotta be this made up thing that people just said. Right. Yeah, um like it like an internet rumor, right? ah and Absolutely. And the amount of research you can only go far so far as to whatever was peer shared, right?
Speaker: You didn't have like unlimited music access like we do today. like you and And that was just not available. like You weren't able to just download it unless someone had it on LimeWire or whatever.
Speaker: And that wasn't really the case. And who's going out to find it? Really nobody, right? like Not at that time. No. And I think so just, again, internet rumors from the late 90s, early 2000s gets just passed down generation to generation, starts with us millennials, gets passed to Gen Z, and and now this is where we're at, where everyone still is like, to this day, ah did you know who this day used to be?
Speaker: Did you Huba Stank used to be a ska band? And you're like, okay. So you know what? We're nothing if not a historical podcast. We're here to the see. Is indeed Huba Stank a ska band? We did it with Billy Talent. this is We're just doing this again.
Speaker: We're doing this again, just curbing rumors about whether or not an alternative rock radio band was indeed ska band before they broke out. so You know that is, dear listen listener?
Speaker: That's called a format. That's called the content format. It's content format. That's right. Now like you're like, oh how do you keep coming up with bands? And I'm like, you know what? I got a new thing now.
Speaker: Dog. and We got primers. We got, what were they actually a ska band? We got shit. We're making it happen. Yeah, we got formats. We got formats.
Speaker: We got formats for days.
Speaker: Okay, so I'm going to start with this song because I gotta. So there's probably a couple listeners that are just like, who bestank? Which one's that one? Like, you know, they're a band that was popular. Regardless of the jokes I've made so far.
Speaker: Right. And you're just like, which what was their big song? I don't even remember. You kind of remember? Because we're going to play it. And this is yeah the reason.
Speaker: That you would know the band.
Speaker: And the title this song.
Speaker: I gotta look up, uh, cause I gotta tune this song out a little bit, but I gotta look up how many streams this bad boy's got. I gotta tune this song out a little bit.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah this truly takes me back to, like right at the end of high school, maybe, somewhere in around there. Yeah. Maybe, like, just after I had moved out on my own.
Speaker: Isn't he just walking down a street in slow motion in the video? Pretty much. No, that's Boulevard Broken Dreams. Bro. I mean, I feel like there's a lot of those now. At this point, there's got to be a lot of music videos where it's just someone walking down the street in slow-mo.
Speaker: Oh, man.
Speaker: This is really, uh...
Speaker: This is real bummer.
Speaker: That we're listening to this, to be honest. I'm calling it. And i hope Hoobastank is listening. three Oh, i yeah. it's it's going to I hope they're listening for me to say this. This is the worst fucking song we've played the podcast.
Speaker: Yeah, hands down. Full down. And I just, yeah, and i I guess there's got to be fans out there, and I'm sure you are, and i'm ah you know God bless you. God bless you for being a fan of this band.
Speaker: I guess on paper, it's in offense of modern rock, right? Whatever. You can like It can be guilty pleasure. It could be a ah like a full pleasure. I hope your favorite song is just not the hit song.
Speaker: That's all. There's got like, I mean, maybe there's a better deep cut. I got it. I got to ask Joey. I just looked it up. What do you think is the streams on that, on that motherfucker? Oh my God. It has to be so high. um what What do we, what do we top out at? Like what was the weekend? 2 billion ish. Something like that.
Speaker: Yeah. 2, 3 billion. um I'm going to go with like 700 million. Fuck. It cracked a bill. 1.1 billion. Yeah.
Speaker: Wow. So it had a tick tock moment a few years back too. Right. So it also had this like little blow up. And I think that maybe has something to do with it. The next closest song is 160 million.
Speaker: It is 10 times as popular as their next song That's like, I would never blame them for riding that shit until they die. I wouldn't blame them. like Oh yeah. No, that is that that's paying the rent until you're done. Absolutely. That is a one, that is one hit wonder for sure.
Speaker: Like, yeah, totally. And, uh, but yeah, man at that. And so this was off their third record. That song came out. So they were around for a minute before they broke out. And that wasn't even a song that they wanted that they wanted to put forth as a single because it's,
Speaker: the ballad on the record. right And I think they wanted to be seen as like a hard rock band. right yeah And so, but at that time, all the big hits, like i just said, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, that was a that was a smash hit.
Speaker: And that one, lot of those songs with Josie Scott from the daredevil or the Spider-Man movie. Spider-Man song. Yeah. The hero song. Yeah. yeah Yeah. Yeah. That was like ah that was a huge song in around this time.
Speaker: Yeah. There was a hot minute where every like big rock song was like a ballad. Hey. Yeah. And like, it was always from but like Stained had that one song. Like they all had like, it was like a song that was nothing like them.
