Teenage Dirtbag

"Teenage Dirtbag"
Single by Wheatus
from the album Wheatus
Released	July 17, 2000
Format	CD single
Genre	Pop punk Power pop
Length	4:07
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Brendan B. Brown
Wheatus singles chronology
- "Teenage Dirtbag" (2000) "A Little Respect" (2001)
Teenage Dirtbag UK Single Cover

"Teenage Dirtbag" is the title of a song recorded by American alternative rock group Wheatus. It was released in July 2000 as the lead single from their eponymous debut album. It was included on the soundtrack of the movie Loser. The single was massively successful in Australia, spending four weeks at number-one and becoming the second-highest selling single of the year. It also reached number 2 in the United Kingdom and Germany.

Background

The song was ranked number 69 on the Top 100 Greatest Pop Songs Of All Time countdown by British music channel, "The Hits". When the group arranged a joint tour with MC Frontalot, MC Frontalot contributed a nerdcore rap verse to the song. For the radio version of the song, the sentence "He brings a gun to school" has been removed due to the Columbine High School massacre. It is replaced with the line "He brings his mates to fights", or alternately replaced with an inhale sound. The segment where the female character sings is performed by singer Brendan B. Brown, as is the rest of the song. In March 2011 it entered back into the UK Singles Chart at number 43 and climbed to number 35 the following week,^[1] nearly 11 years after its release. Bigtop40.com suggest this is due to a promotion on iTunes.^[2]. In April 2012, it re-entered into the UK Singles Chart at number 37 nearly twelve years after its initial release.

Track listing

US CD Single

1. "Teenage Dirtbag" (Clean Single Version) – 4:17
2. "I'd Never Write A Song About You" – 3:38
3. "Pretty Girl" – 4:29

European CD Single

1. "Teenage Dirtbag" (Explicit Album Version) – 4:01
2. "I'd Never Write A Song About You" – 3:38
3. "Sunshine" (Remix) – 2:52

French CD Single

1. "Teenage Dirtbag" (Explicit Album Version) – 4:01
2. "I'd Never Write A Song About You" – 3:38

UK CD Single

1. "Teenage Dirtbag" (Explicit Album Version) - 4:01
2. "I'd Never Write A Song About You" - 3:38
3. "Hey Mr Brown" (With Club Audience) - 2:22
4. "Teenage Dirtbag" (Video)

Critical reception

Ayhan Sahin, of Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably, calling it a "gritty, on-the-edge track " and saying that its "keen melody, inventive production, and cool lyric about those who have felt like underlings during high school will entice listeners who prefer hanging out behind the gym with a smoke to Latin club." He goes on to say that it "stands strongly on its own as an emphatic anthem and a song many teens will be proud to push hard from their car speakers."^[3]

Music video

The video clip alludes to the film Loser, with Jason Biggs playing a nerdy character similar to that in the movie and Mena Suvari as the love interest who, unexpectedly invites the protagonist to an Iron Maiden concert. In some versions of the music video a large glitter ball falls from the ceiling and strikes him on the head, after which he wakes up having fallen asleep while doing his homework revealing his brief romance with Suvari to be a dream. Both Biggs and Suvari appear in the movie American Pie and its sequel American Pie 2, causing the popular misconception that the song appears in one of these movies. There are two versions of the video. The first video received airplay on MTV channels in the UK and is the one without the Loser slogan, whereas the second version got airplay on EMAP channels across the UK, and is the one with the Loser slogan.

In popular culture

The song appears in the HBO miniseries Generation Kill at the end of episode four, Combat Jack. While driving away from a road block, United States Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance Sgt. Brad Colbert, Cpl. Ray Person, LCpl. James Trombley, Cpl. Walt Hasser, and Rolling Stone's embedded reporter Evan Wright (all occupants of the point Humvee) bust out singing it, changing the lyrics "He drives an Iroc" to "He drives in Iraq". When they are done singing it Colbert says "Thank you, Ray" and Ray responds, "Thank you, Sergeant." British girl group Girls Aloud performed a cover of the song on their first UK tour for their album What Will The Neighbours Say? in the spring of 2005. They later recorded a studio version of the track for BBC Radio 1's 40th anniversary compilation Radio 1 Established 1967. In 2011, Weezer performed a cover of 'Teenage Dirtbag' on their festival tour and Wheatus responded by covering 'My Name is Jonas' on their 2011 tour. This came about after a twitter conversation between the two bands regarding the common mistake of people thinking the song is in fact a Weezer song.

Alterations

The second verse of the song originally began with, "Her boyfriend's a dick, he brings a gun to school.." Radio edits usually omitted the word "dick", but most modern playings of the song have the words "brings a gun to school" covered by scratching sounds.

Charts

Decade-End Charts

References

1. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/singles
2. ^ http://www.bigtop40.com/gossip/wheatus-land-itunes-chart/
3. ^ Billboard, July 8, 2000 - Vol. 112, No. 28, Page 22.
4. ^ "Wheatus < peak singles positions" (in German). http://www.musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/artist/Wheatus/single?sort=entry. Retrieved 2010-08-09. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Chart Track". Irish Singles Chart. Irish Recorded Music Association.
6. ^ ^{a b} "Archive Chart" UK Singles Chart. Official Charts Company.
7. ^ Radio 1 Official Chart of the Decade, as broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on Tuesday 29th December 2009, presented by Nihal