July 30, 2025 • 51 mins
This week we're joined by Justin from Pop Culture Reflections Podcast to reflect on the monumental loss of three cultural giants who shaped our childhoods and left a huge mark on pop culture: Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Ozzy Osbourne, and Hulk Hogan. It's a celebration, a reflection, and a thank-you to three unforgettable figures who helped shape what it meant to grow up in the greatest decade of them all.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:18):
Welcome back to Children of the Eighties. I am one
of your hosts, Jim, and I am joined as always
by the lady who loves to bring our audience down
by constantly talking about death. It's my co host, Lindsay.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I so wondered where you were going with that for
a second, but I should have known.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
This is an episode all about Dad.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Yes, and so you're super excited about that, I'm sure.
And I would like to also introduce we have a
guest tonight, making his return for his third appearance on
the podcast, the host of the Pop Culture Reflections podcast.
It's our good friend Justin.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
How you doing, I'm great, Thanks for having me. I
wish I was here for maybe something a little bit lighter,
a little bit more happy, but oh well, this happens.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Well.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
I figured you've got so many like uh Friday the
Thirteenth references and Killer Clown from outer Space in your
background that talking about death probably wouldn't be so terrible,
especially when we're talking about certain icons from the eighties.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
That's true. I'm all about horror, so you know that's
part of that.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
So you've heard that that U two song Angel of Harlem,
right about Billy Holliday.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
Yeah. Probably.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
I don't know if I know it by title, but
I probably know it.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
It's a horrible song. I don't know where he's go.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
It's not a terrible song. But I'm thinking that Bono
should write a song about you called Angel of Death,
Me You, Me You, because you always like to talk
about death. Every time we start a podcast, You're like,
so and so died last night, so you know this
person died, and so that's that's Lindsay's thing.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
We were actually on vacation last week when we slowly
but surely started losing these eighties icons, and I said
at the time when we got to number two, I
let emmy know. I'm like, well, get ready because they
die in threes. And of course at the time she
was like, what do you mean, how do you know?
(02:20):
How is this possible? I think one of the questions was, well,
how does the third person.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Know it's time to die? Yeah, it was like, listen,
I don't.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Know the logistics, but celebrities die in threes. And then sadly,
when that third one hit, she was basically it was
like I had predicted the future. I was all knowing
then at that point, so it was a rough week
for children who grew up.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
In the eighties.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, uh, how'd you do with hearing the news justin.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Uh well, like like Lindsey said, I mean, it's commonplace
that these celebrities seemed to go out in threes within
a week or a couple of weeks apart, it seems
when this happens.
Speaker 5 (03:01):
So I think with the round of.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
You know, celebrity or iconic deaths that we got this time,
I think it really hit home about how many of
these icons from our childhood that are dropping off. Like
you'll have these months where we'll lose a couple that
maybe were not quite of my generation, maybe a generation before,
or you know, or it's just a freak thing. But
when you start getting these icons that were big during
(03:27):
that era and we're losing them more and more.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
It it's a mortality thing.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
You know.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
You start thinking about you know, granted we're a little
younger that some of these people had passed, but it
starts getting you thinking dark things, and it's not fun
when you start losing these icons that you know, when
you think about it as kids, they just seem like
they are immortal, right, Like we would never lose these
people so it's it's a bit shocking to the system.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
I would say, if nothing else.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Kind of like a little bit of your childhood has died, right.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
That is a great way to put it. And you know, Ozzie,
it's sad.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
But he had been dealing with a lot of health
issues for a long time and he was older Aull Cogan,
older boy Malcolm Jamal Warner.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, that was that was the one that I don't
know if that hit me the hardest.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Guys he's our age, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
But that was that was certainly shocking. I saw him
trending on Twitter and I'm like, what's going on here,
Like maybe he's got a new show or something, and
it was like, nope, he uh he left us, so
uh not good stuff.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
But now that one, that one was a bit of
a gut punch because of the circumstances behind it as well.
And like Lindsay said, this guy was not you know,
he was not older, he did not have health issues really,
so that one really hurts.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Yes, yes, absolutely, because I started wondering, like what what happened?
And then and then I found out and we'll get
into that in a few minutes. But that was just
like whoa. But yeah, Well, Lindsay, are you ready to
get started?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
I'm ready?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Okay, here we go.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
This is a podcast that looks back on the decade
of the nineteen eighties. We talk about things that were
important to us as children and what we look back
on with fond memories as adults. Ultimately, this is a
nostalgia slash death podcast.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
All right, So, Lindsey, you said you wanted to kick
off our first celebrity that died on the twenty first
wast or was it the twentieth?
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Was the twenty first.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Last Monday Welcome, Jamal Warner passed away unexpectedly in a
drowning accident in Costa Rica last week.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
That one probably sounds familiar to Justin there since he
was on our Last time he was on our podcast
was that TV theme songs, And he actually got to
rate The Cosby Show.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
So I think the actors of The Cosby Show, as
well as just the TV show itself, gets a raw
deal on this podcast because I won't talk about it
because of Phil Cosby, and that's probably kind of not
fair because they were such a big part of our childhood.
And so I wrote a little something. You wrote a
(06:31):
little something, little something like a poem or something g
four him. Do you mind nor ahead? Okay, because now
I'm a little nervous because you're giving me the look.
So I want to take a moment to honor someone
who meant a lot to children of the eighties, Malcolm
Jamal Warner. Most of us first met Malcolm as Theo
(06:51):
Huxtable on The Cosby Show, and to me, Theo felt
like the brother that I never had. He was funny,
he was cool, he was kind of clueless, he made mistakes,
he got called out, he learned, and he kept going.
Watching him grow up on screen felt like growing up
right alongside him. And as we all grow older, we
got to see Malcolm grow up too. He evolved into
(07:14):
this incredible artist and Emmy winning actor, a spoken word poet,
a thoughtful musician, a director, a storyteller, and even in
recent years, a podcaster.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
It's hard to believe he's gone.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
It's a strange feeling to lose a child celebrity from
your own childhood. So today I just want to say
thank you to Malcolm. Thank you for playing the character
of Theo so well that this little blonde haired white
girl who grew up in the South, felt like she
was part of the Huxtable clan and rest easy, Malcolm
mayor like continue to shine for generations to come.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
That was pretty good, Thank you.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
I was more than pretty good.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
I don't think any of us can say anything better
about him than what you just did, Lindsey Blot, I
will say you brought up the idea that he was
the brother you never had. And that's the thing with
him that I loved so much is that he felt
so relatable to me, even if I, you know, didn't
have the same family dynamics that he had, you know,
or that his character did. There was a relatability and
(08:18):
a kindness and a cluelessness like you said that I
enjoy for an eighties comedy sitcom. But when I think
about like all the programs during that era, and there's
a lot of characters that quite honestly, for and I'm
not gonna get too much into my personal background, but
a lot of the characters I couldn't quite relate to,
and THEO was one that I could, and I think
(08:38):
that's why I always loved him so much. And then
to find out much later how good of a guy
he was and how talented he was, and the artist
that he was just made me, you know, I appreciate
him even more. And what makes this so hard that
he that we lost him at such a young age.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Yeah, I would agree with that, justin you know, he
was the only boy of the five children on that show,
which I think mirrored Bill Cosby's life, right, didn't he
only have one boy and four girls? And didn't the
son die too? So it's so terrible how art imitates
life in this situation. But yeah, I love the character
(09:18):
of THEO. I could relate to him because he was
a boy, because he did stupid things and his dad
would holler at him and then talk to him, and
that felt like me, Right, I'd do stupid things and
my dad would be like, God gave you a brain,
use its son, you know, And it's like, you know,
I can't tell you how many times I heard that.
And then once my dad heard Bill Cosby tell him
(09:42):
or Cliff Huxtable tell him, boy, I brought you into
this world and I can take you out. He would
use that for the rest of my childhood as well.
So very relatable, just a great character. He was the
one that I related to most and I almost felt
like he was the third star of the show after
the parents. Even though they would feature each of the kids,
(10:03):
I felt like they featured THEO a little bit more
because he was the only boy.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Yeah, he had that relationship, yes with Cliff Huxtable.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
So one thing that I noticed when I sat down
and to start thinking about doing this episode. Some of
my favorite Cosby Show episodes centered around THEO. Really, yeah,
because you think about the episode where who was it
made him the shirt? It was it Denise made him
the shirt and it was all messed up, so that,
(10:34):
you know, that one was my favorite, the one where
he got the ear ring. He went against what his
parents wanted and he went and got his ear pierced,
and the whole scene where Cliff comes in and he's
trying to casually see, you know, to see if it
was pierced, and Theo's casually trying to keep him from
seeing it. And so yeah, probably my all time favorite
Cosby Show episode. He had been like smartened off to
(10:59):
his parents or cocky or something and went to spend
the night at a friend's house and he came home
the next morning and they had revamped the whole house
and it was an apartment complex and he had to
rent a room.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
And buy his food. I loved that episode.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I still love that episode, and boy is that not
a hard lesson to learn As a teenager.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Cliff Huxtable would say, you are not rich. I am rich.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Nothing.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
I love it, justin any more thoughts on Malcolm Jamal
Warner or the character THEO.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Yeah, I mean I wish I could elaborate more, but honestly,
I haven't watched The Cosby Show since I was a kid,
so you know some of the stuff. I vaguely remember
some of the characters, and you know some of the
beats of the show. But for the most part, a
lot of it. It's been so long that I just
am not connected with it anymore. But going back to
what I said earlier, and much like Lindsay said, like
when I think of that show, I think of him.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
I think of I think of Bill Cosby.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Obviously it was the star of the show, but I
also think of THEO, and I think a lot of
it goes back to the relatability. And I don't know
it was just I was an only child, so like
him being the only boy again, I think I could
relate to that. So some of the Shenanigans and stuff
like was so always so fun to me with that show.
So yeah, I mean that's probably about it. And like
I said, again, just the the talent.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
That he was.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
You know, maybe he wasn't you know, in the limelight
you know, you know, recent years, and and did stuff
that was a little bit more personal. But I think
that we lost a great talent in him, and he
you know, he will be missed.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Rest in peace for surely.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Yeah, that one, that one hurt. This next one wasn't
as shocking, but still, you know, sad because it's an
icon of the eighties. Here we go. We lost Ozzy
(13:18):
Osbourne just what a week or two after his farewell
concert justin Were you an Ozzie fan growing up?
