Cobra Starship took off after the New Jersey pop-punk band Midtown crashed to earth in 2005 after seven years and three albums. As the story goes, bass player and singer Gabe Saporta was allegedly bitten by a cobra in the desert, which proved to be a particularly enlightening experience that steered him towards a new musical vision. Saporta sought like-minded souls including members of The Academy Is..., Gym Class Heroes, and The Sounds and composed the band's first song 'Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)' in collaboration with the movie of the same name. The exposure from the song's clip and the tie-in with the movie soundtrack prompted the band to become a full-time concern. Cobra Starship signed to Fall Out Boy frontman Pete Wentz's Decaydance label, reportedly knocking back a half-million dollar offer from major labels, and recorded and released their debut album While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets in 2006. The band stated that their ambition was to record an album a year. Thus 2007 saw the release of ¡Viva La Cobra!, which saw the band undertake extensive tours around the US. Being fans of the show Gossip Girl, they got Leighton Meester to sing on their single 'Good Girls Gone Bad', which reached top 10 in Australia and the US, preceding their third album, 2009's Hot Mess.