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Wheatus is the self-titled debut album by American rock band Wheatus. The majority of the songs were written by vocalist/guitarist Brendan B. Brown. It was recorded in the basement of Brown's mother's house and was produced by Wheatus and Philip A. Jimenez. Bassist Rich Liegey left the band and was replaced by Mike McCabe in July 2000. In the same month, "Teenage Dirtbag" was released as a single and peaked at number two in the UK and number seven in the U.S. The single was later certified platinum in the UK.

Wheatus was released through Columbia Records on August 15, 2000 and charted at number 76 in the U.S. and number seven in the UK, later reaching platinum status in the latter. "A Little Respect", an Erasure cover, was released as a single in July 2001 and charted at number three in the UK. "Wannabe Gangstar"/"Leroy", a double-A sided single, was released in January 2002 and peaked at number 22 in the UK. The band plan to perform the album front-to-back in the UK in September and October 2015.

Wheatus formed in late 1998 after vocalist/guitarist Brendan B. Brown left the skate-pop band Mr. Jones to write his own material. Brown brought in his younger brother, Peter, to play drums and Rich Leigey to play bass. Peter enjoyed the songs Brendan had written. Multi-instrumentalist and engineer Phil A. Jimenez wanted to work with Brown after hearing "Teenage Dirtbag". The following week, Jimenez was at band rehearsal, appreciating every song. The energy "of the pop elements" in addition to "the story-telling and the social commentary" made Jimenez feel like he "really wanted to be a part of [the band]."

All of the material on Wheatus was written by Brendan B. Brown, except for "Punk Ass Bitch", which was written by bassist Rich Liegey, and their cover of Erasure's "A Little Respect", which was written by Vince Clarke and Andy Bell. The song titles came to Brown first with the subject matter following as he considered the name "an emotional blueprint". Brown mentioned that the beat in "Teenage Dirtbag" was "sort of a hip-hop thing" and that the guitars "are definitely heavy metal". Brown had the chorus melody and the "oh yeah" section before finishing the song's lyrics, it was "one of those once-in-a-lifetime melodies that works for every reason." Brown claimed the song was autobiographical, however, none of the band members "wound up getting the girl in the end. So I guess that's the inspiration—the hope that that happens to someone someday."

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