Format CD Genre Pop rock Label Island | Recorded 2003 Length 3:53 | |
Released April 27, 2004 (2004-04-27) | ||
"The Reason" is a song by the American rock band Hoobastank, from their album The Reason. The song is Hoobastank's most commercially successful single, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (kept from the top spot by Usher's hit "Burn"), and No. 1 on the Modern Rock Tracks. In addition, it topped the singles charts in both Mexico and Italy. It was nominated for the Song of the Year at the 47th Grammy Awards. It won the MTV Video Music Awards Japan for best rock video. A remix version also exists for airplay on adult contemporary stations. An acoustic version is present in The Greatest Hits: Don't Touch My Moustache album.
Contents
Music video
In "The Reason" the band members stage a diversion so they can carry out the elaborate theft of a ruby gem from a pawnshop, but those facts are only clear after enough of the action unfolds, because nothing is as it seems. In the beginning of the video, a girl gets hit by a car and then turns out to be an accessory to the crime. After the "accident", while everyone's attention is diverted, the band members execute the heist. The viewer then realizes that she was in on the operation, as she gets up and rides off with an accomplice on a motorcycle at the end. The presumed owner of the pawnshop displays a look of realization, and the song ends with the band admiring their new acquisition, holding it up to the light and projecting red light-rays onto the ceiling. The accident "victim" is also present. They then hear police sirens from above, and the video fades out.
Their video "Same Direction" is intended as both a sequel and a prequel to the video for "The Reason" and further details the band member's roles, as well as shows the trouble they bring down on themselves from law enforcement.
Use in media
The song appears on the video games SingStar Pop and Karaoke Revolution Volume 3. The song also featured in the Friends Special episode "The One With All the Other Ones (Part 2)".