Speaker: Like, Butterfly, I guess, is like and like the ultimate example of that, right? I love that song. What a crazy idea. Like, who's going into the studio that's just like, hey, what if we just rapped over a deep-cut Red Hot Chili Peppers song?
Speaker: Shifty Shellshock. That's who. sure Shifty Shellshock, that's the dude's name. I think I forgot that.
Speaker: That's actually sick name. yeah
Speaker: but That's a new medalist name ever. Fuck, man. Oh, yeah. So much. and like He's like kind of had like a like an arc the way Canada's Mad Child had where he's like sort of on the outskirts of all the music, but he's still doing his thing and then also likes drugs a lot.
Speaker: So they're both kind of having parallel. Yeah. All right. Peace. Spider one. Spider zombie. Call him by his name.
Speaker: Spider one. I just air quoted people. You can't really see it Spider one zombie. Excuse me. All right. My full name is spider one zombie.
Speaker: All right. You can tell that Joey and I had had new metal phases at some point because we know all these people. Oh, yeah, definitely. like Let's. ah All right.
Speaker: Let's get into it. we're What we're going to do today is ah we're going to listen front to back to 10 tracks that make up. ah Man, I got to get the title of this album right. ah They don't quite make basketball shorts the way they used to.
Speaker: so they sure don't make basketball shorts the way they used to. That's the name of the record. And so it's got 10 tracks. This is Hoobastank self-released 1998. ninety ninety eight We're going to listen to it one to 10.
Speaker: We're going to figure out if there's any ska on this bad boy. I'm going to just spoiler alert. There might be. Might be more Ska on this than Pez had. We'll find out. Really? Okay. Might be.
Speaker: Might be. And then I'm going to just play some Hoobastank for a few more tracks after that because we've got to see the arc. The arc is always important, in my opinion. I've been doing this for a while. that it like We get to listen to the Is It Ska and then we get to listen to the next iteration of the band because that trajectory is a lot of fun.
Speaker: So let's kick it off. First real track track off of basketball shorts. This is Earth Sick by Hoobastank. That is the name of the band, folks. Hoobastank. Get over it, did.
Speaker: Get over it, I did.
Speaker: Just wearing the palms down on that one.
Speaker: This sounds like the rockier parts of like the early sugary stuff. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Fun though.
Speaker: so like a weird electric piano thing is a weird sound fun though
Speaker: Yeah, it's pretty, uh, funk rock.
Speaker: Pretty 90s funk rock. Right.
Speaker: Yeah. It was pretty funky. It was pretty funky. You know what? and So, to their credit, what they were trying to do is beat Faith No More, right? That was what they were trying to go for.
Speaker: Yeah. In the mid-90s, they were contemporaries with Incubus. I think they said that they were ah in the same town together, maybe even lived on the same street. so They certainly sound like it.
Speaker: Yeah, there's no accident. Influencing one another, that's for sure. So Hoopestang's big like gimmick was that they had two saxophones.
Speaker: That was their thing that they had. And so that's, I think, what makes, I guess, this record. I think that's also why people just kind of paint the ska brush pretty wild on them is also that they had two horns in there.
Speaker: Honestly, not make it does sound. They had section. Yeah. Yeah, it sounds cool. it You know what? It was different enough. like no like I don't know many funk rock bands that had horns in them, like unless they were like guested.
Speaker: Even Red Hot Chili Peppers didn't do it, and they were fans Fishbone. They it. right and like yeah it still didn't do it Do you think they ah just knew people with horns when they were starting the band?
Speaker: Or do you think they went out to get two sax players? They knew them because they were they were like founding members. like one of the guyss was the One of the saxophone players wrote all the sax parts.
Speaker: And he was like an official member of the band. Yeah. Oh, okay. So then so it was it was like part of the band right from the beginning. That's cool. It was by design, yeah. So so they were you know Southern California guys.
Speaker: had horns like Horns were everywhere, obviously, because Ska and Swing were big. And it's 98. It all makes sense. People be horned. Where they existed would have funk, would have horns.
Speaker: All right. Let's move on to the next song. This song is called Put in your mouth.
Speaker: it's getting a little weird yazzy.
Speaker: Now it's getting kind skyy. Little bit. Or third wavy.
Speaker: And then like a I Mother Earth thing.
Speaker: definitely weren't so far away from being like pop band. You know what I mean? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Like, for all the weird stuff that they were doing with, like, the horns and the funk and whatnot, like, they still, like, especially from a hook perspective, like, these were some pretty big, fat hooks. You know what I mean? Yeah, it sounds, well, I mean, from these two songs, it sounds to me like they started from, like, pop rock band.
Speaker: kind of ah point of view and then made it weird as opposed to weird music with poppy parts. You know what I mean? Like it was intentionally poppy to begin with and then they made it weird afterwards.
