<P> The song was massively successful in Australia, spending four weeks at number 1, being certified 3 × Platinum and becoming the second best - selling single of the year . It also reached number 2 in Ireland, Germany and the United Kingdom, where it was certified Platinum in 2013 . It has sold 5 million copies worldwide as of 2014 . </P> <P> "Teenage Dirtbag" is about a childhood experience that Wheatus frontman Brendan B. Brown had . In a 2012 interview with Tone Deaf, he said: "It came from the summer of 1984 on Long Island, when I was 10 years old . That summer in the woods behind my house, there was a Satanic, drug - induced ritual teen homicide that went down; and the kid who did it was called Ricky Kasso, and he was arrested wearing an AC / DC T - shirt . That made all the papers, and the television, obviously; and here I was, 10 years old, walking around with a case full of AC / DC and Iron Maiden and Metallica (songs)--and all the parents and the teachers and the cops thought I was some kind of Satan worshipper . So that's the backdrop for that song ." Brown also added that the song's sing - a-long chorus remains an act of defiance: "so when I sing:' I'm just a teenage dirtbag', I'm effectively saying:' Yeah, fuck you if you don't like it . Just because I like AC / DC doesn't mean I'm a devil worshipper, and you're an idiot .' That's where it comes from ." </P> <P> In the same interview, regarding on the possible reasons for its continued success, Brown recalled his father's words: "Every teenager has to go through that' being an outsider' thing, at least a little bit . So that story is still the same for people, even if it's thirty years after I went through it ." </P> <P> The song is performed by Brown, including the segment in a high pitched falsetto voice . When the group arranged a joint tour with MC Frontalot, MC Frontalot contributed a nerdcore rap verse to the song, as did MC Lars . </P>

Who sang the song loser in the 90s