American alternative rock band Wheatus was formed by Newport, New York musician Brendan B. Brown in 1995 with his brother, Pete Brown. The group is best known for this song, which Brendan Brown explained is about, "a skinny guy with a mullet who probably didn't have a lot of friends."
It is a funny thing to describe the song using a character with a specific odd hairstyle and no friends. Well, the song personally gives me a nostalgic trip down memory lane to high school and all other movies with the classic “I like you but you don’t like me back situation.” Okay, so when it comes to movies with plots like this one, for example, a nerdy geek in love with the popular girl who sadly has an even more popular boyfriend, the song is a perfect fit.
The song features in the opening titles of the 2000 Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari starring romantic comedy film “Loser.” The song's music video alludes to the movie “Loser” and features Jason Biggs playing a nerdy character similar to that in the film with Mena Suvari as the love interest.
The single was especially successful in Australia, where it spent four weeks at #1 and became the second-highest selling single of 2000. After peaking at #2 with this song, Wheatus achieved two more Top 40 singles in the UK. A cover of Erasure's "A Little Respect" reached #3, but their third single, a double A-side of "Leroy" and "Wannabe Gangstar," only reached #22. Though Wheatus didn't enter the UK top 40 again with any fresh material, this song has returned to the chart on a couple of occasions. Speculating to Tone Deaf 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." This is probably because the theme of this song is universal in a sense that a situation like this happens to teenagers on every generation.
This song might not be deep and thought provoking but it captures that the narrator is feeling plus it has a smart humor when you take a look at the lyrics. It was written simple and easy to understand but it comprises a movie-like story with a happy ending wherein the popular girl walks to the nerd guy during prom and asks him to see Iron Maiden. So, all the “losers” out there, I tell you don’t lose hope and make this song your high school life anthem! And to all the popular girls out there shunning the nerdy geeks, I tell you this maybe “you don’t know what you’re missing.”