Speaker: Yeah, and I think they ah you you get the impression that they like it stars in their eyes. They had in they wanted to be. Yeah, it was conscious for conscious. Yeah. Yeah. um All right. Let's move on to the next track. This is Karma Patrol.
Speaker: That's what they have the United States instead of the Karma Police. They're like, right Right?
Speaker: This is pretty sick. give Like, Skakor Breakdown intro thing?
Speaker: Some of the sax stuff does sound good. This song so far is pretty rad. There's some ska. I did it.
Speaker: Yeah, this song's tight. It's like a ska core song. You'll get what you deserve and there's some scar yeah did tight like a scott horse
Speaker: Their bass player is quite good. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Holding it down. He plays a lot of chords and stuff, too. It's pretty cool. Probably playing in a five string.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, that song is sick. They did it. They did the ska. but There's a purpose to this episode. We can call it. Checkbox. Yeah, we we're good. We got at least one ska song.
Speaker: Now, were they a ska band? No, i guess we'll find out.
Speaker: That would be, I don't think even they would say that. um But they knew there's, that was a ska song full blown. And it was yeah for sure quite good. It's quite good. Like for, for what it like, I'm surprised considering that like three songs ago, I said, this is the worst song we've ever played on the podcast.
Speaker: yeah Like, Hey man. And you weren't lying. He did it.
Speaker: we can We can really give you everything in one episode. Yeah, in the first 20 minutes of the episode. We'll move on to the next one. This song is called Stuck Without a Voice.
Speaker: It's pretty ripper intro. It's
Speaker: pretty sweet, too.
Speaker: The jazzy stuff is kind of cool, hey? Yeah. and I think the horns are awesome. like They sound really good. Yeah, totally. Totally.
Speaker: Honestly the worst part of the vocals for me.
Speaker: That's the thing that hasn't changed much throughout their career. The way he sings hasn't really altered too much. guess he doesn't do as many
Speaker: I'm kind of the same with Incubus. I don't really like that guy as a vocalist either. and And it's because of the same qualities. You know what mean?
Speaker: Just like kind of almost Broadway-ish. Yeah. That whole like sing to the rafters type of thing. Doug Robb is the name of the singer. Doug Robb.
Speaker: I did not. I wouldn't have guessed he was a Doug. He's got two first names. Yeah. Doug Robb. And one of them's yours. Yeah. He yeah ah so so the name of the band who was tank like it it is actually we have to get there eventually. Right.
Speaker: It's like made up like it's just made of bullshit. Like they have all these different like fan theories and like they don't ever acknowledge where it came from. They like said, oh, it's slang for a guy that has a bunch of shoes or something.
Speaker: Or it's like a mispronunciation of a German word or something. Like they just have all these like dumb reasons. yeah But what's really funny is that on this album, on basketball shorts, it's spelled H-O-O-B-U-S-T-A-N-K.
Speaker: and i saw that on the folder. And when they signed to the major label, they changed that U to an a Because that was the problem. That was the problem with the name, to be honest.
Speaker: I was like, who boo stank? Who boo stank? butla state ah now you got a now you got a billion streamer there good i got an idea we changed the u2 today we give them a ballad send them out into the world jim you're genius vice president now all right let's move on to the next track can i buy you a drink Sequel to Can I Borrow a Feeling?
Speaker: jazz funk type of thing.
Speaker: I don't mind the guitarist's like more like meaty meat-head-y riffs, like the more like breakdown stuff. I don't love the way he does like funk dance. They're not my favorite. i don't know what it is about it.
Speaker: I Yeah.
Speaker: It's like it's missing something. It's just not quite funky enough, you know? Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I don't even know what it is, but there is definitely something that isn't doing it for me either.
Speaker: But yeah, and the heavier parts, I'm into it.
Speaker: think it's the tone too. The tone sounds a little like jangly. Yeah. It's
Speaker: kind of fun. It's not bad. i don't might i don't hate this song. Yeah, this one's alright.
Speaker: I mean, I like just like straight up like funk stuff like this. It's fun. Yeah.
Speaker: And he's not going crazy with his voice on this one, so it kind of keeps a little more grounded. Yeah. Feels more like an actual song. Yeah. is that I don't know if it's like, maybe, like, maybe it's a little a little reductive to say, like,
Speaker: Because they they got famous off of a ballad that the lead singer kind of became the sort of face of it. He's like a pretty boy. you know what I mean? Like, even though we don't know his name, it just became this thing where i'm like, is this like a ah singer band? You know what i mean?
Speaker: don't know. Yeah, yeah. I do. I don't know if their music gets all that more complicated as they age up. You know what I mean? Right. Right. like ah I mean, i but I assume it loses the ska.
Speaker: Maybe. did you hear all the saxophones on The Reason? I heard a lot of piano on The Reason.
