"Scotty Doesn't Know" is a song written and performed by the American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Lustra Lustra may refer to: *Lustrum (plural "Lustra"), a period of five years. *Lustra, poetry, by Ezra Pound. *Lustra, Campania Lustra is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno, in the Campania region of south-western Italy. Geography The m ...

. Originally written for the 2004 film '' EuroTrip'', the song contains numerous lewd and humorous references to how Scotty's girlfriend, Fiona, has been cheating on him with other partners for an extended period of time. Ironically, despite Fiona's seemingly obvious affairs, Scotty remains oblivious. Lyrically the song is inspired by the real-life story of the band's high school friend Sheridon, whose middle name was Scotty and is written from the perspective of the person with whom she is having the affair. The song was eventually released on Lustra's 2006 album ''Left for Dead''. The song peaked at #53 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Pop chart, #39 on the Digital Songs chart and at #75 on the Hot 100, mainly due to the high amount of digital downloads. In 2018, the song received widespread attention in Australia after featuring in the hijacking of the official website of

Scott Morrison Scott John Morrison (; born 13 May 1968) is an Australian politician. He served as the 30th prime minister of Australia and as Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia from 2018 to 2022, and is currently the member of parliament (MP) for th ...

, the country's

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

at the time.

''EuroTrip''

In the film ''EuroTrip'', Scotty ( Scott Mechlowicz) is dumped by his girlfriend Fiona (

Kristin Kreuk Kristin Laura Kreuk (; born December 30, 1982) is a Canadian actress. Debuting on teen drama '' Edgemont'', she became most known for her roles as Lana Lang in the superhero television series ''Smallville'' (2001–2011), also as Catherine Chan ...

) for a band's lead singer (

Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon (; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. Ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars, the films in which he has appeared have collectively earned over $3.88 billion at the North Ameri ...

). The band performs the song at a party Scotty is attending and the song is praised by many characters in the film (including Scotty's parents and eventually Scotty himself) as being "catchy". The song becomes something of a popular phenomenon, appearing on the radio and across the world; in Bratislava, the song has been remixed and is playing in a popular

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

. By the end of the film, it has become so widespread and popular that Scotty's best friend Cooper is able to use it as his cell phone

ring tone A ringtone, ring tone or ring is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call. Originally referring to and made by the electromechanical striking of bells, the term now refers to any sound on any device alerting of a new incoming ...

Writing

''EuroTrip'' film director

Jeff Schaffer Jeff Schaffer (born ) is an American film and television director, writer, and producer. Early life and education Schaffer and his brother Greg (also a film and TV writer and producer) were raised in the Warren–Howland, Ohio area, about ea ...

described "Scotty Doesn't Know" as "what’s the most embarrassing thing you could do that could happen to you after graduation?". Film writer

David Mandel David Mandel (born ) is writer, actor, director, and producer. He was an executive producer and showrunner of '' Veep'', and was also an executive producer and director of '' Curb Your Enthusiasm'' and '' Seinfeld''. He is also a comedian, an ...

, members of

, and Damon attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

together. The producers chose Lustra's version over another song written by

Matt Mahaffey Matt Mahaffey (born June 9, 1973) is an American multi-instrumentalist, record producer, composer, and recording engineer best known for his band Self and his composer collective Cake In Space. Personal Mahaffey grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee ...

Self The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhoo ...

, in which "Scotty Doesn't Know" also repeats in the chorus.

Legacy

While ''EuroTrip'' was not successful in theaters, it did well on

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

and became a

cult classic A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

. In 2006 "Scotty Doesn't Know" hit the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streamin ...

, making Lustra among the first unsigned bands, other than

Lisa Loeb Lisa Loeb (; born March 11, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author and actress. She started her career with the number 1 hit song "Stay (I Missed You)" from the film '' Reality Bites,'' the first number 1 single for an artist ...

, to appear on a

record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

. On October 18, 2018, the Prime Minister of Australia,

, had his personal website taken over as a prank after his ownership of it was apparently allowed to lapse. Instead of displaying information about the Prime Minister and his policies, the page displayed an image of Morrison with the song "Scotty Doesn't Know" playing on repeat. The man behind the website claimed to have paid for the

domain name A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...

Chart positions

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2003 songs 2006 singles Lustra (band) songs Internet memes introduced in 2018 Political Internet memes Practical jokes Scott Morrison Songs about fictional male characters Songs about infidelity Songs written for films