"Adolescents" is the first single from Incubus

Incubus (band)

Incubus is an American rock band from Calabasas, California. The band was formed in 1991 by vocalist Brandon Boyd, lead guitarist Mike Einziger, and drummer Jose Pasillas while enrolled in high school and later expanded to include bassist Alex "Dirk Lance" Katunich, and Gavin "DJ Lyfe" Koppell;...

' seventh album, If Not Now, When?

If Not Now, When? (album)

If Not Now, When? is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock band Incubus, released on July 12, 2011 on Epic Records. Preceded by the singles, "Adolescents" and "Promises, Promises", the album marks the band's longest gap between studio albums, to date...

. It was posted on the band's website on April 4, 2011 (a physical release was released 15 days later, April 19). This is their first single in two years following the release of the Prince

Prince (musician)

Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...

 and The Revolution

The Revolution (band)

The Revolution was an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1979 by Prince. Although widely associated with rock music, the band's sound incorporated heavy metal, pop, funk, R&B and hard rock elements. Before their official break-up, The Revolution had released one studio album,...

 cover "Let's Go Crazy" (from the 2009 compilation Monuments and Melodies

Monuments and Melodies

Monuments and Melodies is the first greatest hits compilation album by American rock band Incubus released on June 16, 2009 through Epic Records...

). It has since peaked at #3 on both the Billboard Alternative Songs chart, and on the Billboard Rock Songs chart.

Writing and composition

Regarding the decision to release the song as a single, guitarist Michael Einziger noted, "I think it’s the most easily digestible song for our fans. I was surprised when we turned all this music in, "Adolescents" was actually the last song we wrote for this album. We actually had a few other songs that we left off of the album and we didn’t even know if we were going to put "Adolescents" on the album. It was kinda like one of the floater songs. I mean we loved all the songs but we wanted to make an eleven-song record; we didn’t want to have a thirteen-song record. We wanted it to be less is more. Everybody that we played the music for seemed to just automatically think that song would be a good segue into this album for our fans."