Speaker: You heard like ding, ding, ding, ding. ding d Yeah, that was a lot.
Speaker: All right, this next song called Naked Jock Man. Okay. Okay.
Speaker: This is very Faith No More-y. Yeah, definitely. This is real Mike Patton.
Speaker: Now it's like a Saturday morning cartoon show song. This is very freaky style-y Red Hot Chili Peppers. Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah. Like, I think that's what they're going for. Even the song title kind of sounds like that. Yeah.
Speaker: This is really dumb.
Speaker: You know where this song would would kill? Where? Fucking live. Yeah. Yeah. People would be loving this song. Like if they were just like some indie funk metal band in Southern California, this song probably crushed. You're absolutely correct. Yeah.
Speaker: So I got to put it on the album because they're like, you know what? I mean, right? its i mean It's not the worst. It's really catchy. It's pretty catchy.
Speaker: It's stupid, but it's catchy. They're pretty stupid. like like This is like dumb music for dumb people. like it's I i feel like that's cruel because they're clearly decent musicians. Yeah, and there is some jazzy stuff in there, but it's not like smart guy jazz.
Speaker: No, they're clearly trying to get people sweaty. You know what I mean? This is like rock star shit. trying let's like let's Let's get wasted and get laid tonight. All right, let's move on to our song, track seven.
Speaker: Okay. Is it the folk punk primer? Yeah, right? Yeah, this is like prog rock shit.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: The horns are sick. Like, the horns really add. What a different world it would be if they kept the horns you know what mean? Yeah. Like, it's just such an interesting texture to this kind of music.
Speaker: Totally.
Speaker: I mean, it's really just the middle of the road.
Speaker: This one. This is the song where I'm just like, this is probably what got them the record deal. Yeah, to be honest This is probably the one where it would they people are like, they can probably write right Yeah, yeah you're you're not wrong, which is sad because it's the one I'm like, well, snooze time.
Speaker: but but But snooze time is what sells records. People love snooze time. People love snooze time. More people love snooze time than like funk time or ska time.
Speaker: All right, let's listen to one more before we take a break. This is The Mirror. Not the one in the bathroom. No.
Speaker: Alright.
Speaker: bobbing. Yeah, they got some bop going. Kind of reminds me of Skindred. but Yeah? Without the, like, Rostia stuff, you know?
Speaker: Is it shame? Is it greed? Is something that I need? To make me feel so strong?
Speaker: Yeah, this is something. Yeah, I don't really like when it gets all theatrical.
Speaker: Yeah, I get angry. There you go. A little bit of layered vocaling.
Speaker: Oh yeah, I forgot. That was the other band that they were contemporaries with. They were contemporaries with Linkin Park. Okay, yeah, I can see that too. Especially in, like, the vocals.
Speaker: Another band that I've never liked probably because of the vocals. Yeah, that was weird. It was kind of weird.
Speaker: Yeah, we're getting into the back half of this. His record. Yeah, like they put they played the hit and now they're getting a little weird again. That was all right, though. Like the that that kind of chorus-y part, like that was a pretty decent hook. I mean, if that song goes on for another two or three minutes and they play that hook another couple more times, I could be into it.
Speaker: mean These are all four five minute songs. easy Yeah. Yeah. I was going to, I would have guessed that there are very few of them under three and a half for sure. Yeah. They like to jam. looks a jam out.
Speaker: um yeah All right. Let's take a break. and people were filling up those entire CDs at the time. So yeah, absolutely. So we're going to take a break.
Speaker: And when we get back and I can't believe I have to say this, we're going to talk about more Hoobastick. Woo.
Speaker: Welcome back to Checkered Past. Engineer Joey and Robin were talking about Hoobastank. And we're still got couple tracks left on the basketball shorts one. Let's go to track nine. This is Educated Fool.
Speaker: Whoa. Okay. Take it easy, slide the family stone. Ha ha
Speaker: Alright, I'm into this.
Speaker: Oh, hell yeah. Fuck yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, this fucks. This is sick. Like, you're like, oh, this is a pretty talented band, and then this song comes and you're like oh shit, they're holding back? Yeah.
Speaker: The only thing this is missing is like ah ah like a percussionist doing like congas and shit on it. Yeah. A little like electric organ. Yeah. But it's pretty good.
Speaker: It's just like singing about not liking to go to college or something.
Speaker: We haven't talked about the lyrics, but yeah. It's that type of thing? Yeah, they're very like, not much of anything. Like, it's kind of like a lot of nothing going on.
Speaker: This is that little horn thing we just went through is pretty radical. That song was sick. That song is tight as hell. I loved it. I remember like when I was listening back, I was like, what? What?
Speaker: They just get this funky? Like, holy shit. Add the SkaCore song and add that song to your playlist. Yeah, yeah. there's ah there's a couple There's a couple takeaways. Totally. For real.
