“Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheatus turned 25 years old on August 15, 2025.
The song which went to #7 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. It was second-best-selling single in Australia in 2000 and went triple platinum. The song reached #2 in the UK where it went 4x platinum and is now old enough to vote, drink, and rent a car.
That might make you, who’s reading this interview, feel incredibly old. However, for Brendan Brown, the man who penned the song a quarter century ago, and sings it venues around the world to this date, it’s a song that’s afforded him to live his dream every single night.
The gratitude Brown has for this song, and most importantly every single person who comes out to see him perform whether it be acoustically or with Wheatus, radiates off of him with every word that comes from his mouth. This is someone who loves what he does, and is not going to ever take that for granted.
Recently, we spoke with Brown about the 25th anniversary of “Teenage Dirtbag,” performing with Ed Sheeran in a stadium, getting involved in pro wrestling, the band’s future documentary feature, and the gratitude he has for his career.
What’s it like having a song that’s still beloved a quarter century after its release?
I would say in addition to being extremely odd and extremely humbling and extremely intimidating … It also makes us feel lucky. When we look around and notice that it hasn’t always gone that way for acts from our generation that we can still do this and still go out and play shows and make records, and have this be our living is crazy. On its face asking people to pay to watch your dreams is kind of preposterous. So we certainly don’t take that for granted, and we’re very lucky. That’s it — just fortunate and grateful.
Our managing editor brought this up to me that Ed Sheeran brought you out with his old teenage band, and you sang in front of a stadium in Hamburg, Germany. How did this come together, and how surreal was that moment?
It was super surreal leading up to it. And then in the moment, I must confess, actually doing the performance felt really right. That’s the setting in your mind when you’re 10 years old, and you’re like, ‘I want to play music.’ That’s the time and place. That’s what it’s supposed to look like. That’s the dream right there.
And I mean, [Ed Sheeran], is a super pro. I knew a little bit about him. I wasn’t sure what his show was like these days. I hadn’t caught up with it. [But] he’s the real thing. He holds down an arena show by himself.
He had reached out back in 2014, and we touched base about maybe doing something together. Then he got called by Peter Jackson to go do The Hobbit Soundtrack in New Zealand, so we had to postpone. [Editor’s Note: Sheeran did the song,”I See Fire” for closing credits for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug]
Then he emailed me like the night before I went into surgery for diverticulitis back in June [2025]. He said, “Look at these dates and tell me which one you can do.” So, I picked the first one that I thought the recovery would meet the standard [to travel and perform]. And it worked. That was the first show I did after getting my guts cut open.
How are you feeling now? Because that’s an intense procedure.
Much better man. I had no idea how chronically ill I had become. Years and years on the road, of just pushing through diverticulitis episodes and inflammations and infections, and and just not really knowing what I was doing to myself, or what had happened to me. Once it was fixed, I felt so much better. I feel 10 years younger and feel good. I lost 16 pounds, and it was just a true success. But like I said, Ed Sheeran’s guest performance was the first thing I did after that. So there was this extra layer because I didn’t know if it would work out. [I thought] At least I can die in front of all these people. It turned out to be fantastic. It was cool.
On a different appearance you made, I’m a huge pro wrestling fan, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about your experience in the world of wrestling. For those who don’t know — you performed “Teenage Dirtbag” at GCW’s “Joey Janela’s Lost in New York” at The Melrose Ballroom in New York. The wrestler “Spyder” Nate Webb uses the song as his theme, and he spends the entirety of the song having a blast around the arena, interacting with the crowd.
Hell yeah, man. have a lot of respect for what those guys do. That shit is fucking dangerous man. That’s not joking around and the training and the discipline and the hard work and just the manic attitude you have to have in order to maintain that energy level to do that stuff is crazy. So I had a lot of respect going in. I was certainly a little intimidated about it because this is not what I do. This is not my particular brand of entertainment, so don’t mess it up. I didn’t want to fuck it up for these guys because this is their world. Then I realized I was gonna get to kick the shit out of MJF. So I just figured it out. Got him in the DDT and kind of painted the canvas with his fucking face.
It’s just trying to keep busy and play good shows and update what you’re doing all the time. In order to do that, you gotta get out there. You have to make a lot of noise. You gotta.You got to see how it goes. Sometimes you play a show, and you know you have work to do, and other times you feel like a golden god. The more you do it the better you get and the closer you get to being the idea of the golden god. So you just want to keep hacking away at trying to be good and not be lazy about it.
I never understood how somebody could actually have the opportunity to do this and turn it down. I can’t believe someone would say, “Oh, I’m going to take a month off.” I took a month off for surgery, but I want to play, man. So our agent knows that he’s digging into whatever he can get us wherever we can get it, and and just as long as we meet the financial requirements we’re playing.
And how’s the response been? I know it’s the big anniversary. You guys have been doing this for a long time but you know there are ebbs and flows. So how is it right now?
So much better than it ever has been. It’s been crazy, absolutely crazy. Being able to tour America city to city in a tour bus is something we couldn’t do for many years. And now it’s a reality. It’s been true overseas for us for decades, but having it here at home, like you said, in particular, in the northeast, where we’re from is super special, man. It’s such a wonderful feeling of homecoming and camaraderie and joy. It’s just perfect.
