The Bouncing Souls are an American punk rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey, formed in 1989.

The Bouncing Souls not only became a staple in the New Brunswick music scene, but also helped other bands gain an audience by opening up for them in the clubs around town, as well as parties and shows they put on themselves.

The band's name is a derivative of Doc Martens shoes, specifically their advertising slogan "with Bouncing Soles".

Two tracks of this record, "Candy" (popularized by the Strangeloves and covered by many other groups) and "What Boys Like" (originally by the Waitresses) served as homage to 1980s new wave while simultaneously striking a humorous jab at homophobia.

While it contains some Bouncing Souls classics like "Cracked", "Kate is Great", and "East Coast Fuck You!

Hopeless Romantic has been heralded for admixing poignant lyrics with their melodic rapidly paced punk style.

Also, due to their first full-length record being a collection of previous releases, many fans also consider this to in fact be their sixth studio album, and thus 666 is also partly in reference to this.

[9] In 2008, while at the Vans Warped Tour stop in their home state of New Jersey, the band helped Music Saves Lives raise the blood supply by signing a guitar for the non-profit to auction off.

[10] On 25 June 2013, the Bouncing Souls confirmed that drummer Michael McDermott would be leaving the band in order to 'pursue other musical interests'.

It marked the first time since 2016's Simplicity that the band released a full-length studio album of newly recorded original material.