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (13:28):
So, No, I probably have come to appreciate Ozzie Moore
as an adult. I will say, however, did I hear
his music? Absolutely, especially his solo stuff like Black Sabbath
is what it is, and I like them. There's some
of their stuff that I enjoyed, but his solo work
is really what I connect with, probably more than anything,
because I remember hanging out in the neighborhood and his
(13:50):
songs will be playing, you know, whether it's No More
Tears or Bark at the Moon, all that type of stuff.
Was just a regular I remember being at the swimming
pool in the summers and during the summer, and specifically
I remember the summer of ninety one and here in
No More Tears at the swimming pool of the public
pool all the time and really connect with that song especially.
(14:10):
But yeah, probably as I became an adult going back
to it, I appreciate it more than I did as
a kid, because it just wasn't my style.
Speaker 5 (14:18):
Of music in the eighties and early nineties.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
But definitely now I appreciate what he was as a musician,
and obviously we'll get into it, but the icon that
he is just overall in pop culture for that.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Matter, Yeah, I'm with you on that. I wasn't a
huge jazzi fan growing up. I had heard some Black Sabbath,
I had heard some Ausie, you know, late eighties, they
kind of played him a little bit more on the
radio because he went a little bit softer, and so
they were playing him a little bit more on the
pop stations, and so I'd hear him there. But I
(14:50):
wasn't a huge jazzi fan growing up. But like you,
justin as I got older, I've begun to appreciate his
talent and his music so well, especially after you see
him in What the Osbourne's on the MTV show, right,
and you couldn't understand a word he said, But then
he'd get on the microphone and sing clear as a bell.
You could understand every single word he ever sang or smoke,
(15:13):
which is the complete opposite of most singers. Most of
them I can't understand what they're saying, but Ozzy was
clear as day.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
So my introduction to Ozzy Osbourne was through watching the
MTV The Osbourne's, which was on in the early two thousands,
and I watched that show religiously, and I thought he
was hysterical because he did just kind of putter around
the house and mumble and you know, every other word
was the F bomb, and he was just seemed like
(15:41):
he was, you know, just the the curmudgeonly old man,
and I just thought he was a hoot. And so
that was my first introduction to him. A little bit later,
when you're in your twenties and you kind of get
to that point where you're sort of second guessing some
life decisions and you're like, am I gonna make.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
It in life?
Speaker 2 (16:01):
I actually started listening to a little bit of Ozzy
kind of to get myself pumped up sometimes, and so
I do think back on those memories and it makes
me smile.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
I bet that's something you never knew, did you.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
It's something that I never knew that I am today
years old when I found this out there, you go
that you listened to Ozzie to get pumped up. You
sound like my uh stoner friends back in high school
that loved Ozzie. So yeah, I mean, this wasn't shocking though, right.
I mean, he was older, he had health problems.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
So it was not shocking.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
I mean because he had been dealing with a lot
of health issues for a long time. But I will
say it's shocking because we just saw him do his
farewell concert like two weeks ago. So I feel like
most people who are that close to passing away aren't
capable of putting on a show like he did, and
with just a short time span left to go in life.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
So because of that, it was a little shocking.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Yeah, I think, I think when you go from performing
like that to passing away like this in such a
short period of time as a little shocking, but I
will I will say, like just going back like last
year and seeing clips of him and stuff, he didn't
look great. So I'm like, I know what Jim means,
(17:26):
Like you could feel that he was not in a
good place.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
Was he was? It Parkinson's Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
So it's like, yeah, and in this way, I'm glad
he's not suffering anymore.
Speaker 5 (17:37):
But it's still you get to reflect.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
In moments like this about how much someone like this
means to pop culture and music and and but because
like when you think about him, I'm blown away by
He starts his career as a musician way back in
the I'm pretty sure probably early seventies, if I remember
late sixties, early seventies is probably when he first got
into music. And he has this great band, he does
(18:03):
the solo thing. He becomes this rock god in a
lot of ways, and then he even starts up a
music festival in his own name. He has the reality
television show, which kind of is the template for a
lot of reality television shows that would come after the fact.
To think that he accomplished all these things and meant
this much to you know, to pop culture, into all
(18:25):
these different audiences is really freaking cool. I mean, even
his kids have become pretty semi famous, you know, through
all of this.
Speaker 5 (18:33):
Through that reality TV show.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
So I think it says a lot about his legacy
and I think it'll be carried on and I love
that for him.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yeah, absolutely, I agree. But think about this, guys, how
badass is it that basically Ozzy Osbourne did his own
eulogy with his final concert.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
True?
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yeah, I mean I think he knew he went out
on his own terms, and I.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
That's doesn't get much cooler than that.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
There are certain characters in life who were made to
do something right, and when they're done doing that, it's
almost like they die. I think. You know, Ozzie did
his farewell concert a week later, he passes away. Bear
Bryant coached football for so long, right, and for so
long at Alabama, and just a few months after him retiring,
(19:32):
he passed away. I think Lyndon Johnson passed away not
long after being president. You know, there's just these things
where it's there's such an identity with what they do
and who they are that when they lose that, it's
almost like they lose their will to live and I'm
not saying that any of these people right right now,
when you know, on their own terms, but it's just like, okay,
(19:55):
it's almost like, Okay, I've accomplished everything that I was
meant to accomplish, and now we'll just see where the
chips lie and see. So Justin, Lindsey wants me to
get back into baseball, right because I coached baseball for many,
many years and I retired about ten years ago, and
she's like, you need to get back, you need to
get back. But I feel like if I get back,
I love baseball so much. Look, I'm dying so much
(20:17):
that when I get done, it's just like that's up.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I'm dead.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
Yeah, you'll be featured on Children of the Eighties in
one of their sub series about death.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
Huh, we don't want that him.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
You're gonna say, well, you have co host with me, Justin,
I'll need.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
A co Yeah, I suppose I will.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
I don't want it to come to that, but I'll
take one for the team, I guess.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Oh, but think about I'm gonna okay, I'm gonna say
something that makes me sound like such an old person.
This is such an old person thing to say every
generation says this, but they just don't make musicians like
Ozzie anymore. They don't make there are bands like Black
Sabbath anymore. I'm sorry, it's this crap kids are listening
(20:59):
to these days.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
I'll come, I'll come.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
I'll come to their defense a little bit, because I
actually do like some modern music.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
I think there's I do.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
I think there's a lot of great artists out there,
you just have to seek them out. And some of
that I'm gonna credit a lot of it to my
podcast because, you know, Greg Howey and I who's my
co host on our sub series, We've been doing a
lot of music discovery episodes where like I introduce music
to him and he does to me. And I've come
across a lot of and it's not just that. It's
(21:31):
with doing that and listening to these artists on Spotify
and then checking out, you know, artists that they suggest
I should listen to based on what I'm currently listening to.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
And I have discovered a lot of artists.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
And I'll give my daughter credit for introducing me to
some of these artists at first as well that I'm like, no,
I'm not into your type of music, and I give
them a chance, because I'm trying to discover more and
more music, and I have come across a lot of
great artists that are making music today that I'm not
saying that we have a Black Sabbath type you know
band right now, But I think there's definitely artists out
(22:05):
there making good music that you just have to seek
it out a little bit. But I'll tell you I've
already listened to a couple uh bands and and indie
artists that I found more recently that are making music
that almost brings back like like a New Waves sound
from the eighties and stuff.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
So there's stuff there. Oh, you just have to find it.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
So I I think what your mindset is, Oh, if
they're playing crap on the pop station, then all music
today is crap, right, And I think Justin's saying that
these good artists that he's finding, he's probably not finding
on the pop stations.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Correct.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
Yes, Yeah, So.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
I'm an old person. I don't know how to go
and find some new person somewhere.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Oh so, Uh, sadly we lost Ozzy. Ozzy, rest in
peace one more time for us. Please tell uh tell
Sharon you're coming home times.
Speaker 6 (22:57):
Goodbye you could have been a better friends in me, Mom,
I'm coming home.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
You took me.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
And can we just you know, I always have to
throw in one last thing you do. Can we just
take a moment to acknowledge their love story because they
lived a very real life.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
They didn't always get.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Along, they weren't always together, but they made it last.
And I think that that's something to acknowledge.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
It is, and it from what I could tell, it
seemed like the two of them really loved each other.
Speaker 5 (23:41):
And I know she took care of him.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Yeah, and it it's I'm that's part of the reason.
I'm so happy that they chose to do that, that
that television program, that reality television program, if you will,
because we got to see a little bit about that
relationship and just the whole family, and they are very
lovable and I think Sharon's amazing, and so I'm glad
you brought that up, because Yeah, there's a lot to
(24:03):
be said there because I loved what they had going on,
and I feel awful for her obviously, and the kids.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yeah, never easy to lose, you know, family members. All Right,
it's time for our main event. Brother.
Speaker 7 (24:19):
I am a real Erican fight for the rights of
every man. I am a real American, fight for what's right,
fight for your line.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Lindsey and I kept wondering, who's going to be the third?
Speaker 4 (24:38):
Right?
Speaker 1 (24:39):
I think Malcolm Jamal Warren left us on Monday, Ozzie
on Tuesday, and then we sat around for a couple
of days going who's going to be the third? And
of course it's always the main eventory. So we are
at Dollywood on Thursday and I've got terrible reception up there.
But all of a sudden, I don't remember if I
(25:00):
got a text or if I saw it on Twitter,
rip Hull.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Cogan and he immediately comes to me and I see
like the emotion in his eyes and he was like,
we've got our third one.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
And I was like, oh, who is it? He was like,
I think you should sit down.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Well, if I need to sit down, it's Tom Selleck.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
So I'm instantly like, oh my gosh, who is it?
Just tell me I don't like, no, I think you
need to sit down.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Yeah. So I get a text from my dad saying
hul Cogan died. Now my dad didn't watch wrestling, right,
So this is how much of an icon the Hulkster was.
My dad didn't watch wrestling, but he knew who hul
Cogan was, right, so you can give me, you know
all this stuff about oh, stone Cold Steve Austin was
more popular, the rock was more popular. Whatever. My dad
(25:55):
doesn't know who stone Cold Steve Austin is. He might
know the Rock because maybe he's seen it in a
movie or two. But the Holkster was the original. He
was the biggest, he was the most popular, and he
did save the sport. He did at least save Vince
McMahon's company in the early to mid eighties. And so yeah,
(26:17):
this one, this one to me, THEO was more shocking,
and I was, and I'm probably more saddened because of
his age, But Hulk Hogan hit the hardest for me
because he is the person that meant the most to
me and my childhood. Of the three people were talking
about here. So justin, where were you when you heard
(26:41):
the news?
