In 2003, there were few songs that received more radio airplay than Hoobastank's "The Reason", which ultimately peaked at #2 on the Billboard Singles chart and established the band as one of the hottest new acts on the U.S. rock scene.
Unlike the Dishwalla example (which I wrote about yesterday) where "Counting Blue Cars" received even more prolonged Top 40 airplay, but said airplay did not lead to album sales, heavy Top 40 radio rotation and MTV airplay of "The Reason" propelled the album of the same name to sales of over 2 million copies, which is exactly what a single is supposed to do.
Why heavy radio spins lead to strong album sales in one case, but not another, remains a mystery for the ages, especially in light of the fact that the song that propelled Hoobastank into the spotlight was, dare I say, not at all representative of what the rest of the album was like.
Yet Hoobastank's life after "The Hit" has been strikingly similar to Dishwalla's in that none of their subsequent singles have even charted. Knowing that part of the struggle of scoring a hit single is "name recognition", one would think that any single that follows a monster smash hit would at least chart due to the momentum of the previous single.
After all, if a radio programmer is already playing your music, you've already won half the battle and that getting them to play your follow-up single would be in the interest of listeners who have already responded favorably to your music, but, time and time again, we see bands run up against a virtual brick wall when it comes to following up a massive radio hit.
It's not impossible, though.
Just ask a-ha, who followed up their massive hit single "Take On Me", which peaked at #2 on the U.S. charts, with "The Sun Always Shines On TV", which rose to #17 on the American charts while hitting #1 in the UK.
Better yet, ask The Knack, whose "Good Girls Don't" hit #11 after the chart-topping success of "My Sharona".
While hit singles have remained elusive for Hoobastank, the band's albums have continued to sell well without any sizable radio play and they remain a consistent live draw in Japan and on the U.S. theater circuit.
In fact, the band will be playing Joliet's The Forge on November 4th. Get your tickets HERE.
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