By: Ron Powers In 2000, Wheatus broke through with “Teenage Dirtbag,” a slacker-rock anthem built on crunchy guitar riffs and Brendan B. Brown’s outsider storytelling, turning adolescent alienation into a global alt-pop singalong. Originally a charting international hit and defining early-2000s coming-of-age track, the song found an unexpected second life decades later, surging across TikTok and Instagram as users paired sped-up clips with awkward throwback photos and teenage “outcast”...

By Ron Powers

By Ron Powers In 1997, Foo Fighters carved out one of alternative rock’s defining moments with “Everlong,” the second single from their breakthrough album The Colour and the Shape. Written by Dave Grohl during a period of personal upheaval, the song channels the rush of new love into a surging wall of guitars and melodic urgency. Peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Alternative chart and quickly becoming a staple of the band’s catalog, “Everlong” fused grunge grit with an almost dreamlike sense...