Speaker 5 (26:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (26:44):
So it was Thursday, so I usually record my episodes
on Thursday, And strangely enough, I was bringing on a
guest to talk about nineteen ninety WWF. We were doing
a rebook thing along with some of our top things
about that year. So here we are wrapped up in
a year that was very much you know about hal Cogan,
(27:07):
And then I saw the news. And then my guest
had messaged me and he said, did you see the
Hawkster die? And I said yeah, And it was another
one of those things where I think we had all
heard that, we heard news that he wasn't doing well,
and then there was conflicting rumors from other people that
he was fine and things are okay, and then you
get the news. So it was one of those weird
(27:29):
things where it seemed like the writing was on the
wall that something was going on health wise, but it
still came as a bit of a shock, especially like
we talked about earlier, these iconic characters and performers from
the eighties that we're losing, and then Jim you said
it best.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
I'm gonna get something out of the way real quick.
Terry the bellat the Man.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
I don't necessarily agree with who he was and some
of the things he did, some of the things he said.
He's problematic, for sure, But when we talk about when
we put that aside and we talk about Hawke, Cog
and the Carrot, there was nobody bigger than hal Cogan.
Like you said, Jim Like, yes, Stone Cole was big,
The Rock was big.
Speaker 5 (28:08):
I get that they.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
Crossed over, especially the Rock crossed over in Hollywood, but
Hogan was doing that long before it was popular to
do that. And he's the one that brought wrestling wrestling
to the to the mainstream and to to the heights
that it it. I don't know that we have WWE's
one of the one of the biggest entertainment companies in
(28:30):
the world if it weren't for hal Cogan, if we're
being straight right, him and him and is maybe the
partnership between him, him.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
And Vince was was gold.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
But whatever the point is without Hogan, I don't think
you get there. And not only did he you know,
basically birth helped birth the biggest pay per view of event
in wrestling with WrestleMania that's still going strong all these
years later, but he also you know, goes to w CW.
He he reinvents himself, he becomes a heel and becomes
(28:58):
one of the biggest heels in wrestling and basically puts
WCW in a position where they're the top wrestling company
in the world for quite some time during that run
with the Monday Night wars. So what the guy did
as an entertainer in the professional wrestling industry is unheard
of and it's something that cannot be ignored. And as
(29:20):
far as being a kid, Jim, yeah, I grew up
on him.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
I was.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
I'm a little bit younger than you, but you know,
come six seven years old, it was all about Hauk
of Mania. I mean him and Andre at WrestleMania three,
one of the biggest moments of my life as a
wrestling fan and as an entertainment fan. It was just
a spectacle like no other. And then you know, you
move on with him and Warrior and him and Savage
(29:45):
and just these great feuds and then everything like I
said that he was part a part of with the nWo,
it's just unthinkable and there's probably never gonna be a
talent like him in that industry ever, again not to
that high.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
And speaking of Macho Man, I loved how they played
off of each other.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Yeah, they were fair, absolutely, are.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
They not just golden?
Speaker 5 (30:11):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
But when he formed the nWo back in was it
ninety six.
Speaker 5 (30:18):
Ninety yep, ninety six ninety six.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
I was so pissed off.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
I was so appalled here I got something for you, Lyns.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
So basically at that time, I was like, well, he
screwed himself.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
I hope he's happy. Well, was that not genius?
Speaker 2 (30:42):
He relaunched his whole career?
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Oh absolutely he was. He was dying. Wc W was dying.
He left WWF and what ninety four? Was it justbin?
Speaker 5 (30:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Yeah, ninety four?
Speaker 4 (30:54):
Well I actually, yeah, he left in ninety three and
then he ended up taking a little bit of time
off doing some off in Hollywood, and then he ended
up in WCW.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Ninety four and was the same character, right, was the
same you know, exactly American golden boy. And people just
got tired of it, right because eighty three, so you know,
eleven years, twelve years later, people started hating it. They
looked like, you know, WCW was in trouble, and then
(31:22):
all of a sudden, you know, an opening is made
for him to turn heel and golly did he do
it fantastic? Right, like he was. He played such a
great bad guy. And I go back to nineteen eighty two,
(31:42):
before he was really hulk Mania, right, he was just
Haul Cogan and he was a big dude and needs
be either bad or good. Or whatever. But I go
back to Rocky three, where he plays Thunderlips the ultimate male, right,
and he is the ultimate bad guy to they're putting
on an exhibition, right, And Rocky comes in thinks they're
(32:02):
putting on an exhibition, and Hulk Hogan plays the part
of heel wrestler. He doesn't give Rocky the time of day.
He insults him, he says it's the ultimate mail versus
the ultimate meatball. You know, he's not friendly to him
at all. He throws them out of the ring, all
that stuff, and then Rocky comes back, and then afterwards
you see the human being behind that going, yeah, let's
(32:26):
get some pictures. You know, this was fun whatever. And
so for Halk Hogan to turn heel turned it into
Hollywood Hogan and go heal, it was genius. He was
such a great bad guy. I'm not sure too many
people made me laugh more in wrestling than Hollywood Hogan did. Right,
(32:46):
Hulk Hogan got me fired up, he got he got
the feels on me, he got me juiced up, you know.
But Hollywood Hogan made me laugh.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
He did, and he was really easy to hate when
you would come out there and tell everybody how he
how he made wrestling and he was the biggest thing
in the world. And you're right, like like you said, Jim,
he became the best heal in the business after being
the biggest star and the biggest good guy, baby faced
whatever you want to call him a hero to kids
(33:16):
all over for you know, twelve years or so, you know,
or longer.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
So it was incredible.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
And then one you know story I want to tell
real quick is I remember, you know, WCW goes out
of business. There's all kinds of turmoil there. Hogan kind
of walks away from wrestling for a little bit. But
I remember he comes back to the WWE in two
thousand and two and they tried to recycle the nWo formula,
which doesn't work. But the point is, Hogan comes back
(33:43):
as Hollywood Hogan in the WWE. And I remember, like
it was yesterday. I was kind of a little kind
of getting on getting out of the of the business.
I wasn't quite as into wrestling at that point, but
I remember when when Hogan came back, I was very interested.
I'm like, okay, let he had been gone from WWE
since ninety three. This was crazy in almost ten years,
(34:05):
so I'm like, Okay, I want to see what happens.
And I remember they brought him in as the bad guys.
nWo was supposed to be that evil nWo like they
were in the beginning of the run in WCW. So
they bring him in and the ideas they're going to
have him feud with The Rock at WrestleMania eighteen. That match,
to this day, I could put it on. It gives
(34:26):
me chills because when those two are in the ring,
they're looking at each other and then they each look
at the crowd, and the crowd is absolutely electric because
you have two of the biggest icons of wrestling at
that time. You had Hogan and then The Rock, who
had become very big. It had gone in the Hollywood,
he was very well known, and he had these two guys,
and I remember during the course of that match watching
(34:47):
it at the time, he was positioned as the heel Hogan,
that is, the fans instantly had nostalgia for him. He's
back in WWE, He's our guy, and you can hear
the crowds channing for Hogan and it's so fun because
behind all of that, you know, knowing it's a scripted thing.
Hawk and Rock kind of read the room right, and
(35:09):
they're like, listen, they want you, Hogan. So they kind
of flip places, and Hogan kind of starts to take
on the crowd cheers and playing into it a little bit,
and then the Rock starts kind of doing the match
as a heel. It starts to do like heel tactics
because they both were brilliant in the way that they
could read the audience and pivot and give the people
what they want. It's one of the greatest matches of
(35:31):
that era, and it's all because whether you like him
or not, it's all because of how good and how
great Hogan was at doing that.
Speaker 5 (35:40):
It was his life, it was his business.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
He knew it, and he knew how to he knew
how to work the crowd, and he did an amazing
job there.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Yeah, I was gonna say, for as limited as he
was as a wrestler, you're right, he knew how to
read the room, he knew how to work the crowd,
he knew how the business worked, and he was a star.
There's not there's not that many stars that are that
limited in their wrestling moves. So it's funny that you
mentioned that that match justin because when I was looking
(36:10):
through Twitter on that day, Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock
tweeted and this is what he said, Rest in peace,
Terry Bulla aka the Immortal hal Cogan. Two millions of
little kids, you were a childhood hero, myself included. In
nineteen eighty four, I gave you your Hulkster headband back
(36:30):
in the locker room in Madison Square Garden. I was
the lucky kid that caught it when you threw it
in the crowd. You were wrestling mister wonderful Paul Orndorf
in that night in the main event. You were shocked
and so happy after the match because you told me
that was your very last last headband, and if it
weren't for me, you'd have no way of getting that
(36:50):
exact one made again. You promised me that you would
get me more made and give me a Hulkster headband
of my own as a thank you gift. A month
later in Madison Square Garden. You did just that. You
kept your word with a handshake and a thanks kid,
and that meant the world to that little twelve year
old boy. Just seventeen years later and still a kid
(37:12):
at the age of twenty nine, years old. I'm standing
in the middle of the ring and facing you, one
of my wrestling heroes, in the main event of WrestleMania.
The match was to decide who would go down in
history as the greatest of all time. When you kicked
out of my rock Bottom finisher, just listen and feel
that crowd go electric, all for you. I've never felt
(37:33):
anything like that in my entire wrestling career. It takes
two to tango, but that historic crowd reaction was all
for you. You may have passed the torch to me
that night, but you, my friend, you drew the house,
meaning you sold out every arena and stadium across the
country in your prime as Hulkogan, on your way to
becoming the greatest of all time. From deepen my bones
(37:57):
and on behalf of this wild and crazy world wrestling
that we love, I say to you now and forever,
thank you for the house, brother, Thank you for the house.
And I just thought when I read that, I was like, wow,
I mean, you know, he he meant a lot to us,
(38:17):
but he meant a lot to future wrestlers as well,
and the Rock is maybe the best to ever do
it as far as both in ring technique and working
the mic and reading the crowd. But he certainly isn't
that way if not for Hogan.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Right, I was going to ask you, Jim, is there
a matchup that stands out to you?
