In news no one ever expected, Wheatus are offering an engineering credit to anyone who can track down the keyboard sound from their breakthrough single, ‘Teenage Dirtbag’.
Back in 2000, one of the year’s biggest singles was none other than ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ by Wheatus. If you reckon the band was something of a one-hit wonder, you might be right, but that didn’t stop the song topping the ARIA charts and even hitting #4 in that year’s Hottest 100.
However, while fans have written the group off due to their lack of a chart-topping follow-up, the group have continued on, releasing some rather brilliant albums as the years have gone on.
Now, as we approach the 20th anniversary of their debut record, the band have set fans a seemingly-simple task to help them track down the keyboard sound from their biggest hit.
Check out the band’s Tweets:
(1/3) please help us find the keyboard sound from Teenage Dirtbag.
Like many of the master tracks it’s been lost. What makes it uniquely hard to recreate is the fact that it wasn’t my keyboard (long story).
ANYWAY. I’m talking about the Blip Blip Blip sound after “…my bell”
— wheatus (@wheatus) September 8, 2019
(3/3) I still have all the gear that made the record in 1996-2000…still have my voice…my Martin SP00016r, the Sansamps, the Joe Meek VC1.
You find that exact keyboard sound & you’ll get an engineering credit on the 2020 reissue of our 1st record….not even close to kidding.
— wheatus (@wheatus) September 8, 2019
Please help us find the keyboard sound from ‘Teenage Dirtbag’,” the group requested on Twitter. “Like many of the master tracks it’s been lost.
Noting that the sound appears only briefly in the song, Wheatus explained that they’ve been unable to recreate the sound due to having borrowed a keyboard during the song’s recording, and that that’s where everything seems to come to a halt.
“I have memories of it being an 80’s Akai Hammond Organ emulator but I could be wrong,” they wrote. “It sounds like an 8 or 12bit sound to us but we could be wrong. THIS IS THE MISSING PIECE.
“I still have all the gear that made the record in 1996-2000…still have my voice…my Martin SP00016r, the Sansamps, the Joe Meek VC1.”
However, the search has become so desperate that Wheatus have even offered fans a credit on the song when they (hopefully) reissue the album next year.
“You find that exact keyboard sound & you’ll get an engineering credit on the 2020 reissue of our 1st record….not even close to kidding.”
So far, plenty of fans have come out of the woodwork to try their best to track down the sound. While one person used spectogram editing software to isolate the sound (so that people know what they’re actually looking for), others have theorised that the instrument in question may be a Roland JX.
Wheatus themselves have stated that the “Closest candidate so far is Korg DS8, the patch titled, ‘Organ 2′”, but the search continues.
In related news, Wheatus were set to make their first trip to Australia since 2012 two years ago alongside a lineup that included Lit, Alien Ant Farm, Hoobastank, and CKY. Sadly, the tour was cancelled with “logistical issues” cited as the reason.
While there’s no word as to when they might return to our shores, here’s hoping the 20th anniversary of ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ might bring them down under once more!
Check out ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ by Wheatus:
