Encore: The Stories Behind The Songs You Love

Don't Say Maybe: The True Story of Wheatus' 'Teenage Dirtbag'

Encore: The Stories Behind The Songs You Love

Show Notes

Nostalgia is one hell of a drug - and music is the best carrier of that magic elixir directly into our brains. While pretty much any song can be propped up as a totem of days past - sometimes songs feel specifically engineered to bring us back to a place and time. While many songs that we’ve covered over the course of this podcast distill the feelings high school awkwardness and teenage angst; (I’m looking at you, Simple Plan and Jimmy Eat World) there’s no song that declares itself as loudly and proudly as a nostalgic teenage anthem like the certified grandaddy of them all - Wheatus’ anthemic ode to lovable Losers everywhere - 2000’s Teenage Dirtbag. Written by Clayton Taylor for iHeartRadio.

More from Encore: The Stories Behind The Songs You Love

Jul 31, 2026

Thank you for listening to this special season of Encore! Peter Peter & Scotty Taylor sit down with iHeartRadio Canada’s Ruby Carr to talk about the music choices in “Heated Rivalry” & if they will be taking part of season 2. Peter Peter and Scotty Taylor talk about what makes the soundtrack really special and how it adds to the magic of the show. Peter Peter walks Ruby through the creation of “It's You”. They share more about their experience working with Jacob Tierney and if they ever had any creative diffrences. Peter Peter speaks about the decision he made with Jacob Tierney to not have lots of music in episode 6. Peter Peter and Scotty Taylor uncover whether or not they will be taking part of “Heated Rivalry” Season 2. Scotty talks about how he would get clearance for ‘Mozart Requiem’ following Jacob Tierney's announcement. He also shares if Sienna Spiro is possibly on their radar after the fan edits to her songs.

Jul 24, 2026

Welcome to a special HEATED RIVALRY Edition of Encore, where we celebrate the most popular songs featured in the hit CRAVE Original Series! This week - we’ve got the story behind ANOTHER one of the most beloved songs to feature in the series - TATU’S 2002 Hit ‘All The Things She Said’ and it’s modern reimagining by Harrison! A bit of viewer discretion off the top - the story of this song is quite the dark one, with twists and turns and controversy that has seen the track become mired in urban legend long before Heated Rivalry foisted it into the spotlight in its fourth episode. And we’re going to talk about all of it so buckle up... #tatu #allthethingsshesaid #harrison #jacobtierney #heatedrivalry ______________________ Written by Clayton Taylor for iHeartRadio t.A.T.u 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane Album Cover Interscope Departure Festival Panel Footage Courtesy Departure Festival 2026

Jul 17, 2026

Welcome to a special Heated Rivalry edition of Encore, where we take you behind the songs you love from the show you love more than just about anything. This week we look at Wolf Parade’s “I’ll Believe In Anything,” a song that has become a hit 20-plus years after its original release. In case you’re one of the many Heated Rivalry fans who discovered Wolf Parade through that HUGE MOMENT that occurs in the INCOMPARABLE episode 5, I’m here to tell you all about how they went from starting the band in a small Montreal apartment to being featured on the soundtrack of the TV series everyone has been talking about.

Jul 10, 2026

Welcome to a special HEATED RIVALRY Edition of Encore, where we celebrate the most popular songs featured in the hit CRAVE Original Series! This week - we’ve got the story behind one of the most beloved songs in the series - Feist’s 2007 banger ‘My Moon My Man’ While the song has certainly taken the world by storm thanks to the pivotal and LONG scene in Episode 4 of Heated Rivalry, every Millennial on the planet knows that My Moon My Man is not the first time a perfectly-positioned Feist song has entered the worldwide zeitgeist. Written by Clayton Taylor for iHeartRadio.

Nov 27, 2025

Formed in Vancouver by Trevor Guthrie, David Bowman and Ken Lewko, Indecision would sign with Universal Music and rebrand themselves as soulDecsion (lowercase S, uppercase D) in 1999 as to avoid conflict with an American band who had already squatted on the name. Styled and Marketed as a boyband for their year 2000 debut album ‘No One Does it Better’ soulDecision were absolutely not one when it came to their sound, or their overall musical ethos. This is the story of their massive hit 'Faded' with newly unearthed audio from the band themselves. Written by Clayton Taylor for iHeartRadio

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