Wait, Rihanna nearly appeared on a Hoobastank song back in 2006?

Hoobastank are memorable for two things: serving up a stone cold nu metal classic with their 2001 single Crawling In The Dark and having the worst name in the history of music (come on, it was based on the phrase ‘Whose butt stank?’).

But there was very nearly a third claim to fame. Frontman Doug Hobbs has revealed that pop superstar Rihanna almost appeared on their 2006 single Inside Of You – until the band decided to scrap her vocals. 

Robb casually teased this WTF factoid on Twitter, explaining how Rihanna – who had just released her debut album Music Of The Sun –  recorded vocals for a version of the song from Hoobastank’s third album Every Man For Himself, only for the LA band to reject it.

“Fun Fact: @rihanna was featured on a Hoobastank song on their 3rd Album. After hearing it, they decided to use the version WITHOUT Rihanna on it because……. well……..because……. they made a mistake.”

Robb jokingly added the hashtags #oopsmistake #theyrenotperfectpeople #takeusbackrihanna.

The singer subsequently fleshed out the story in an interview with Consequence, explaining how they were approached by someone at their label, Def Jam, to ask if they’d consider feature a newly-signed artist on one of their songs. 

“This kind of stuff happens all the time,” said Robb. “We said, ‘Sure. Who do you have in mind?’ It was Rihanna. I had never heard of her. I don’t think anyone else in the band had, either, at the time.”

Robb said that the band gave Rihanna’s team Inside Of You, only for them to added in a new pre-chorus section. “ We heard it and didn’t really love it so we passed on using it. It’s really just that simple. I think we had already gotten used to hearing the song as it was written so it just felt weird to us.

“I think if we had done a proper collaboration with her, writing the song knowing there was gonna be another artist on it and making space for it, we probably would have felt differently and used it. I think the way we did it was just wrong. The paint had already dried so to speak. Well, it was that, plus a stunning lack of vision to see what a star Rihanna was going to be.”

The Rihanna-free Inside Of You reached a modest No.27 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart, with parent album album Every Man For Himself peaking at No.12. Rihanna’s second album, A Girl Like Me, was released the same year and hit No.5 on the Billboard Album Charts. To date, Rihanna has sold more than 60 million albums and 215 million digital tracks. She recently headlined the prestigious Super Bowl Half Time Show.

Hoobastank may be kicking themselves over their mistake, but there appear to be no hard feelings on Rihanna’s part. 

“We’d run into her at various award shows after and she was always very sweet and super cool,” Robb told Consequence. “I think everything worked out ok for her in the end.”