From The Smashing Pumpkins to Hoobastank.

By Abby Robinson

Published: Thursday, 06 April 2023 at 12:00 am

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There are plenty of reasons to enjoy Netflix‘s Beef, a comedy-drama that follows the colossal fallout from a road rage incident between two strangers. There’s the writing, which keeps you firmly on your toes, top tier performances from leads Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, who will both surely earn nods during awards season, and the music.

Speaking about the soundtrack, Beef creator Lee Sung Jin said: “Originally, I thought I was going to do deep ’90s grunge cuts — Dinosaur Jr and bands like that.

“But what sprang about as we were discovering the show was that it might be more fun to do these songs from our past that weren’t necessarily the coolest… songs that rode a fine line between art and commerce, but are still really, really great, like Hoobastank’s The Reason.

“The song wasn’t necessarily on critics’ top 10 lists at the time, but hearing it now, it really holds up. It’s a great track.  There’s also the nostalgic element. Part of me feels that because these characters are stuck in their ways and are clinging to things in the past and can’t seem to move forward, it felt appropriate to use these older songs that we haven’t heard in a while.”