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Well, Justin mentioned the Andre the Giant. You know he
he was the first to slam Andre the Giant in
front of the ninety three thousand in WrestleMania three. So
there was that one I do remember as WCW. So
when he became Hollywood Hogan, all of a sudden, WCW
shot up in the ratings and they and Hogan, who
(39:06):
put Vince into business in nineteen eighty four nineteen eighty
five with WrestleMania, almost put Vince out of business in
the late nineties. But I remember on TV him wrestling
Rick Flair, and to me that stood out because you've
got Flair, the ultimate NWA guy who would come to
(39:26):
the WWF later as Hogan was kind of on his
way out right, But I never got to see that match, right,
And there was always an argument that's amongst friends, the
ones who watched the Mid South and the South wrestling
and watched Rick Flair travel versus those of us that
were strictly WWF guys and just thought Hogan was the greatest,
and to me, there was no way Flair would ever
beat Hogan, right, But I just remember it was just
(39:49):
a tremendous match in a steel cage on Monday night
nightdro justin any thoughts on.
Speaker 4 (40:00):
Man, Yeah, Hawke and Andre at WrestleMania three might be
the high water mark. I really actually think that rock
match kind of rivals it though at WRESTLEMANA eighteen. But also, uh,
I thought he and Warrior had a great match at
WrestleMania six. Again, you know, people say how limited the
Warrior was in the ring, So you gotta think when
I watch that match and see how great it is,
(40:22):
that either means that Hogan's a lot better in the
ring that people want to give him credit for, or
the Warrior is, or maybe it's both, but any rate,
that was a great match. I always think of the
like Lindsay was saying, this, the Savage feud that Hogan
had going into WrestleMania five with Elizabeth and and Macho
turning on Hogan, that's probably the in my heart of hearts,
(40:44):
especially since I'm a big macho man, Randy Savage guy,
that's probably the one that's the feud I think of.
I think of Hogan against Macho Man. That's probably the
one that means the most to me. But yeah, all
of those and yeah, like even like you said, and
his in WCW, he had some fun times there.
Speaker 5 (40:59):
Those Rick Flair matches were great.
Speaker 4 (41:01):
I liked what he did with Sting, So there's definitely
some good stuff there. But I really think it's the
that late eighties thing for me, between Andre Savage and
then Warrior. It is just such a great run that
probably of all the wrestling I go back to and Rewatch,
it's that era, and let's face it, that's the era
of Hogan.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Yeah, for sure. Lindsay started smiling when you brought up
the macho thing because I will say to her all
the time, you got jealous eyes, brother love that.
Speaker 7 (41:31):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
I didn't know that he was sick, Lindsay did. I
didn't know that something was going on with him, obviously
you did. So Sunday night, while we're in Pigeon Forge,
we are going to see a show. We're going to
see an Elvis impersonator, I mean, because what else are
you going to do in Pigeon Forge? Right, And as
we take a turn into this shopping center where this
(41:52):
Elvis impersonator is going to be in this theater. We
see a big yellow sign that says Hulk Hogan's Wrestling Store,
and so we go into there and we're looking around.
They've got all kinds of memorabilia. I'll sing you some
pictures that I took. They got a life sized Hulkgan
and the nWo shirt. They got a big wrestling ring,
(42:14):
all kinds of it.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
Was like a wax figure.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
Yeah, I mean, he was life size in his nWo
get up.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
They've got all kinds of memorabilia him, sign stuff. They've
got him as Thunderlips with Rocky, They've got the Rocky figures,
all kinds of stuff. I'll sing you some pictures later on.
I'll and I'll post them on Twitter as well, and
if you want, you can post them on Instagram and Facebook.
But uh so we were all excited. And then when
we go to check out, because I, you know, I
(42:42):
you know, I had to get the Thunderlips T shirt.
You know, the lady was there was like, oh, we've
only been open for three weeks. We're so excited. You know,
this is his friend's you know, lifelong dream to do this,
and he's supposed to be coming up here in three
weeks to uh you know, sign autographs and kind of
do a grand opening type thing, and we're like, oh cool.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
So at the time, I thought to myself, oh, I
guess the rumors aren't true and he is okay. But
I still didn't say anything to Jim because I assumed
that Jim read TMZ as much as I do.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
He does not, it's not and so so yeah, it was.
It was a big shocker to me. But yeah, rest
in peace, Haul Cogan. You know, one of our one
of our heroes as kids, and you know he lived
a flawed life for sure, the man. But uh, you know,
(43:35):
we all do not to make excuses for him, but
you know, some of us more nobody's perfect, some of
us more than others. And he certainly had, uh had
his downfalls for sure. But like I said earlier, it's
it's like a part of our childhood has now died,
and uh you know that part that part is is
sad for sure.
Speaker 4 (43:57):
Yeah, it's the one thing I'll say real quick about that.
I I go back and want and rewatch a lot
of wrestling from that era, like you guys probably know,
not just for research, just because for pleasure, because it's
it's it was what I grew up on. As much
as I'm a movie fan of horror fan, wrestling was
what I grew up on in the late eighties early nineties.
So I go back, like during the summer, I'll rewatch
(44:17):
some of the summer slams, and I'll go back and
I'll rewatch Saturday night main events and stuff like that.
So one of the hardest thing for me is like
I'll be watching with my wife and she'll say, now,
in this match, you know is so and so still
loving and I'll be like, no, all three of the
people in this match have gone, like including the ref
right or you know.
Speaker 5 (44:36):
Or they'll be in the back and.
Speaker 4 (44:37):
Mean Jean's interviewing a group of people and I'll be like, well,
one of the five is still with us.
Speaker 5 (44:42):
And it's so hard.
Speaker 4 (44:43):
And then now when you got a guy that was
so such the biggest part of the show and now
he's gone again, it's just so hard. When you said
it perfectly, it was poetic earlier, Jim. It's like a
little piece of our childhood has been taken from us.
It's gone, can't get back and that's what sucks.
Speaker 1 (45:01):
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, Lindsay, any any final thoughts
here before we I.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
Mean, I feel like we got to come up with
something we can't end on like such a downer.
Speaker 3 (45:16):
Well, good, agreed.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
Well, Well here's here's something I don't know if I've
asked you about or not justin, but Lindsay last year
mentioned we always do Halloween episodes come October, and she
mentioned last year about doing something about a Freddie versus
Jason kind of thing. And I thought, well, no better
guess to bring on than to bring you on to
(45:38):
talk about that stuff. So what do you say? I
know I'm putting you on the spot because we're live
here on the air, so yes, but will you come
on near Halloween to do a Freddie versus Jason episode?
Speaker 4 (45:51):
Well, like, think about what you just said, right, Jason Freddie, Halloween,
Children of the Eighties, Sign me up.
Speaker 5 (45:59):
I'm there all day.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
Fantastic.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
Oh good, that's something we can all look forward to.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
Well, why don't you a start with telling our listeners
what your show is about? Because I know you've been
on here before you've told listeners. But I'm telling you
we get tens of new listeners a month, so there
may be since the last time you were on, there
may be I've seventeen new listeners out there that don't
(46:31):
know about your show, So why don't you tell us
about that?
Speaker 5 (46:35):
Yeah, I appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (46:36):
So pop Culture Reflections is it started with nostalgia, but
it's really gotten into a whole lot more. It's about
fun conversation with guests a lot of the times about
the things from pop culture that I care about the most.
So it includes TV and music and movies, pro wrestling
and some other stuff. I try to make it as
potpourri as possible, change it up a bit, but a
(46:57):
lot of it is a film review. I have a
lot of kind of like milestone movies coming up that
I haven't gotten to yet, some that are celebrating anniversaries
and stuff. So if you like film reviews, I do that,
but with a bit of a twist with some fun categories.
And Yeah, like I was hyping up earlier music discoveries,
I think I kind of do a unique thing with
music too, so I've been trying to incorporate more of that,
(47:19):
and like I said, being such a big fan of
pro wrestling, if you like that. I do have some
of that. There's some great episodes in the catalog yours
that not only yours truly, but mister Jim Butler joined
me for we had great conversations about pro wrestling, and
we'll do more of that again in the future. So yeah,
of all of those things. And like I said, it's
all about pop culture. It's all about fun conversation and
(47:42):
what it means to me. So I appreciate you. Go
check out. You can find us out on all podcast platforms,
and you can follow me on Instagram, Threads, Facebook, Blue Sky, Twitter.
I'm on some of them more than others. Instagram's probably
the place people can follow me most frequently. I think
I post on there, probably a little bit more than
everywhere else, but I try to, you know, put stuff
(48:03):
out there everywhere.
Speaker 5 (48:04):
So that's about it.
Speaker 1 (48:06):
And you just started your own Patreon.
Speaker 5 (48:08):
Right, I did. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (48:10):
I sometimes forget to say that, and part of the
problem is I'm so far ahead in recording, which is
a good thing. It's the opposite of how I was
last year when I was kind of doing stuff last minute.
But I'm so far ahead that I'm like forgetting Okay, Yeah,
Patreon's definitely in there now, but some of my ads
aren't quite in the episodes because it's not caught up yet.
So yes, I started up a Patreon in July and
(48:32):
well earlier this month, and it's going pretty well. I've
had I had some subscribers, some members that are supporting
the show now, which is awesome. Kind of helps with
some of the little costs that comes with doing this stuff,
makes it a little bit easier for me to be
able to do it, So.
Speaker 5 (48:48):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (48:49):
So yeah, you can go on the Patreon and check
that out, just look up pop Culture Reflections and I
appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (48:55):
And so this was this was last minute, like we said,
and thank you for joining us on the last minute.
And this will be airing in two days. So what
do you got coming up? This one? What's going to
be released this Thursday and then maybe next Thursday for you.
Speaker 4 (49:09):
Yeah, this Thursday is Final Destination, the original film from
two thousand, So extremely excited for that to come out.
It's another, like I said, milestone type of anniversary. And
if you bear with me one second, let me take
a look. I think I have something I want to
tell you about that's how far ahead I am that
I actually forget what's next.
Speaker 3 (49:31):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (49:33):
Oh yeah, it's a good thing, but it does make
it kind of tricky. But all right, yeah that's what
I thought.
Speaker 4 (49:39):
So after that, I have another episode from my sub
series now called Slice of Pop Culture with Justin and Greg.
We kind of rebranded it and renamed it where we
are going to put two iconic directors up against each other.
We're going to compare and contrast some of their biggest
movies and vote for the best director. So that's coming
up in a couple weeks as well.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Nice fantastic. Well, folks, go check them out if you
haven't already, pop Culture Reflections. You can get them anywhere
you get us, and they're released Thursday, the day after us.
So listen to us, and then go listen to Justin
and his show and maybe maybe you'll hear me and
or Lindsey on there because we've been guess frequently, Justin's
been kind enough to have us a lot, so it's
(50:22):
always a blast.