Speaker: And we're going to finish it all with a, with a you know what? Great song title. This next one, great song title. This is called, this is and this is the final track, The Dance That Broke My Jaw.
Speaker: That is good song title.
Speaker: That's some fun horn work. Yeah. They're giving her. Yeah. Oh, and they're closing it out with a ska song.
Speaker: Yeah. Like a full-on ska punk song.
Speaker: They're like, you know what? We're even going to do real big fish harmony. And it's a song about mosh pits. Sweet.
Speaker: Oh right, the dance that broke my jaw. That makes sense. Slam dancing. Yeah. Even Real Big Fish had a song about slam dancing.
Speaker: Yeah. mean, that's
Speaker: this album that's right two out of ten possibly more than melan colen had Yeah, totally.
Speaker: We need a ska core band to just cover the two ska songs. Like a modern ska. We need power-up to just do an EP where it's just the two ska core songs from the Who Was Stank album. Oh, I love it.
Speaker: but I got it. So that's the whole, that's the basketball shorts. That's the basketball shorts. That's the basketball shorts. Like, that's the thing that... it The weirdest takeaway from this is that it's actually pretty darn fucking good.
Speaker: Yeah, there was like two songs on there that I was like ah kind of a hard no on, and the rest I was at least like, oh, this is interesting, or they're doing something fun. It's listenable. Yeah. Like, I can't say that about Dat Dat Uh-Oh, or whatever fucking else we were listening to. absolutely cannot say that about Dat Dat Uh-Oh.
Speaker: You know what? just... Like we've listened to shittier debut records by bands that would go on to be like super popular. You know what I mean? And this, honestly, they did the thing.
Speaker: And it's a pretty good thing. And it was, it's unique. It's weird. It's got the funk. It's got the ska. It's got the breakdowns. And you know, it's got vocals that we don't care about. It's got lyrics that mean nothing. It's yeah. And really they did 10 songs and they did two that were kind of radio-y.
Speaker: They did two ska songs, they did two straight funk songs, and then they did two like weirdo, whacked out weird songs. like That's like a pretty good spread. to like It makes it so not one of the songs is standing by itself.
Speaker: Yeah. And it, but it still is cohesive kind of. Yeah. Like good album. Yeah. Really? And a surprise, an honest broad surprise.
Speaker: Like it works for what it is. Like, and if you're curious ah listener, you could do worse with your 40 minutes. Give it a whirl. Probably enjoy it. Yeah. like Like there might be a couple skippers for you, but honestly, that's that not too bad.
Speaker: And that brings us to the next part of this show, where let's figure out what Hoobastank did after that. They didn't just do the reason. They did a whole bunch of shit. What year was that? What year did that happen? So that was 98.
Speaker: So Basketball Shorts was 98. Then they got the record deal. We got to be post-2000 with this next record. 2001. You betcha. 2001 is when the day the debut ah major label record, the self-titled record,
Speaker: And they fired the sax guy and said, this doesn't work for what we're going for. hoo hosting Right. And we're who boss tank. And he's like, or he's like, you know what?
Speaker: I'm taking that you with me. Yeah, they were like, fuck, we only have four other vowels to choose from. Damn it. You took the best one. Who be stank doesn't work.
Speaker: Who be stank, imagine. I mean, whatever. Who cares? It's a stupid word, but made up word, no matter what you do, right? Can you imagine putting Y in there? Just a bunch of side guys putting Y in there.
Speaker: uh it's like who be halloween right is that what the movie is called i don't who be how you think it is like that low budget alex adam sandler movie that made whole shitload of money yes
Speaker: the movie that convinced him that he'll never do an uncut gems again basically yeah um But yeah, so this is it. They're a four piece and they're going to be on the radio. And so this is the song that they decided to release 2001 as the the first single and broke out.
Speaker: And this is Crawling in the Dark. york I may have heard this one. That title seems familiar. Guaranteed you heard this one.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Now they've totally moved into like alien ant farm land. Chevelle? Yeah, for sure. Bands like that? Oh yeah. And I had a guy I used to work with at Sunshine Video in St. Paul. That that was like his favorite kind of music.
Speaker: Like alt metal, I guess you want to call it? Proto butt rock? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, it's a pop rock song. got a slow part. It's got a poppy fast part. It's catchy.
Speaker: Honestly, i don't hate that song. Like, I actually kind of like it. And I think because there's something like just everything about it is like boom, boom. You know what I mean? Like it kind of just does the thing it does.
Speaker: Yeah, it's a pretty straightforward pop rock song, man. like ah Like a finger 11, you know? Yeah, totally. I hear there's like finger 11 songs that come on sometimes. I'm like, this song's good.
