Jaysus, eight days late....
My introduction to this week's tune was whatever the Alternative rock station was in Fort Wayne, Indiana in the summer of 2000, as I tooled around the city looking for a job after my writing career fizzled, that was playing it in regular rotation. Not the best summer of my life--had just left my kids in St. Louis, moved in with my Mom, living in Fort Wayne which wasn't exactly a happening city, and driving around in nine-hundred-degree weather in a car with no air conditioning hopping from interview to interview. It worked out in the end--though I'll always regret the time away from my two oldest--but at least I had a good song (or two) to help me weather it....
Wheatus formed in Northport, New York in 1995, and like an artist or two here on Friday Night Jukebox, has managed to parlay one hit single into a career. The band played gigs galore to start and finally got a record contract in 1999. They released their debut album the next year which was a minor hit and featured a single that was a minor hit in America (bigger overseas) and made their now twenty-nine year run from there. Wheatus has had thirty-one members through the years, with the only constant being lead singer and guitarist as well as founder Brendan B. Brown (who didn't even rate a Wikipedia entry). For their career, the band has released five LPs, three EPs, two live albums, and eight singles. Their last release was a Christmas EP in 2023, which means they're still hanging in there, God love 'em.
Fun Fact: Wheatus was a bit of a family affair as Brown employed his brother Peter on drums through 2006 (left to get married), and his sister Elizbeth as a backing vocalist from 2002-2007. They had a classic lineup reunion in 2019 as well.
"Teenage Dirtbag" was the first single Wheatus ever released from their 2000 debut album, the ever so cleverly entitled Wheatus. The song reached #124 on the Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart, while the album peaked at #76 (note the album eventually was certified as platinum, which shows you don't have to have a high charting record to have a hit). However, overseas the single was nothing short of phenomenal: #1 in Australia, Austria, and Belgium, #2 in the U.K., Ireland, Germany, and Sweden, and #3 in Switzerland (so many cool kids around the world!). Perhaps an early preview of 2025 when the rest of the world is great and the U.S. is utter shit.
Despite the fact that Brendan Brown freely admits the events in "Teenage Dirtbag" never happened to anyone in the band, it's still a quirky love song where the high school geek gets the cheerleader. Brown delivers a heartfelt vocal in the verses before rocking out in the rousing chorus, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention the "ooh-ooh" that closes the chorus and is one of those cherries on the top parts of many a good pop song. The song has some solid guitar work and some drive along drums that keep the spirit moving. In the end, this one is about love and hope--and the Fates know we all need as much of both as we can get.
Lyric Sheet: "Man, I feel like mold/It's prom night and I am lonely/Lo and behold/She's walking over to me..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
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