Speaker 4 (50:23):
In fact, you guys will be coming up again real soon.
Speaker 1 (50:27):
We're looking forward to it.
Speaker 3 (50:28):
Yes, can't wait.
Speaker 2 (50:30):
Well, I'm excited about that episode coming up.
Speaker 3 (50:34):
So well, if you haven't.
Speaker 2 (50:36):
We would appreciate it if you would go ahead and
hit that subscribe button so that you never miss an
episode and you could leave us a five star review.
Speaker 1 (50:48):
More important than that, tell somebody. You can reach us
on social media at Children of Underscore Eighties, or if
you prefer to send an email, like some of us
older Gen X and boomers do, you can send it
to Children of the nineteen Eighties at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2 (51:10):
Until next time, I'm Jim and I'm Lindsay, and we
are Children of the Eighties.
Welcome back to Children of the Eighties. I am one
of your hosts, Jim, and I am joined as always
by the lady who loves to bring our audience down
by constantly talking about death. It's my co host, Lindsay.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I so wondered where you were going with that for
a second, but I should have known.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
This is an episode all about Dad.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Yes, and so you're super excited about that, I'm sure.
And I would like to also introduce we have a
guest tonight, making his return for his third appearance on
the podcast, the host of the Pop Culture Reflections podcast.
It's our good friend Justin.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
How you doing, I'm great, Thanks for having me. I
wish I was here for maybe something a little bit lighter,
a little bit more happy, but oh well, this happens.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Well.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
I figured you've got so many like uh Friday the
Thirteenth references and Killer Clown from outer Space in your
background that talking about death probably wouldn't be so terrible,
especially when we're talking about certain icons from the eighties.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
That's true. I'm all about horror, so you know that's
part of that.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
So you've heard that that U two song Angel of Harlem,
right about Billy Holliday.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
Yeah. Probably.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
I don't know if I know it by title, but
I probably know it.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
It's a horrible song. I don't know where he's go.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
It's not a terrible song. But I'm thinking that Bono
should write a song about you called Angel of Death,
Me You, Me You, because you always like to talk
about death. Every time we start a podcast, You're like,
so and so died last night, so you know this
person died, and so that's that's Lindsay's thing.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
We were actually on vacation last week when we slowly
but surely started losing these eighties icons, and I said
at the time when we got to number two, I
let emmy know. I'm like, well, get ready because they
die in threes. And of course at the time she
was like, what do you mean, how do you know?
(02:20):
How is this possible? I think one of the questions was, well,
how does the third person.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Know it's time to die? Yeah, it was like, listen,
I don't.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Know the logistics, but celebrities die in threes. And then sadly,
when that third one hit, she was basically it was
like I had predicted the future. I was all knowing
then at that point, so it was a rough week
for children who grew up.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
In the eighties.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, uh, how'd you do with hearing the news justin.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Uh well, like like Lindsey said, I mean, it's commonplace
that these celebrities seemed to go out in threes within
a week or a couple of weeks apart, it seems
when this happens.
Speaker 5 (03:01):
So I think with the round of.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
You know, celebrity or iconic deaths that we got this time,
I think it really hit home about how many of
these icons from our childhood that are dropping off. Like
you'll have these months where we'll lose a couple that
maybe were not quite of my generation, maybe a generation before,
or you know, or it's just a freak thing. But
when you start getting these icons that were big during
(03:27):
that era and we're losing them more and more.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
It it's a mortality thing.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
You know.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
You start thinking about you know, granted we're a little
younger that some of these people had passed, but it
starts getting you thinking dark things, and it's not fun
when you start losing these icons that you know, when
you think about it as kids, they just seem like
they are immortal, right, Like we would never lose these
people so it's it's a bit shocking to the system.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
I would say, if nothing else.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Kind of like a little bit of your childhood has died, right.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
That is a great way to put it. And you know, Ozzie,
it's sad.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
But he had been dealing with a lot of health
issues for a long time and he was older Aull Cogan,
older boy Malcolm Jamal Warner.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, that was that was the one that I don't
know if that hit me the hardest.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Guys he's our age, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
But that was that was certainly shocking. I saw him
trending on Twitter and I'm like, what's going on here,
Like maybe he's got a new show or something, and
it was like, nope, he uh he left us, so
uh not good stuff.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
But now that one, that one was a bit of
a gut punch because of the circumstances behind it as well.
And like Lindsay said, this guy was not you know,
he was not older, he did not have health issues really,
so that one really hurts.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Yes, yes, absolutely, because I started wondering, like what what happened?
And then and then I found out and we'll get
into that in a few minutes. But that was just
like whoa. But yeah, Well, Lindsay, are you ready to
get started?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
I'm ready?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Okay, here we go.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
This is a podcast that looks back on the decade
of the nineteen eighties. We talk about things that were
important to us as children and what we look back
on with fond memories as adults. Ultimately, this is a
nostalgia slash death podcast.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
All right, So, Lindsey, you said you wanted to kick
off our first celebrity that died on the twenty first
wast or was it the twentieth?
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Was the twenty first.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Last Monday Welcome, Jamal Warner passed away unexpectedly in a
drowning accident in Costa Rica last week.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
That one probably sounds familiar to Justin there since he
was on our Last time he was on our podcast
was that TV theme songs, And he actually got to
rate The Cosby Show.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
So I think the actors of The Cosby Show, as
well as just the TV show itself, gets a raw
deal on this podcast because I won't talk about it
because of Phil Cosby, and that's probably kind of not
fair because they were such a big part of our childhood.
And so I wrote a little something. You wrote a
(06:31):
little something, little something like a poem or something g
four him. Do you mind nor ahead? Okay, because now
I'm a little nervous because you're giving me the look.
So I want to take a moment to honor someone
who meant a lot to children of the eighties, Malcolm
Jamal Warner. Most of us first met Malcolm as Theo
(06:51):
Huxtable on The Cosby Show, and to me, Theo felt
like the brother that I never had. He was funny,
he was cool, he was kind of clueless, he made mistakes,
he got called out, he learned, and he kept going.
Watching him grow up on screen felt like growing up
right alongside him. And as we all grow older, we
got to see Malcolm grow up too. He evolved into
(07:14):
this incredible artist and Emmy winning actor, a spoken word poet,
a thoughtful musician, a director, a storyteller, and even in
recent years, a podcaster.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
It's hard to believe he's gone.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
It's a strange feeling to lose a child celebrity from
your own childhood. So today I just want to say
thank you to Malcolm. Thank you for playing the character
of Theo so well that this little blonde haired white
girl who grew up in the South, felt like she
was part of the Huxtable clan and rest easy, Malcolm
mayor like continue to shine for generations to come.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
That was pretty good, Thank you.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
I was more than pretty good.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
I don't think any of us can say anything better
about him than what you just did, Lindsey Blot, I
will say you brought up the idea that he was
the brother you never had. And that's the thing with
him that I loved so much is that he felt
so relatable to me, even if I, you know, didn't
have the same family dynamics that he had, you know,
or that his character did. There was a relatability and
(08:18):
a kindness and a cluelessness like you said that I
enjoy for an eighties comedy sitcom. But when I think
about like all the programs during that era, and there's
a lot of characters that quite honestly, for and I'm
not gonna get too much into my personal background, but
a lot of the characters I couldn't quite relate to,
and THEO was one that I could, and I think
(08:38):
that's why I always loved him so much. And then
to find out much later how good of a guy
he was and how talented he was, and the artist
that he was just made me, you know, I appreciate
him even more. And what makes this so hard that
he that we lost him at such a young age.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Yeah, I would agree with that, justin you know, he
was the only boy of the five children on that show,
which I think mirrored Bill Cosby's life, right, didn't he
only have one boy and four girls? And didn't the
son die too? So it's so terrible how art imitates
life in this situation. But yeah, I love the character
(09:18):
of THEO. I could relate to him because he was
a boy, because he did stupid things and his dad
would holler at him and then talk to him, and
that felt like me, Right, I'd do stupid things and
my dad would be like, God gave you a brain,
use its son, you know, And it's like, you know,
I can't tell you how many times I heard that.
And then once my dad heard Bill Cosby tell him
(09:42):
or Cliff Huxtable tell him, boy, I brought you into
this world and I can take you out. He would
use that for the rest of my childhood as well.
So very relatable, just a great character. He was the
one that I related to most and I almost felt
like he was the third star of the show after
the parents. Even though they would feature each of the kids,
(10:03):
I felt like they featured THEO a little bit more
because he was the only boy.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Yeah, he had that relationship, yes with Cliff Huxtable.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
So one thing that I noticed when I sat down
and to start thinking about doing this episode. Some of
my favorite Cosby Show episodes centered around THEO. Really, yeah,
because you think about the episode where who was it
made him the shirt? It was it Denise made him
the shirt and it was all messed up, so that,
(10:34):
you know, that one was my favorite, the one where
he got the ear ring. He went against what his
parents wanted and he went and got his ear pierced,
and the whole scene where Cliff comes in and he's
trying to casually see, you know, to see if it
was pierced, and Theo's casually trying to keep him from
seeing it. And so yeah, probably my all time favorite
Cosby Show episode. He had been like smartened off to
(10:59):
his parents or cocky or something and went to spend
the night at a friend's house and he came home
the next morning and they had revamped the whole house
and it was an apartment complex and he had to
rent a room.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
And buy his food. I loved that episode.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I still love that episode, and boy is that not
a hard lesson to learn As a teenager.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Cliff Huxtable would say, you are not rich. I am rich.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Nothing.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
I love it, justin any more thoughts on Malcolm Jamal
Warner or the character THEO.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Yeah, I mean I wish I could elaborate more, but honestly,
I haven't watched The Cosby Show since I was a kid,
so you know some of the stuff. I vaguely remember
some of the characters, and you know some of the
beats of the show. But for the most part, a
lot of it. It's been so long that I just
am not connected with it anymore. But going back to
what I said earlier, and much like Lindsay said, like
when I think of that show, I think of him.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
I think of I think of Bill Cosby.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Obviously it was the star of the show, but I
also think of THEO, and I think a lot of
it goes back to the relatability. And I don't know
it was just I was an only child, so like
him being the only boy again, I think I could
relate to that. So some of the Shenanigans and stuff
like was so always so fun to me with that show.