Speaker: Starseed comes on, you know, like that song. I'm like, ah I like the song. Yeah. like I like the song. don't love Our Lady Peace. Hold on a second though. Here's a ah quick side note. So I'm going to school right now. And currently um one of the ah people I'm going to school with was like, Oh, Our Lady Peace. And he was like buying Our Lady Peace tickets.
Speaker: How much money would you pay to go see Our Lady Peace? Ten bucks. He was happy to pay $140 per ticket to see Our Lady Peace.
Speaker: No. In this year of our lord, 2025. For for Our Lady Peace. But they're one of those bands, like, so this is CanCon moment.
Speaker: ah Yeah, it's a heavy CanCon moment. and Like, okay, so ah more CanCon too. Like, this is all tied together. But who bestank, like, the reason? ah Like, that record? Yeah.
Speaker: It did better in Canada than it did in the US. It was the number one album in Canada. Wow. We love Hoobastate. We love Proto-Buttrock.
Speaker: We love Buttrock. We made Nickelback. We made Default. We made... All those bands. All of those bands. Yeah. We're where it comes from, man.
Speaker: But yeah, it's just like, it's just a different time, you know? Like, and so I guess I don't have like an aversion to the, you know, like, Hey, there's a riff. That's kind of catchy. Hey, there's some lyrics that are kind of catchy. It's like, yeah, it's fine.
Speaker: I'm not going to listen to it, but if it goes on in the grocery store, i'm like, all right. I'll bob my head. I'll bob my head. Absolutely. For sure. Nothing wrong with not caring enough to dislike music.
Speaker: Not caring enough to dislike it is exactly how I feel about Hoobastank's self-titled record, yeah which I have heard more than a few times because somebody I went to work with loved it.
Speaker: Yeah. just You're just like, you know what? i I don't have the energy to really dislike this. I wouldn't put it on, but whatever. Yeah. But they do change their style to some degree going into their next record, yeah which is called The Reason. And this is 2003, I believe.
Speaker: And we already played that fucking song. But this is the up this was actually the first single, this next record. Or this next that we're going to The record company, sorry, I'm not going to say they, but at this point had to be the record company, did not lead with The Reason on an album titled The Reason with the track The Reason on it.
Speaker: That's crazy. They led with a song called Out of Control because the hit from the previous record was as a fast, upbeat rock song. So let's do it again. And so this is Out of Control.
Speaker: don't worry. Your favorite band, Hoop Astank, is still a rocking band. Don't worry. Yeah. But the Incubus brush was being painted on them big time. Like, their whole career.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Which they were salty about. I mean, on this song, he's less Incubus-y. Yes. Like, they're still kind of doing a similar thing, but in that previous record, he sounded like the Incubus guy a lot of the time. Yeah. You know?
Speaker: Or on the first record, not on the previous one. but see you we're once We've dived out of that I don't care enough to hate it to I care enough to hate it. Now I care enough. now yeah like Now we're just doing dance rock and I'm like, I'm out. I'm sorry. This is just not going to do it for me.
Speaker: yeah like I agree. i need I need a little bit i mean need a little bit more. you said in Crawling in the Dark, I need a little bit more. Dance rock is very funny to me.
Speaker: Now we're just doing dance rock. And i think that I think that's just the thing. is like at They're very calculated in terms of trying to appeal to the mass market. like And whether or not that was them, whether or not that was studio influence, whatever. They had big producers.
Speaker: I'm going to say like... the word sellout is thrown around and is has many different contextual meanings. But this band definitely seems like a band that was doing their thing, and then they got signed, and then they were...
Speaker: doing business things. You know what I mean? like it Like they started doing their own thing, but when they got signed to a major, it very much seems like they started making decisions to sell records.
Speaker: Which I mean... It became very transactional. Yeah. Yeah. honest like And they did. if that's Yeah, they sold records. And like like you said before, they're... They're paying their rent with the the reason. So it is what it is. Yeah. good I didn't write a fucking 1.1 billion stream song.
Speaker: Right. yeah i'm not a afraid I'm not a third a weekend. but Like seriously.
Speaker: Yeah. but And they are. They are. they got and then they had a resurgence, the big TikTok song, too. like I didn't andt do any of this. and i admit there i'm not to not going to pick anything I'm not going to listen to that fucking song because i hate it. but but think I'll be doing all those nostalgia festivals and all that bullshit, too. like So they're, you know, got to be doing it.
Speaker: Yeah, 100%. All right, let's get past the reason. And we'll go to the next record that they released, which is called Every Man for Himself. And it was released. I got to get this.
Speaker: Oh, I should have had this ready. I'm just like the years are important. I feel like when we're talking about it. 2006. So three years after the reason, yeah um which is pretty par for the course. And this is the lead off single called Inside of You.
Speaker: e That's a yucky. Yeah. yeah only
Speaker: This is Could be fun if what came after didn't suck. But it sucks.
