Incubus | Drive
The story behind Incubus’ “Drive” - how a rejected TV theme, a fired producer, and Brandon Boyd’s relationship with fear created the band’s biggest hit in 1999.
Quick Facts: Release Date, Genre, and Credits
“Drive” was released as a single on November 14, 2000, as the third single from Incubus’ third studio album Make Yourself (1999). The track runs 4:12 and was written by the band: Brandon Boyd (vocals), Mike Einziger (guitar), Alex “Dirk Lance” Katunich (bass), Jose Pasillas (drums), and Chris “DJ Kilmore” Kilmore (turntables). Co-produced by Incubus and Scott Litt at NRG Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Dave Holdredge played cello on the track. Released on Epic Records / Immortal Records. The song reached #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, #9 on the Hot 100, and won Modern Rock Single of the Year at the 2001 Billboard Music Awards.
What Is “Drive” About?
Brandon Boyd explained it simply: “The lyric is basically about fear, about being driven all your life by it and making decisions from fear. It’s about imagining what life would be like if you didn’t live it that way.”
The title works on two levels. “Drive” as an urge, a compulsion that pushes you forward whether you want it to or not. And “drive” as taking the wheel, choosing to steer your own life instead of letting fear do it for you. The chorus doesn’t mention the word at all: “Whatever tomorrow brings, I’ll be there with open arms and open eyes.” But the verses frame the choice directly: “Would you choose water over wine? Hold the wheel and drive?”
It’s a song about control. Not demanding it. Just realizing you could have it if you stopped being afraid.
Story Behind “Drive”
The TV Theme That Got Rejected
The guitar riff that became “Drive” almost never made it onto an Incubus album. According to guitarist Mike Einziger, the song originated as a theme he wrote for a television show that had requested original music. The show turned it down. The riff was nearly identical to what ended up on the record. One television producer’s rejection became the foundation of Incubus’ biggest hit.
This accident is fitting for a band that was, at the time, struggling to find its audience. Incubus had released two albums of eclectic funk-metal with no radio play whatsoever. Make Yourself was their third album, and nobody in the music industry expected a breakthrough. The band had been touring for years without a single song played on American radio.
Firing the Producer, Finding Scott Litt
The recording of Make Yourself started roughly. The band entered NRG Recording Studios in Los Angeles in May 1999 with producer Jim Wirt, who had worked on their earlier material. After just two weeks, they were unhappy with the results and fired him. As Einziger recalled: “It was a bit of a scary position to be in as 19, 20-year-old kids, in a recording studio that costs thousands of dollars a day.”
The band continued recording on their own. They had demo versions of most songs that were already strong, and their A&R person at Epic Records trusted their vision. Then Scott Litt entered the picture. Litt had produced R.E.M.’s most celebrated albums and worked with Nirvana. He took an interest in Incubus’ songs and joined the sessions, primarily during the mixing phase.
Boyd described Litt’s impact: “Scott really honed in on what the singles were going to be and he dedicated a lot of sonic energy to ‘Drive’ and ‘Stellar.’ We definitely got a real sonic boost when he came on board.” Litt understood that “Drive” wasn’t a rock song pretending to be a ballad. It was a pop song wearing rock clothes. His mix gave it the clarity and space it needed to breathe.
“Drive” Recording and Production Details
NRG Studios and the Cello Nobody Expected
Make Yourself was recorded over May and June 1999 at NRG Recording Studios in Los Angeles. The album was co-produced by Incubus and Scott Litt, with engineering by Michael “Elvis” Baskette and additional engineering by Jim Wirt and Rick Will. Dave Holdredge, who served as audio engineer and digital editor on the album, also played cello on “Drive,” adding an unexpected layer of warmth beneath Einziger’s acoustic guitar.
The production of “Drive” is deceptively simple. The song opens with Einziger’s clean acoustic guitar pattern and Boyd’s voice, stripped of the distortion and turntable scratching that defined Incubus’ earlier sound. DJ Kilmore’s contribution is subtle, textural rather than rhythmic. Pasillas’ drumming enters gently and builds. The cello adds a cinematic quality that elevates the track beyond standard alternative rock.
From Third Single to First Hit
“Drive” wasn’t the obvious choice for a hit. The album’s first single was “Pardon Me,” a harder-hitting track that better fit the nu-metal landscape of 1999. When “Pardon Me” initially failed to gain traction at radio, the band recorded acoustic versions at a Chicago studio for the When Incubus Attacks EP, and started performing acoustically on morning radio shows. That approach slowly built interest.
“Stellar” followed as the second single. Then came “Drive,” released as a single in November 2000, more than a year after the album. It crossed over from rock radio to pop radio gradually, eventually reaching #1 on Modern Rock Tracks on March 3, 2001, and peaking at #9 on the Hot 100 by July. As Einziger recalled: “’Drive’ came out after the album went platinum. On the back of that we sold another million albums. It was a really exciting time for us.”