So yeah, I mean that's probably about it. And like
I said, again, just the the talent.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
That he was.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
You know, maybe he wasn't you know, in the limelight
you know, you know, recent years, and and did stuff
that was a little bit more personal. But I think
that we lost a great talent in him, and he
you know, he will be missed.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Rest in peace for surely.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Yeah, that one, that one hurt. This next one wasn't
as shocking, but still, you know, sad because it's an
icon of the eighties. Here we go. We lost Ozzy
(13:18):
Osbourne just what a week or two after his farewell
concert justin Were you an Ozzie fan growing up?
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (13:28):
So, No, I probably have come to appreciate Ozzie Moore
as an adult. I will say, however, did I hear
his music? Absolutely, especially his solo stuff like Black Sabbath
is what it is, and I like them. There's some
of their stuff that I enjoyed, but his solo work
is really what I connect with, probably more than anything,
because I remember hanging out in the neighborhood and his
(13:50):
songs will be playing, you know, whether it's No More
Tears or Bark at the Moon, all that type of stuff.
Was just a regular I remember being at the swimming
pool in the summers and during the summer, and specifically
I remember the summer of ninety one and here in
No More Tears at the swimming pool of the public
pool all the time and really connect with that song especially.
(14:10):
But yeah, probably as I became an adult going back
to it, I appreciate it more than I did as
a kid, because it just wasn't my style.
Speaker 5 (14:18):
Of music in the eighties and early nineties.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
But definitely now I appreciate what he was as a musician,
and obviously we'll get into it, but the icon that
he is just overall in pop culture for that.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Matter, Yeah, I'm with you on that. I wasn't a
huge jazzi fan growing up. I had heard some Black Sabbath,
I had heard some Ausie, you know, late eighties, they
kind of played him a little bit more on the
radio because he went a little bit softer, and so
they were playing him a little bit more on the
pop stations, and so I'd hear him there. But I
(14:50):
wasn't a huge jazzi fan growing up. But like you,
justin as I got older, I've begun to appreciate his
talent and his music so well, especially after you see
him in What the Osbourne's on the MTV show, right,
and you couldn't understand a word he said, But then
he'd get on the microphone and sing clear as a bell.
You could understand every single word he ever sang or smoke,
(15:13):
which is the complete opposite of most singers. Most of
them I can't understand what they're saying, but Ozzy was
clear as day.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
So my introduction to Ozzy Osbourne was through watching the
MTV The Osbourne's, which was on in the early two thousands,
and I watched that show religiously, and I thought he
was hysterical because he did just kind of putter around
the house and mumble and you know, every other word
was the F bomb, and he was just seemed like
(15:41):
he was, you know, just the the curmudgeonly old man,
and I just thought he was a hoot. And so
that was my first introduction to him. A little bit later,
when you're in your twenties and you kind of get
to that point where you're sort of second guessing some
life decisions and you're like, am I gonna make.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
It in life?
Speaker 2 (16:01):
I actually started listening to a little bit of Ozzy
kind of to get myself pumped up sometimes, and so
I do think back on those memories and it makes
me smile.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
I bet that's something you never knew, did you.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
It's something that I never knew that I am today
years old when I found this out there, you go
that you listened to Ozzie to get pumped up. You
sound like my uh stoner friends back in high school
that loved Ozzie. So yeah, I mean, this wasn't shocking though, right.
I mean, he was older, he had health problems.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
So it was not shocking.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
I mean because he had been dealing with a lot
of health issues for a long time. But I will
say it's shocking because we just saw him do his
farewell concert like two weeks ago. So I feel like
most people who are that close to passing away aren't
capable of putting on a show like he did, and
with just a short time span left to go in life.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
So because of that, it was a little shocking.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Yeah, I think, I think when you go from performing
like that to passing away like this in such a
short period of time as a little shocking, but I
will I will say, like just going back like last
year and seeing clips of him and stuff, he didn't
look great. So I'm like, I know what Jim means,
(17:26):
Like you could feel that he was not in a
good place.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
Was he was? It Parkinson's Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
So it's like, yeah, and in this way, I'm glad
he's not suffering anymore.
Speaker 5 (17:37):
But it's still you get to reflect.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
In moments like this about how much someone like this
means to pop culture and music and and but because
like when you think about him, I'm blown away by
He starts his career as a musician way back in
the I'm pretty sure probably early seventies, if I remember
late sixties, early seventies is probably when he first got
into music. And he has this great band, he does
(18:03):
the solo thing. He becomes this rock god in a
lot of ways, and then he even starts up a
music festival in his own name. He has the reality
television show, which kind of is the template for a
lot of reality television shows that would come after the fact.
To think that he accomplished all these things and meant
this much to you know, to pop culture, into all
(18:25):
these different audiences is really freaking cool. I mean, even
his kids have become pretty semi famous, you know, through
all of this.
Speaker 5 (18:33):
Through that reality TV show.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
So I think it says a lot about his legacy
and I think it'll be carried on and I love
that for him.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yeah, absolutely, I agree. But think about this, guys, how
badass is it that basically Ozzy Osbourne did his own
eulogy with his final concert.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
True?
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yeah, I mean I think he knew he went out
on his own terms, and I.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
That's doesn't get much cooler than that.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
There are certain characters in life who were made to
do something right, and when they're done doing that, it's
almost like they die. I think. You know, Ozzie did
his farewell concert a week later, he passes away. Bear
Bryant coached football for so long, right, and for so
long at Alabama, and just a few months after him retiring,
(19:32):
he passed away. I think Lyndon Johnson passed away not
long after being president. You know, there's just these things
where it's there's such an identity with what they do
and who they are that when they lose that, it's
almost like they lose their will to live and I'm
not saying that any of these people right right now,
when you know, on their own terms, but it's just like, okay,
(19:55):
it's almost like, Okay, I've accomplished everything that I was
meant to accomplish, and now we'll just see where the
chips lie and see. So Justin, Lindsey wants me to
get back into baseball, right because I coached baseball for many,
many years and I retired about ten years ago, and
she's like, you need to get back, you need to
get back. But I feel like if I get back,
I love baseball so much. Look, I'm dying so much
(20:17):
that when I get done, it's just like that's up.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I'm dead.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
Yeah, you'll be featured on Children of the Eighties in
one of their sub series about death.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
Huh, we don't want that him.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
You're gonna say, well, you have co host with me, Justin,
I'll need.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
A co Yeah, I suppose I will.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
I don't want it to come to that, but I'll
take one for the team, I guess.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Oh, but think about I'm gonna okay, I'm gonna say
something that makes me sound like such an old person.
This is such an old person thing to say every
generation says this, but they just don't make musicians like
Ozzie anymore. They don't make there are bands like Black
Sabbath anymore. I'm sorry, it's this crap kids are listening
(20:59):
to these days.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
I'll come, I'll come.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
I'll come to their defense a little bit, because I
actually do like some modern music.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
I think there's I do.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
I think there's a lot of great artists out there,
you just have to seek them out. And some of
that I'm gonna credit a lot of it to my
podcast because, you know, Greg Howey and I who's my
co host on our sub series, We've been doing a
lot of music discovery episodes where like I introduce music
to him and he does to me. And I've come
across a lot of and it's not just that. It's
(21:31):
with doing that and listening to these artists on Spotify
and then checking out, you know, artists that they suggest
I should listen to based on what I'm currently listening to.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
And I have discovered a lot of artists.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
And I'll give my daughter credit for introducing me to
some of these artists at first as well that I'm like, no,
I'm not into your type of music, and I give
them a chance, because I'm trying to discover more and
more music, and I have come across a lot of
great artists that are making music today that I'm not
saying that we have a Black Sabbath type you know
band right now, But I think there's definitely artists out
(22:05):
there making good music that you just have to seek
it out a little bit. But I'll tell you I've
already listened to a couple uh bands and and indie
artists that I found more recently that are making music
that almost brings back like like a New Waves sound
from the eighties and stuff.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
So there's stuff there. Oh, you just have to find it.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
So I I think what your mindset is, Oh, if
they're playing crap on the pop station, then all music
today is crap, right, And I think Justin's saying that
these good artists that he's finding, he's probably not finding
on the pop stations.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Correct.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
Yes, Yeah, So.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
I'm an old person. I don't know how to go
and find some new person somewhere.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Oh so, Uh, sadly we lost Ozzy. Ozzy, rest in
peace one more time for us. Please tell uh tell
Sharon you're coming home times.
Speaker 6 (22:57):
Goodbye you could have been a better friends in me, Mom,
I'm coming home.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
You took me.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
And can we just you know, I always have to
throw in one last thing you do. Can we just
take a moment to acknowledge their love story because they
lived a very real life.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
They didn't always get.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Along, they weren't always together, but they made it last.
And I think that that's something to acknowledge.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
It is, and it from what I could tell, it
seemed like the two of them really loved each other.
Speaker 5 (23:41):
And I know she took care of him.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Yeah, and it it's I'm that's part of the reason.
I'm so happy that they chose to do that, that
that television program, that reality television program, if you will,
because we got to see a little bit about that
relationship and just the whole family, and they are very
lovable and I think Sharon's amazing, and so I'm glad
you brought that up, because Yeah, there's a lot to
(24:03):
be said there because I loved what they had going on,
and I feel awful for her obviously, and the kids.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yeah, never easy to lose, you know, family members. All Right,
it's time for our main event. Brother.
Speaker 7 (24:19):
I am a real Erican fight for the rights of
every man. I am a real American, fight for what's right,
fight for your line.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Lindsey and I kept wondering, who's going to be the third?
Speaker 4 (24:38):
Right?
Speaker 1 (24:39):
I think Malcolm Jamal Warren left us on Monday, Ozzie
on Tuesday, and then we sat around for a couple
of days going who's going to be the third? And
of course it's always the main eventory. So we are
at Dollywood on Thursday and I've got terrible reception up there.
But all of a sudden, I don't remember if I
(25:00):
got a text or if I saw it on Twitter,
rip Hull.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Cogan and he immediately comes to me and I see
like the emotion in his eyes and he was like,
we've got our third one.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
And I was like, oh, who is it? He was like,
I think you should sit down.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Well, if I need to sit down, it's Tom Selleck.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
So I'm instantly like, oh my gosh, who is it?
Just tell me I don't like, no, I think you
need to sit down.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Yeah. So I get a text from my dad saying
hul Cogan died. Now my dad didn't watch wrestling, right,
So this is how much of an icon the Hulkster was.