Speaker: 2006? Now just trying to Franz Ferdinand? Is that what they're doing?
Speaker: This is like exactly like Paralyzer by Finger Eleven. It's like exactly the same type of song. That song's good, is what you just said? Yeah.
Speaker: No, I don't like Paralyzer. The one before that was better. can't remember what that song, the album was called. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker: Yeah, this is a good song. It's real bad that I'm not into this. I love the way you move when I'm inside of you, I'm inside of you. What the fuck?
Speaker: Dude, they put that on the radio. Wow. No, thank you. Pretty poor lyrics. um like I like, kind of want to press charges just having but having them put that in public and having had me listen to it. Like, I feel assaulted a little bit. and Yeah, that's rough, man. Hey, like 2006 pretty...
Speaker: but I mean, i that feels right, actually. feels Yeah, I mean, yeah, in the radio yeah that's true. But still, yuck. man Not a no good. But I mean, this record obviously bombed in comparison to the one before.
Speaker: Not even anywhere close. um Like, did it even chart? I don't think so. The one after it did. So this next record was in 2009. It's called For Never.
Speaker: terrible title like like forever but with but then it was never in it yeah and uh it got to 26 the billboard 200 i think they were able to actually crack a couple songs off of uh as some singles so this is one of them it's called i don't think i love you ouch that's a man brutal
Speaker: Yeah, I don't even know what's going on here.
Speaker: Wow. Wow, wow, wow. Uh... Yeah, this isn't good. It's pretty like... like... like a nothing, you know what I mean? It's so close to country rock.
Speaker: Yeah, little bit. We're almost there. Like, it's it's gone so pop rock that it's almost like kind of like pop rock country. Like, we're almost in that nexus of uncanny valley of radio rock where you don't really know even what genre it's pulling from anymore.
Speaker: This also has the stink of like like generic emo bands a little bit to... Where they would just get a rando single on the radio. You know what I mean? like Yeah, yeah, totally.
Speaker: It feels a few years too late for that even, but that's kind of what it was reminding me of. Yeah, real like ah like he's still rocking a swoop and maybe like a bleached chunk like yeah quite a few years after it's cool.
Speaker: um Big bug eye sunglasses. A few years after it's cool as well. he He definitely is rocking a soul patch on the album cover. um So, yeah, there's there's a look going on there. Probably could left that in 03, but okay, yeah.
Speaker: All right, they continue the three-year trajectory because the next record is 2012 and it's called Fight or Flight and the song I pulled off of it is called This Is Gonna Hurt.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Well, they got some tone. They got some chuggies.
Speaker: But is it like Nickelback chuggies or is it like good chuggies? You know? Yeah, you tell me.
Speaker: I think they've fully transported from proto-butt rock to just butt rock. Just the butt. Just full butt. Yeah.
Speaker: Like this feels very Affliction t-shirt. Uh-huh. Yeah, this is 100% Wallet Chain Affliction t-shirt. Yeah. ah Those really light jeans that are pre-ripped when you buy them and have all that embroidery on the back pockets.
Speaker: Even his vocal delivery sounds weird. so It's so nu metal. Like... Yeah. Post-nu metal? Whatever. Yeah, I don't know. i have i think I have heard this song.
Speaker: this What year is this one? 2012. This might still be like in the odd rotation on like a like a rock radio station in around edmonton i might have heard that one a few times in 2012 that's when our all our rock station was at the peak of its powers i would say like yeah it would just be playing everything right so yeah and that would definitely be a band on there for sure yeah all right let's close it up and i think i've hit my limit on how much hoobastank i can talk about
Speaker: this This was 2016. Sorry, This took a little bit longer for a break. It took little bit longer with this one. Decided to really think about it.
Speaker: The record's called Push Pull. the song is Don't Look Away. Don't... Don't... Don't you do it. Don't look away till we've played The Reason. Because it's going be our last song for sure.
Speaker: First and last. Yeah. Open and close.
Speaker: little falsetto oohs and
Speaker: Alright. This isn't the worst, actually. and but I'm ah more okay with this than the more butt-rocky ones.
Speaker: Honestly. there to see So this one is them going down the Maroon 5 territory. For sure. Absolutely. Absolutely. Blue-Eyed Soul.
Speaker: it definitely doesn't sound like a rock band anymore. it's just pop. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Produced. it's It's fully produced as opposed to written as a band, it feels like. Don't act like you don't do the same.
Speaker: This one's like not the worst, kinda got like a Nine Inch Nails-y sort of thing going on too, sorta. Like a With Teeth kinda era a Nine Inch Nails kinda vibe almost.
