Sonic the Hedgehog is no stranger to reinvention. Sega’s blue-quilled mascot has evolved a ton over time, making the leap from 2D to 3D, bouncing between genres, and getting a total aesthetic redesign in the process. But 2008’s Sonic Unleashed was a game very literally about change, predicated on the concept of Sonic giving into his feral side by morphing into a monstrous “werehog.”
The theme song from Sonic Unleashed is still a favorite among fans, who fervently rally its GOAT status online. Titled “Endless Possibility,” the track was originally composed by Sega’s Tomoya Ohtani and performed by pop-punk band Bowling for Soup. Now, 17 years later, “Endless Possibility” itself is being reimagined with a newly re-recorded version produced in collaboration between Bowling for Soup, Wheatus (known for 2000’s “Teenage Dirtbag“), and the viral cover band Punk Rock Factory.
Rolling Stone has an exclusive premiere of the new rendition of “Endless Possibility,” which features vocals from Bowling for Soup’s Jaret Reddick and Rob Felicetti, and Wheatus’ Brendan Brown on lead guitar. Listen to the track below.
The cover retains much of the 2000s-era pop-punk energy of the original but is noticeably crunchier and heavier. Rolling Stone spoke with Bowling for Soup frontman, Jaret Reddick, about the making of the song — as well as the legacy shared legacy of Sonic the Hedgehog and the band.
Did you play a lot of Sonic the Hedgehog games when you were younger?
I love the movies because I have a 13-year-old and he’s been growing up with these new Jim Carrey movies, and I think they’re so great. [I] wasn’t a video game kid. I was born in [1972] so, really, I’m an Atari 2600 guy. [But] obviously, I knew who Sonic was. I knew that he was this fast little guy, and I always thought that he was this really interesting character. It’s been cool for me to see the resurgence of all of that.
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What about the character appeals to you? He’s got a bit of a punk attitude.
He’s a little bit snarky and a little bit funny, and a little bit self-deprecating — but still smart and loving, which I think is very Bowling for Soup. It’s like, sure, okay, we’re the funny band, but there’s some substance there. Sonic has a little substance in his heart as well.
How did you end up working with Punk Rock Factory and Wheatus for the new cover?
When I went to Punk Rock Factory, who I thought were the perfect band to do this with, because they’ve covered so many things in movies and television, but also video games and cartoons — I was like, “Dude, I’ve got the perfect song for us to do.”
[This] song has a really serious cult following. There are a lot of people who know Bowling for Soup because of this song, because of this video game. It hasn’t been available to them on a widespread scale other than just the random YouTube videos and stuff. The guys just nailed it.
It sounds like a pop punk song. It’s fast, like Sonic. The music really does lend itself to his pace. When I heard the track, I was like, “We’re definitely onto something.” Then, well, we’ve got this show coming up at Wembley and Brendan [Brown] from Wheatus can actually shred on the guitar. So, I’m like, “Let’s all three of us be on this song together, and it’ll be thing that we can get out before the play the biggest show of Bowling for Soup’s career.”
Why is now the right time to bring this song back, 17 years later?
First of all, Sonic being around and the movies doing so well is one thing, but also just the nostalgia of our music [and] our genre — what’s going on with so many of us having celebrated 20 years of really big records and everybody’s back out there on the road. It’s just a really good time, both in the nostalgia of both the character [and] our band. It’s one of those things where everybody’s sort of looking back on that part of their childhood right now, and Sonic is certainly a big part of that.
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How does it feel to have a place in the legacy of Sonic through music, and for Sonic to be a part of yours?
These are the kind of things [that] don’t surprise me. If I get on a TikTok Live or something, you expect people to go, “Oh, ‘Girl All the Bad Guys Want’ is the first pop punk song I heard,” or, “’1985’ is the first single I ever bought.” Those are all things [where] I’m very lucky, but I can sort of expect to hear. The Sonic thing, it still kind of catches me off guard because it’s still so much of, “Please put ‘Endless Possibilities’ in your set.”
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It’s one of those things where sometimes a song ties to something, and it’s just this perfect blend. [For] so many people, this was their intro into the Sonic universe, and this song is a part of that exploration. It’s part of his journey in that video game. It’s like pop punk kids sitting at Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and listening to Pennywise and Goldfinger. It’s the same thing.
Tony Hawk is a good comparison, but it’s almost even further here because “Endless Possibilities” wasn’t just one of your singles used for a game’s soundtrack.
A hundred percent. This song was specifically written for that character. I was in his head when I was writing. He is who I represent in the lyrics; we’ve all got to start from somewhere. For me, possibilities are never ending, and I feel like that’s how Sonic is, man. He believes he can do anything. When he gets down on himself, he figures it out. And that’s what the song says.