Bill Bodkin: I saw you’re doing a pretty cool, special acoustic at the Bluebird in Nashville. That’s such a legendary venue. Is that just gonna be you or is that the whole band?
No, it’s just gonna be me acoustic. Gabrielle Sterbenz, our backing vocalist, is going to be backing me up and playing her own set earlier that night. She tours together acoustically when we’re not doing the full band just to keep it fresh and keep it moving. I’m really excited about it. It’s gonna be cool.
You’re a road warrior, so I’m curious do you ever still get impressed by historic venues you’re playing.
That’s a funny story. My first-ever show in New York City was a matinee at CBGB’s right when I was 19 years old. I was so nervous I couldn’t even believe it, you know it was incredible. Some part of that was anxiousness. Can you cultivate that feeling into a respect for the establishment, a respect for the audience. Then you generally realize that that’s a good way to operate, no matter where you’re playing. We take that attitude everywhere we go. It doesn’t matter if it’s a notable place, or not because somebody feels a special kind of way about where you are, and you gotta respect that. That place is somebody’s holiest of holies. Somebody had an epiphany there. Somebody really had something important in their lives happen at these venues.
If it’s a little tiny venue in Detroit, or if it’s a Nassau Coliseum or Madison Square Garden, or The Mercury Lounge where we got signed. I walk in, and I feel that feeling like I just walked into the chapel. We take that with us everywhere, and Bluebird is obviously one of the places that has provided more of those moments for people than most venues have. I don’t take it lightly for one moment. Walking into a place like that I want to be as sharp as I can be, and try to make sure that everybody’s glad they came, including the people who work there.
You’re celebrating 25th anniversary of “Teenage Dirtbag,” but are you testing out new music while you’re out celebrating this milestone in your career?
Yes, absolutely. There’s a whole bunch of new stuff that I’m going to be rolling out. It’s been a very busy summer, but I’m just about to start some acoustic rehearsals that are gonna really challenge me by playing alone and videotaping it. I critique myself, making sure to tweak here and there and really refine the process. That does make a big difference on the show. There’s a lot of work going to go into this one more so than it ever has been. And I’m excited about it, and a little apprehensive if I’m being honest, you know.
Why is that?
Well, because we don’t do a set list. We put it to the crowd. I learn around 80 songs or so about all the songs we have on streaming. I try to have them all ready to go in some form. I mean 80 songs is a lot to retain. If somebody calls a real deep cut song you gotta dig in there. You got to get in on your hands and knees and get in there and find it. And that’s not always easy. It’s like you’re looking for a baseball card that you lost when you were 9.
What do you love about being in Wheatus? What is it that drives you to dedicate so much of your life to this band? Put in this meticulous work? Take the first date after intense surgery to fly to Europe to perform with Ed Sheeran … and hopefully not have your guys spill out?
In an alternate universe, I’m working in a deli. I’m a welder and a proud one at that. I also feel an obligation to to really like never to come to a place where you’re taking this for granted. You better fucking dive into this. You better like to tear it to shreds, because there’s a lot of people who would trade places with you. When you think about this experience of being a professional musician, I say this preposterously, requesting that people pay attention to your dreams in this manner, and pay for them. The gall … the gall of it. right?! The temerity. You don’t wanna be that guy who is disappointed with having a great life. That’s not fair. That’s not fair to other people. That’s fucked up. That’s a terrible thing. So when I’m on stage, or if I’m preparing for a show, or if I’m getting ready to rehearse, or if I wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning so I can build a rig like I did today. I’m thinking about the people who had to hire babysitters, or who maybe are going to come up short on their rent by a couple of bucks this week because they wanted to see our show. People who truly do have better things than to do come to see us and do anyway … it’s disrespectful to not give it everything. So you gotta bring it.
I’ve never heard it put that way in all my years of interviewing bands, and I think that’s the best perspective I’ve ever heard. To be honest with you. And let’s close it out. 5 things you’re stoked for for the band for yourself to close out. 2025, early 2026.
So we’re closing 2025 with Bowling for Soup at Wembley Arena [in London, England], which will be the second time we played there. You want to talk about the dream, baby. That’s off the charts. We’re making new music like I said. We have about 12 new songs that we’re trying to get worked up so we can whip them out, live here and there, and, you know. Get them recorded in 2026. We got a movie coming out called You Might Die. It’s a documentary that was worked on during our darker years during the years where I was truly a crazy person struggling, trying to keep it together. Failing, I might add.
So with the movie is that getting a theatrical release? Is that going to streaming?
We’re not really sure. Nobody’s really seen it. We haven’t shown it to anybody who might be interested, because frankly, the story keeps changing. It keeps the ending keeps getting an update, you know. It’s kind of like, “Oh, shit Ed, Sheeran called. How do we frame that in the film?”
Going back to failure, I’d say you’re definitely succeeding right now.
Well, yeah … but you gotta fail to learn. Learn how to do anything. You learn more from losing fights than you do from winning them, that’s for sure.
[Back to the future for the band] But the live touring situation, moving forward aside from the Bowling for Soup tour, which is crazy. If you go to Wheatus.com/shows you’ll see that we are either doing acoustic shows or touring the States or the Uk and Ireland from now until the end of the year. Then we’re going to Australia in January. Looks like there’s non-stop road work which is very much something to look forward to. I just want to keep getting better at this and keep tearing it up. You know.
