She had two tickets to Iron Maiden baby…
In terms of ‘songs that everyone has heard’, Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus is right up there with Mr Brightside and Bohemian Rhapsody.
And if there’s one line that sticks out more than the rest, it’s probably the iconic lyric where the self-identified ‘teenage dirtbag’ is approached by the girl of his admiration, who lets him know she’s got two tickets to Iron Maiden (baby.)
But have you ever wondered who the girl’s voice belonged to?
Wheatus frontman Brendan B Brown has previously spoken about how he wrote Teenage Dirtbag while “lying on a futon staring at the ceiling in a rented apartment on Long Island, New York.”
He’s said the song was built on ideas of the traditional American high school experience of the 80s – with Brown having gone to an all-male boarding school in his teenage years – and that he’d had the riff in his head “since college.”
So, having also been inspired by prom date fantasies and movies such as The Breakfast Club, Brown wrote a female part into the song to give the song it’s iconic finale.
Some of you may have just assumed over the years that the girl’s voice was provided by a female singer in the studio, or some technological wizardry to distort Brown’s voice.
In fact, Brown provided both parts himself, with no outside help.
As you can see below in a rendition of the song from a couple of years ago, Brown simply takes a deep breath before raising his voice a few octaves to sing: “I got two tickets to Iron Maiden baby, come with me Friday, don’t say maybe.”
In the comments, many voiced how impressed they were with Brown’s vocal ability.
One person wrote: “What a vocal range this man has.”
Another said: “After so many years he still managed to deliver the same pitch and note he did on the audio. What a pro, gave me a lot of goosebumps and the nostalgia is totally of the charts.”
A third said: “It makes me genuinely happy to hear that his voice has held up over time. So many rock singers wither away, but they’ve stayed seriously solid!”
Related links:
Smash Mouth singer Steve Harwell dead aged 56
Dog runs away from home then watches entire Metallica show
Michael Jackson’s ‘real voice’ revealed after being called out for faking high-pitched one