My dad didn't watch wrestling, but he knew who hul
Cogan was, right, so you can give me, you know
all this stuff about oh, stone Cold Steve Austin was
more popular, the rock was more popular. Whatever. My dad
(25:55):
doesn't know who stone Cold Steve Austin is. He might
know the Rock because maybe he's seen it in a
movie or two. But the Holkster was the original. He
was the biggest, he was the most popular, and he
did save the sport. He did at least save Vince
McMahon's company in the early to mid eighties. And so yeah,
(26:17):
this one, this one to me, THEO was more shocking,
and I was, and I'm probably more saddened because of
his age, But Hulk Hogan hit the hardest for me
because he is the person that meant the most to
me and my childhood. Of the three people were talking
about here. So justin, where were you when you heard
(26:41):
the news?
Speaker 5 (26:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (26:44):
So it was Thursday, so I usually record my episodes
on Thursday, And strangely enough, I was bringing on a
guest to talk about nineteen ninety WWF. We were doing
a rebook thing along with some of our top things
about that year. So here we are wrapped up in
a year that was very much you know about hal Cogan,
(27:07):
And then I saw the news. And then my guest
had messaged me and he said, did you see the
Hawkster die? And I said yeah, And it was another
one of those things where I think we had all
heard that, we heard news that he wasn't doing well,
and then there was conflicting rumors from other people that
he was fine and things are okay, and then you
get the news. So it was one of those weird
(27:29):
things where it seemed like the writing was on the
wall that something was going on health wise, but it
still came as a bit of a shock, especially like
we talked about earlier, these iconic characters and performers from
the eighties that we're losing, and then Jim you said
it best.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
I'm gonna get something out of the way real quick.
Terry the bellat the Man.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
I don't necessarily agree with who he was and some
of the things he did, some of the things he said.
He's problematic, for sure, But when we talk about when
we put that aside and we talk about Hawke, Cog
and the Carrot, there was nobody bigger than hal Cogan.
Like you said, Jim Like, yes, Stone Cole was big,
The Rock was big.
Speaker 5 (28:08):
I get that they.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
Crossed over, especially the Rock crossed over in Hollywood, but
Hogan was doing that long before it was popular to
do that. And he's the one that brought wrestling wrestling
to the to the mainstream and to to the heights
that it it. I don't know that we have WWE's
one of the one of the biggest entertainment companies in
(28:30):
the world if it weren't for hal Cogan, if we're
being straight right, him and him and is maybe the
partnership between him, him.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
And Vince was was gold.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
But whatever the point is without Hogan, I don't think
you get there. And not only did he you know,
basically birth helped birth the biggest pay per view of event
in wrestling with WrestleMania that's still going strong all these
years later, but he also you know, goes to w CW.
He he reinvents himself, he becomes a heel and becomes
(28:58):
one of the biggest heels in wrestling and basically puts
WCW in a position where they're the top wrestling company
in the world for quite some time during that run
with the Monday Night wars. So what the guy did
as an entertainer in the professional wrestling industry is unheard
of and it's something that cannot be ignored. And as
(29:20):
far as being a kid, Jim, yeah, I grew up
on him.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
I was.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
I'm a little bit younger than you, but you know,
come six seven years old, it was all about Hauk
of Mania. I mean him and Andre at WrestleMania three,
one of the biggest moments of my life as a
wrestling fan and as an entertainment fan. It was just
a spectacle like no other. And then you know, you
move on with him and Warrior and him and Savage
(29:45):
and just these great feuds and then everything like I
said that he was part a part of with the nWo,
it's just unthinkable and there's probably never gonna be a
talent like him in that industry ever, again not to
that high.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
And speaking of Macho Man, I loved how they played
off of each other.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Yeah, they were fair, absolutely, are.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
They not just golden?
Speaker 5 (30:11):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
But when he formed the nWo back in was it
ninety six.
Speaker 5 (30:18):
Ninety yep, ninety six ninety six.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
I was so pissed off.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
I was so appalled here I got something for you, Lyns.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
So basically at that time, I was like, well, he
screwed himself.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
I hope he's happy. Well, was that not genius?
Speaker 2 (30:42):
He relaunched his whole career?
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Oh absolutely he was. He was dying. Wc W was dying.
He left WWF and what ninety four? Was it justbin?
Speaker 5 (30:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Yeah, ninety four?
Speaker 4 (30:54):
Well I actually, yeah, he left in ninety three and
then he ended up taking a little bit of time
off doing some off in Hollywood, and then he ended
up in WCW.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Ninety four and was the same character, right, was the
same you know, exactly American golden boy. And people just
got tired of it, right because eighty three, so you know,
eleven years, twelve years later, people started hating it. They
looked like, you know, WCW was in trouble, and then
(31:22):
all of a sudden, you know, an opening is made
for him to turn heel and golly did he do
it fantastic? Right, like he was. He played such a
great bad guy. And I go back to nineteen eighty two,
(31:42):
before he was really hulk Mania, right, he was just
Haul Cogan and he was a big dude and needs
be either bad or good. Or whatever. But I go
back to Rocky three, where he plays Thunderlips the ultimate male, right,
and he is the ultimate bad guy to they're putting
on an exhibition, right, And Rocky comes in thinks they're
(32:02):
putting on an exhibition, and Hulk Hogan plays the part
of heel wrestler. He doesn't give Rocky the time of day.
He insults him, he says it's the ultimate mail versus
the ultimate meatball. You know, he's not friendly to him
at all. He throws them out of the ring, all
that stuff, and then Rocky comes back, and then afterwards
you see the human being behind that going, yeah, let's
(32:26):
get some pictures. You know, this was fun whatever. And
so for Halk Hogan to turn heel turned it into
Hollywood Hogan and go heal, it was genius. He was
such a great bad guy. I'm not sure too many
people made me laugh more in wrestling than Hollywood Hogan did. Right,
(32:46):
Hulk Hogan got me fired up, he got he got
the feels on me, he got me juiced up, you know.
But Hollywood Hogan made me laugh.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
He did, and he was really easy to hate when
you would come out there and tell everybody how he
how he made wrestling and he was the biggest thing
in the world. And you're right, like like you said, Jim,
he became the best heal in the business after being
the biggest star and the biggest good guy, baby faced
whatever you want to call him a hero to kids
(33:16):
all over for you know, twelve years or so, you know,
or longer.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
So it was incredible.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
And then one you know story I want to tell
real quick is I remember, you know, WCW goes out
of business. There's all kinds of turmoil there. Hogan kind
of walks away from wrestling for a little bit. But
I remember he comes back to the WWE in two
thousand and two and they tried to recycle the nWo formula,
which doesn't work. But the point is, Hogan comes back
(33:43):
as Hollywood Hogan in the WWE. And I remember, like
it was yesterday. I was kind of a little kind
of getting on getting out of the of the business.
I wasn't quite as into wrestling at that point, but
I remember when when Hogan came back, I was very interested.
I'm like, okay, let he had been gone from WWE
since ninety three. This was crazy in almost ten years,
(34:05):
so I'm like, Okay, I want to see what happens.
And I remember they brought him in as the bad guys.
nWo was supposed to be that evil nWo like they
were in the beginning of the run in WCW. So
they bring him in and the ideas they're going to
have him feud with The Rock at WrestleMania eighteen. That match,
to this day, I could put it on. It gives
(34:26):
me chills because when those two are in the ring,
they're looking at each other and then they each look
at the crowd, and the crowd is absolutely electric because
you have two of the biggest icons of wrestling at
that time. You had Hogan and then The Rock, who
had become very big. It had gone in the Hollywood,
he was very well known, and he had these two guys,
and I remember during the course of that match watching
(34:47):
it at the time, he was positioned as the heel Hogan,
that is, the fans instantly had nostalgia for him. He's
back in WWE, He's our guy, and you can hear
the crowds channing for Hogan and it's so fun because
behind all of that, you know, knowing it's a scripted thing.
Hawk and Rock kind of read the room right, and
(35:09):
they're like, listen, they want you, Hogan. So they kind
of flip places, and Hogan kind of starts to take
on the crowd cheers and playing into it a little bit,
and then the Rock starts kind of doing the match
as a heel. It starts to do like heel tactics
because they both were brilliant in the way that they
could read the audience and pivot and give the people
what they want. It's one of the greatest matches of
(35:31):
that era, and it's all because whether you like him
or not, it's all because of how good and how
great Hogan was at doing that.
Speaker 5 (35:40):
It was his life, it was his business.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
He knew it, and he knew how to he knew
how to work the crowd, and he did an amazing
job there.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Yeah, I was gonna say, for as limited as he
was as a wrestler, you're right, he knew how to
read the room, he knew how to work the crowd,
he knew how the business worked, and he was a star.
There's not there's not that many stars that are that
limited in their wrestling moves. So it's funny that you
mentioned that that match justin because when I was looking
(36:10):
through Twitter on that day, Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock
tweeted and this is what he said, Rest in peace,
Terry Bulla aka the Immortal hal Cogan. Two millions of
little kids, you were a childhood hero, myself included. In
nineteen eighty four, I gave you your Hulkster headband back
(36:30):
in the locker room in Madison Square Garden. I was
the lucky kid that caught it when you threw it
in the crowd. You were wrestling mister wonderful Paul Orndorf
in that night in the main event. You were shocked
and so happy after the match because you told me
that was your very last last headband, and if it
weren't for me, you'd have no way of getting that
(36:50):
exact one made again. You promised me that you would
get me more made and give me a Hulkster headband
of my own as a thank you gift. A month
later in Madison Square Garden. You did just that. You
kept your word with a handshake and a thanks kid,
and that meant the world to that little twelve year
old boy. Just seventeen years later and still a kid
(37:12):
at the age of twenty nine, years old. I'm standing
in the middle of the ring and facing you, one
of my wrestling heroes, in the main event of WrestleMania.
The match was to decide who would go down in
history as the greatest of all time. When you kicked
out of my rock Bottom finisher, just listen and feel
that crowd go electric, all for you. I've never felt
(37:33):
anything like that in my entire wrestling career. It takes
two to tango, but that historic crowd reaction was all
for you. You may have passed the torch to me
that night, but you, my friend, you drew the house,
meaning you sold out every arena and stadium across the
country in your prime as Hulkogan, on your way to
becoming the greatest of all time. From deepen my bones
(37:57):
and on behalf of this wild and crazy world wrestling
that we love, I say to you now and forever,
thank you for the house, brother, Thank you for the house.
