People are stunned as Wheatus singer explains why he sings the “female role” in Teenage Dirtbag

Whether it’s a birthday, wedding or bar mitzvah: at every party the DJ has to play “Teenage Dirtbag” at least once.

It’s by far the most famous song Wheatus has ever produced, and you’d think the band’s lead singer, Brendan B. Brown, would be sick of performing it by now – but he’s still as excited as he was 24 years ago.

However, recently some fans have asked him if he could still belt out the most iconic part of the song when he sang the song on stage.

You know what I’m talking about… that high pitched “female” voice telling us she has two tickets to see Iron Maiden (baby) that she wants to use on Friday – and for heaven’s sake, please don’t say “maybe” to her.

You might think Brown hired a woman for this part, but the truth is that he sang everything himself.

Speaking to The Guardian in 2019, Brown explained why he wanted to take on the role of Teenage Dirtbag.

Brendan B. Brown still enjoys playing the hit more than two decades later (YouTube/wheatusofficial)

He said: “The friend character was based on a nameless collection of the many asshole thugs who wanted to show you their father’s gun.”

“I sang both the male and female parts because a lot of bullies were homophobic when I was being beaten up. I wanted to annoy them by imitating a female voice.”

Good for you, Mr. Brown. And on behalf of all music fans around the world, thank you so much for giving us this iconic clip.

Although I have high praise for the singer’s vocal range, Brown revealed that he keeps getting the same annoying question about how he belts out that part of the song these days.

He is currently on a solo acoustic tour of the US with Gabrielle Sterbenz and explained that when he performs the Wheatus classic, fans ask him, “Is he doing this because he can’t sing it anymore?”

But fans wondered how he was able to sing the “female” part in Teenage Dirtbag on his acoustic tour (YouTube/wheatusofficial).

In case you’re wondering what people mean by “that,” Brown explained that he sang the female part of the song in a “higher harmony” because he couldn’t hear the original melody because of the loud singing of the crowd.

In a TikTok post on Sunday (July 21), the 50-year-old explained: “The thing is, of course, because the internet is the internet, at some point someone said to Matthew, ‘Is he doing this because he can’t sing it anymore?’

“The answer is no, I can still sing it. I’m very lucky in that respect, my voice still holds up at 50, I can still do all the falsetto voices. I get tired, I get sick, but that’s not the case here.

“And what happened here is that I tried to sing in a place where I could actually hear myself despite the crowd.”

He explained that this was not the work of “any effects, processors or harmonizers,” but merely the blaring tuner he wears.

The 50-year-old singer explained his “higher harmonies” on TikTok (TikTok/@wheatusofficial)

Brown continued, “So I’m making this video to hopefully clear that up for anyone who’s interested. Anyway, sometimes I really enjoy singing the higher harmonies, which are supposed to be harder but for some reason really aren’t.

“I think the reason I still have a consistent falsetto is because I started singing along to Prince, Geddy Lee, Cyndi Lauper and Bon Scott when I was seven or eight years old before my voice changed.

“My mother taught me how to harmonize at an early age because I would watch her singing harmonies on old Motown songs, and my grandmother would have done that too.

“That’s what happened in ‘Teenage Dirtbag’, I tried something new. I didn’t want to make anyone think I couldn’t do the original, I just wanted to hear myself.”

Social media users were thrilled to see Brown play his guitar and perform female vocals on camera, but were baffled that he even had to explain his singing skills.

One said: “Brendan’s vocal range simply knows no bounds.”

Another wrote: “The harmony is higher so how come you can’t sing the original? Stupid internet.”

A third added: “Why do they even say that? It’s HIGHER?”

And a fourth added: “The girl’s voice just scratches my brain in the right way.”

And a fifth chimed in: “My biggest regret in life is that I CANNOT sing falsetto. That’s why I’m SO jealous, of course.”