TikTok Star Rewrites Teenage Dirtbag from Noelle's Perspective

One of my favorite guilty pleasure songs from the 90s is Teenage Dirtbag from Wheatus - who will be in Evansville July 28th for a 103GBF Damn Loud Rock Show but more on that in a minute.

I love Teenage Dirtbag song so much it's in a pretty regular rotation in my personal playlists. Teenage Dirtbag is one of those songs that are just fun to sing along too but it's also really great because, while angsty, the song's protagonist, the self-proclaimed teenage dirtbag, ends up getting the girl.

If you're unfamiliar with Teenage Dirtbag or maybe you don't remember it all that well, it's written from the perspective of a high school kid who likes listening to Iron Maiden and who has a crush on a girl named Noelle. He sings about how he doesn't think Noelle even knows who he is and about how if her boyfriend, who's a total jerk, by the way, were to find out how much he likes her that he wouldn't exactly be very happy.

In a great turn of events, it turns out Noelle not only loves Iron Maiden too but she wants to go see the band with our angsty teen protagonist when she reveals at the high school prom that she's just a teenage dirtbag too. It's the fact that she sees in him what he can't see in himself that I think is so awesome. See the full lyrics from Wheatus below,

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Her name is Noelle
I have a dream about her
She rings my bell
I got gym class in half an hour
Oh, how she rocks
In Keds and tube socks
But she doesn't know who I am
And she doesn't give a damn about me
'Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby
Yeah, I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby
Listen to Iron Maiden, baby, with me
Oo-o-o-oo-o-oh
Her boyfriend's a dick
And he brings a gun to school
And he'd simply kick
My ass if he knew the truth
He lives on my block
And he drives an IROC
But he doesn't know who I am
And he doesn't give a damn about me
'Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby
Yeah, I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby
Listen to Iron Maiden, baby, with me
Oo-o-o-oo-o-oh
Oh yeah, dirtbag
No, she doesn't know what she's missing
Oh yeah, dirtbag
No, she doesn't know what she's missing
Man, I feel like mold
It's prom night and I am lonely
Lo and behold
She's walking over to me
This must be fake
My lip starts to shake
How does she know who I am?
And why does she give a damn about me?
I've got two tickets to Iron Maiden, baby
Come with me Friday, don't say maybe
I'm just a teenage dirtbag baby like you
Oo-o-oo-oh
Oh yeah, dirtbag
No, she doesn't know what she's missing
Oh yeah, dirtbag
No, she doesn't know what she's missing

Like I said, it's fun, it's quirky and it's totally 90s.

So imagine my surprise when I was flipping through TikTok and I stumbled across @JaxWritesSongs in my For You feed. Her about reads: "i write songs and tell dad jokes." and judging by her 2.5 million followers, she's killing it with her songs and her dad jokes. But what is she writing? She has a new song out called 90s Kids full of 90s pop culture references and admittedly it's pretty catchy and a lot of fun. Her other songs written from other people's perspectives set her apart on TikTok, garnering her such a massive fan base.

It was the video and song I found on TikTok from the perspective of Noelle, the subject of our angsty teen protagonist that I mentioned earlier, and set to the tune of Teenage Dirtbag. I immediately fell in love with the song and Jax's quirky style of writing and singing. She sings,

My boyfriend's a d*ck
he drives his dad's Ferrari
he likes to mix Gatorade and Bicardi
We're prom king and queen
but that doesn't mean
that he really knows who I am
Cuz he doesn't give a damn about me
cuz I'm just a teenage dirtbag baby
I'm just a teenage dirtbag baby
listen to Iron Maiden maybe with me

Watch the video of Jax performing the song and try not to sing along

Remember when I told you Wheatus is coming to Evansville? We are so excited to be presenting Everclear's Summerland Tour with special guests Living Colour, Wheatus and Hoobastank at the Victory Theatre, Wednesday, July 28th for a 103 GBF Damn Loud Rock Show. Tickets for that show are on sale now at the Ford Center box office and through Ticketmaster.