10 Most Underrated Nu Metal Songs
9. Crawling in the Dark - Hoobastank
The career trajectory of Hoobastank still stands as one of the biggest ‘whatevers’ that the rock world has ever made. Even though they were clearly trying to be Incubus on their mainstream hits, a song like the Reason had no business being as big as it did, featuring a literal one note piano figure and lyrics that sound like they were lifted from the journal of some angsty teenager. Which is a shame considering that that first album actually showed some real potential.
Let’s get one thing off the bat right here, it’s no secret that Crawling in the Dark might be the most Incubus sounding song that the band has ever made, with Doug Robb really trying on his Brendon Boyd impression for most of the track. From a raw construction standpoint, this isn’t half bad for what it is, with the guitars having the right amount of crunch and actually building to a climax in the chorus.
Even though Hoobastank had always been nu metal adjacent for most of their career, hearing a song like this actually fits right at home with the others in the scene, singing about making your way through adversity to find some sort of answer to life’s questions. There was no way that this was going to signal Hooba-mania or anything like that, but for a band just getting their feet wet, this was at least a movement in the right direction. Now if they could only do something about that god awful name.