Speaker: Maybe just a lucky pull from that record, but that one's all right. Well, no, apparently the whole record sounds a bit like that. It's like more of a okay funk rock, pop rock, blue eyed soul kind of situation. So, yeah, I haven't gone in and listened to it, but it does feel like a big 180 twist. But can you guess what i I mean? This is going to probably surprise and a guess is probably not going to work. But like what label do you think put that out? They're not on a major anymore.
Speaker: Oh my goodness. ah Well, I'm going to go with the tried and true dancer around this show. Spine Farm. So fucking close. Goddamn Napalm.
Speaker: oh What? Yeah. Napalm Records put out the latest Hoobastank record. newton Yeah. That means that Ruskaya were label mates with... Whoa. also um Edmonton Striker could have been going on tour with Hoobastank.
Speaker: That's wild. Also wild that I got that close. That's actually i like, I'm glad you picked European metal label. I was like, oh shit. Spine Farm has been the answer so many times on this podcast.
Speaker: Spine Farm doesn't give a fuck anymore. No. The days of putting out like death metal in and power metal is gone. They're just going to put out whoever's still looking for a label. Yeah.
Speaker: Bands that they know are good, but are were kind of homeless. They're like, come, just let us put out your records. So crazy. But that's ah that's that's it. That's the Hoobastank story. And I think the story goes like this.
Speaker: and And maybe you can put your color on this. Started out as a Faith No More Southern California band, right? We're just like soaking in the culture. They're like, all of this stuff sounds good.
Speaker: We're going have horns. We're going do this. We're going to crazy. We're gonna be weird. Then all of a sudden they wrote a song that was like kind of radio ready. And the label, the major labels came knocking were like, hey, we got a big hit with your friend's incubus.
Speaker: We can do the same with you. They're like, okay. They get pulled over there. And then all of a sudden it becomes, let's try and meet the culture every subsequent record.
Speaker: And so yeah like the day the debut sounds like Incubus. The second record sounds like Green Day. The third record sounds like Dance Rock. The fourth one sounds like... You know, they just keep like gravitating towards whatever's popular, right? Yeah, which is one of my least favorite type of bands, to be honest.
Speaker: and and just that and but And it is totally a valid... Don't get me wrong. That's a valid way to do your band thing and people's interests change and some musicians like pop music and shift their preference. You know what mean? It's totally fine. But I like when a band has like a sound they stick to and then they kind of shift from, you know, from center.
Speaker: You know what i mean? Yeah. I like a little bit of artistic integrity in my band, you know, yeah like that I do appreciate that. And, you know, I can't say that who bestank is delivering on that. I mean, that should surprise nobody, maybe. But, um you know, that last song we listened to, that's probably the closest we got to them sounding like something that is not very like typical of the radio, even if it is a little more than fivey.
Speaker: Um, but I mean, at that point they wouldn't have a major label that was force feeding them. You know, this is how you're going to sell records in this day and age. So maybe it does change. Who knows? The point is, is basketball shorts is pretty good.
Speaker: That's what we're really trying to say here. What are your last minute thoughts on Hoobastank? This is not your most preferred genre of music, but... No, I was ah pleasantly surprised. I hated all those in-between songs. They all sucked. um That last one, i dug the kind of...
Speaker: Nine Inch Nails-y, sort of like industrially almost kind of thing that was going on. i I don't trust that I would dig the whole record. I feel like it's going to go a little more pop, ah lean a little more pop than I would prefer.
Speaker: ah But that song was pretty cool. ah But yeah, that first record, definitely worth a listen. And if you're a playlist-y type person, um shit, I'd even throw a couple of those songs in a playlist. The two ska songs and maybe even one or two of those funk songs. They were pretty cool.
Speaker: And let's get some some new s scal core bands to to cover those yeah those is actually so I think that'd be a good EP thing. Do that,
Speaker: please Awesome. Well, it takes us to the end. So thanks for listening to Checkered Past. Hit us up on Instagram, Twitter, Blue Sky, YouTube, and TikTok at Checkered Past Pod or send us an email at checkeredpastpod at gmail.com.
Speaker: To support the pod and get bonus content, including a full-length and unedited video of this episode, sign up for the Checkered Patreon at patreon.com slash checkeredpast. We also have merch available at checkeredpast.ca. This episode is edited by Cutman and engineered by Joey.
Speaker: Special thanks to Chris Reeves, Megamichi, and Adam the Ska Mailman for making this episode happen. Thanks also to Keelan for all his work on the podcast episodes, including making the trombonist theme song.
Speaker: Voting is now open for how you think the Madness March bracket will progress at challange.com. And you can also, and also there's playlists, uh, checkerheads have put together playlists on many different music platforms. So if you follow us on socials, you can probably find playlists for the bracket.
Speaker: Awesome. And next week on the podcast, we have TBD. So until next time, I'm Rob. I'm Joey. And in immortal words of Hoobastank, this pod is spinning out of control.