Notes About “Drive” by Incubus
Release Date: November 14, 2000 (single); October 26, 1999 (album)
Duration: 4:12
Genre: Alternative Rock / Post-Grunge / Art Rock
Album: Make Yourself (3rd studio album, track 8)
Writers: Brandon Boyd, Mike Einziger, Alex Katunich, Jose Pasillas, Chris Kilmore
Producers: Incubus, Scott Litt
Label: Epic Records / Immortal Records
Studio: NRG Recording Studios, Los Angeles
Chart Performance: Billboard Modern Rock #1, Billboard Hot 100 #9, UK #40, Australia #34, New Zealand #13
Award: Modern Rock Single of the Year, 2001 Billboard Music Awards
Album Sales: Make Yourself certified 2x Platinum in the US (3+ million copies sold)
Incubus “Drive” Era Band Details
Album Details
Album: Make Yourself
Release Date: October 26, 1999
Label: Epic Records / Immortal Records
Producers: Incubus, Scott Litt
Studio: NRG Recording Studios, Los Angeles (May-June 1999)
13 tracks, 48:04
Mastered by: Stephen Marcussen at Marcussen Mastering
Band Members
Brandon Boyd - Lead vocals
Mike Einziger - Guitar (PRS McCarty, Mesa Boogie Tremoverb, Jerry Jones Master Sitar on “Nowhere Fast”)
Alex “Dirk Lance” Katunich - Bass
Jose Pasillas - Drums
Chris “DJ Kilmore” Kilmore - Turntables
Additional Personnel
Scott Litt - Co-producer, mixer
Michael “Elvis” Baskette - Engineer
Dave Holdredge - Audio engineer, digital editor, cello (on “Drive” and “I Miss You”)
Matt Griffin, Evan Hollander - Assistant engineers
Cut Chemist, DJ Nu-Mark - Additional scratches on “Battlestar Scralatchtica”
Album Context
Band formed 1991 at Calabasas High School, LA
Third album; first two (Fungus Amongus, S.C.I.E.N.C.E.) had zero radio play
Original producer Jim Wirt fired after 2 weeks; band self-produced before Scott Litt joined
“Pardon Me” was first single (initially failed, saved by acoustic EP strategy)
“Drive” was third single, became breakthrough hit over a year after album release
Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album (Non Classical)
Band later sued Epic/Sony over compensation and won release from contract
Interesting Facts About “Drive”
The Music Video That Took 50 Hours to Draw
The music video for “Drive,” directed by Phil Harder, was based on M.C. Escher’s 1948 lithograph Drawing Hands, which depicts two hands drawing each other into existence. The video intercuts a simple performance session with rotoscoped animation of Brandon Boyd drawing himself. Boyd and drummer Jose Pasillas created the animation themselves, a process that took over 50 hours of hand-drawing.
The non-animated scenes were shot at the McNamara Alumni Center at the University of Minnesota. The video was nominated for Best Group Video at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, losing to NSYNC’s “Pop.” The visual concept mirrors the song’s theme perfectly: creating yourself rather than being created by your circumstances. Boyd drawing himself into existence is the visual equivalent of choosing to hold the wheel.
The Song That Meant Something Different After September 11
On September 11, 2001, Incubus were in New York City preparing for their upcoming tour. Their hotel shook from the impact of the first plane striking the World Trade Center. Most acts cancelled their shows that week. Incubus did not. They became one of the first major bands to perform in New York after the attacks, playing shows at the Hammerstein Ballroom on September 15 and 16.
“Drive” carried an entirely different weight during those performances. A song about overcoming fear suddenly existed in a city where fear had become physical, concrete, inescapable. “Whatever tomorrow brings, I’ll be there with open arms and open eyes” stopped being a personal mantra and became a collective one. The song’s meaning expanded beyond anything Boyd had written into it, proving that the best songs don’t belong to their authors. They belong to whoever needs them.
Two decades later, Steven Yeun’s character sings “Drive” in a pivotal church scene in the 2023 Netflix series Beef, another moment where the song found new context and new emotional weight.
Common Questions
Q: What is “Drive” by Incubus about? A: According to Brandon Boyd, the song is about fear: “about being driven all your life by it and making decisions from fear. It’s about imagining what life would be like if you didn’t live it that way.” The chorus, “Whatever tomorrow brings, I’ll be there with open arms and open eyes,” represents the choice to face life without letting fear control your decisions.
Q: When was “Drive” released? A: November 14, 2000, as the third single from the album Make Yourself (released October 26, 1999). Despite being over a year old by the time “Drive” was released as a single, the song became the band’s biggest hit.
Q: Who produced “Drive”? A: Incubus and Scott Litt. The band originally started recording with producer Jim Wirt but fired him after two weeks. They continued on their own before Litt (known for R.E.M. and Nirvana) joined to focus on mixing. Boyd said Litt “dedicated a lot of sonic energy to ‘Drive’ and ‘Stellar.’”
Q: What instrument is the unexpected sound on “Drive”? A: Cello, played by Dave Holdredge, who also served as audio engineer on the album. The cello adds warmth and a cinematic quality beneath Einziger’s acoustic guitar.
Q: How did the “Drive” riff originate? A: According to Mike Einziger, the guitar part was originally written as a theme song for a television show. The show rejected it. The riff was used nearly unchanged for “Drive.”
Q: Did “Drive” chart on the Billboard Hot 100? A: Yes. It reached #9 on the Hot 100 in July 2001, #1 on Modern Rock Tracks, and won Modern Rock Single of the Year at the 2001 Billboard Music Awards.