And I just thought when I read that, I was like, wow,
I mean, you know, he he meant a lot to us,
(38:17):
but he meant a lot to future wrestlers as well,
and the Rock is maybe the best to ever do
it as far as both in ring technique and working
the mic and reading the crowd. But he certainly isn't
that way if not for Hogan.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Right, I was going to ask you, Jim, is there
a matchup that stands out to you?
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Well, Justin mentioned the Andre the Giant. You know he
he was the first to slam Andre the Giant in
front of the ninety three thousand in WrestleMania three. So
there was that one I do remember as WCW. So
when he became Hollywood Hogan, all of a sudden, WCW
shot up in the ratings and they and Hogan, who
(39:06):
put Vince into business in nineteen eighty four nineteen eighty
five with WrestleMania, almost put Vince out of business in
the late nineties. But I remember on TV him wrestling
Rick Flair, and to me that stood out because you've
got Flair, the ultimate NWA guy who would come to
(39:26):
the WWF later as Hogan was kind of on his
way out right, But I never got to see that match, right,
And there was always an argument that's amongst friends, the
ones who watched the Mid South and the South wrestling
and watched Rick Flair travel versus those of us that
were strictly WWF guys and just thought Hogan was the greatest,
and to me, there was no way Flair would ever
beat Hogan, right, But I just remember it was just
(39:49):
a tremendous match in a steel cage on Monday night
nightdro justin any thoughts on.
Speaker 4 (40:00):
Man, Yeah, Hawke and Andre at WrestleMania three might be
the high water mark. I really actually think that rock
match kind of rivals it though at WRESTLEMANA eighteen. But also, uh,
I thought he and Warrior had a great match at
WrestleMania six. Again, you know, people say how limited the
Warrior was in the ring, So you gotta think when
I watch that match and see how great it is,
(40:22):
that either means that Hogan's a lot better in the
ring that people want to give him credit for, or
the Warrior is, or maybe it's both, but any rate,
that was a great match. I always think of the
like Lindsay was saying, this, the Savage feud that Hogan
had going into WrestleMania five with Elizabeth and and Macho
turning on Hogan, that's probably the in my heart of hearts,
(40:44):
especially since I'm a big macho man, Randy Savage guy,
that's probably the one that's the feud I think of.
I think of Hogan against Macho Man. That's probably the
one that means the most to me. But yeah, all
of those and yeah, like even like you said, and
his in WCW, he had some fun times there.
Speaker 5 (40:59):
Those Rick Flair matches were great.
Speaker 4 (41:01):
I liked what he did with Sting, So there's definitely
some good stuff there. But I really think it's the
that late eighties thing for me, between Andre Savage and
then Warrior. It is just such a great run that
probably of all the wrestling I go back to and Rewatch,
it's that era, and let's face it, that's the era
of Hogan.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Yeah, for sure. Lindsay started smiling when you brought up
the macho thing because I will say to her all
the time, you got jealous eyes, brother love that.
Speaker 7 (41:31):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
I didn't know that he was sick, Lindsay did. I
didn't know that something was going on with him, obviously
you did. So Sunday night, while we're in Pigeon Forge,
we are going to see a show. We're going to
see an Elvis impersonator, I mean, because what else are
you going to do in Pigeon Forge? Right, And as
we take a turn into this shopping center where this
(41:52):
Elvis impersonator is going to be in this theater. We
see a big yellow sign that says Hulk Hogan's Wrestling Store,
and so we go into there and we're looking around.
They've got all kinds of memorabilia. I'll sing you some
pictures that I took. They got a life sized Hulkgan
and the nWo shirt. They got a big wrestling ring,
(42:14):
all kinds of it.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
Was like a wax figure.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
Yeah, I mean, he was life size in his nWo
get up.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
They've got all kinds of memorabilia him, sign stuff. They've
got him as Thunderlips with Rocky, They've got the Rocky figures,
all kinds of stuff. I'll sing you some pictures later on.
I'll and I'll post them on Twitter as well, and
if you want, you can post them on Instagram and Facebook.
But uh so we were all excited. And then when
we go to check out, because I, you know, I
(42:42):
you know, I had to get the Thunderlips T shirt.
You know, the lady was there was like, oh, we've
only been open for three weeks. We're so excited. You know,
this is his friend's you know, lifelong dream to do this,
and he's supposed to be coming up here in three
weeks to uh you know, sign autographs and kind of
do a grand opening type thing, and we're like, oh cool.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
So at the time, I thought to myself, oh, I
guess the rumors aren't true and he is okay. But
I still didn't say anything to Jim because I assumed
that Jim read TMZ as much as I do.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
He does not, it's not and so so yeah, it was.
It was a big shocker to me. But yeah, rest
in peace, Haul Cogan. You know, one of our one
of our heroes as kids, and you know he lived
a flawed life for sure, the man. But uh, you know,
(43:35):
we all do not to make excuses for him, but
you know, some of us more nobody's perfect, some of
us more than others. And he certainly had, uh had
his downfalls for sure. But like I said earlier, it's
it's like a part of our childhood has now died,
and uh you know that part that part is is
sad for sure.
Speaker 4 (43:57):
Yeah, it's the one thing I'll say real quick about that.
I I go back and want and rewatch a lot
of wrestling from that era, like you guys probably know,
not just for research, just because for pleasure, because it's
it's it was what I grew up on. As much
as I'm a movie fan of horror fan, wrestling was
what I grew up on in the late eighties early nineties.
So I go back, like during the summer, I'll rewatch
(44:17):
some of the summer slams, and I'll go back and
I'll rewatch Saturday night main events and stuff like that.
So one of the hardest thing for me is like
I'll be watching with my wife and she'll say, now,
in this match, you know is so and so still
loving and I'll be like, no, all three of the
people in this match have gone, like including the ref
right or you know.
Speaker 5 (44:36):
Or they'll be in the back and.
Speaker 4 (44:37):
Mean Jean's interviewing a group of people and I'll be like, well,
one of the five is still with us.
Speaker 5 (44:42):
And it's so hard.
Speaker 4 (44:43):
And then now when you got a guy that was
so such the biggest part of the show and now
he's gone again, it's just so hard. When you said
it perfectly, it was poetic earlier, Jim. It's like a
little piece of our childhood has been taken from us.
It's gone, can't get back and that's what sucks.
Speaker 1 (45:01):
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, Lindsay, any any final thoughts
here before we I.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
Mean, I feel like we got to come up with
something we can't end on like such a downer.
Speaker 3 (45:16):
Well, good, agreed.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
Well, Well here's here's something I don't know if I've
asked you about or not justin, but Lindsay last year
mentioned we always do Halloween episodes come October, and she
mentioned last year about doing something about a Freddie versus
Jason kind of thing. And I thought, well, no better
guess to bring on than to bring you on to
(45:38):
talk about that stuff. So what do you say? I
know I'm putting you on the spot because we're live
here on the air, so yes, but will you come
on near Halloween to do a Freddie versus Jason episode?
Speaker 4 (45:51):
Well, like, think about what you just said, right, Jason Freddie, Halloween,
Children of the Eighties, Sign me up.
Speaker 5 (45:59):
I'm there all day.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
Fantastic.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
Oh good, that's something we can all look forward to.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
Well, why don't you a start with telling our listeners
what your show is about? Because I know you've been
on here before you've told listeners. But I'm telling you
we get tens of new listeners a month, so there
may be since the last time you were on, there
may be I've seventeen new listeners out there that don't
(46:31):
know about your show, So why don't you tell us
about that?
Speaker 5 (46:35):
Yeah, I appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (46:36):
So pop Culture Reflections is it started with nostalgia, but
it's really gotten into a whole lot more. It's about
fun conversation with guests a lot of the times about
the things from pop culture that I care about the most.
So it includes TV and music and movies, pro wrestling
and some other stuff. I try to make it as
potpourri as possible, change it up a bit, but a
(46:57):
lot of it is a film review. I have a
lot of kind of like milestone movies coming up that
I haven't gotten to yet, some that are celebrating anniversaries
and stuff. So if you like film reviews, I do that,
but with a bit of a twist with some fun categories.
And Yeah, like I was hyping up earlier music discoveries,
I think I kind of do a unique thing with
music too, so I've been trying to incorporate more of that,
(47:19):
and like I said, being such a big fan of
pro wrestling, if you like that. I do have some
of that. There's some great episodes in the catalog yours
that not only yours truly, but mister Jim Butler joined
me for we had great conversations about pro wrestling, and
we'll do more of that again in the future. So yeah,
of all of those things. And like I said, it's
all about pop culture. It's all about fun conversation and
(47:42):
what it means to me. So I appreciate you. Go
check out. You can find us out on all podcast platforms,
and you can follow me on Instagram, Threads, Facebook, Blue Sky, Twitter.
I'm on some of them more than others. Instagram's probably
the place people can follow me most frequently. I think
I post on there, probably a little bit more than
everywhere else, but I try to, you know, put stuff
(48:03):
out there everywhere.
Speaker 5 (48:04):
So that's about it.
Speaker 1 (48:06):
And you just started your own Patreon.
Speaker 5 (48:08):
Right, I did. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (48:10):
I sometimes forget to say that, and part of the
problem is I'm so far ahead in recording, which is
a good thing. It's the opposite of how I was
last year when I was kind of doing stuff last minute.
But I'm so far ahead that I'm like forgetting Okay, Yeah,
Patreon's definitely in there now, but some of my ads
aren't quite in the episodes because it's not caught up yet.
So yes, I started up a Patreon in July and
(48:32):
well earlier this month, and it's going pretty well. I've
had I had some subscribers, some members that are supporting
the show now, which is awesome. Kind of helps with
some of the little costs that comes with doing this stuff,
makes it a little bit easier for me to be
able to do it, So.
Speaker 5 (48:48):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (48:49):
So yeah, you can go on the Patreon and check
that out, just look up pop Culture Reflections and I
appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (48:55):
And so this was this was last minute, like we said,
and thank you for joining us on the last minute.
And this will be airing in two days. So what
do you got coming up? This one? What's going to
be released this Thursday and then maybe next Thursday for you.
Speaker 4 (49:09):
Yeah, this Thursday is Final Destination, the original film from
two thousand, So extremely excited for that to come out.
It's another, like I said, milestone type of anniversary. And
if you bear with me one second, let me take
a look. I think I have something I want to
tell you about that's how far ahead I am that
I actually forget what's next.
Speaker 3 (49:31):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (49:33):
Oh yeah, it's a good thing, but it does make
it kind of tricky. But all right, yeah that's what
I thought.
Speaker 4 (49:39):
So after that, I have another episode from my sub
series now called Slice of Pop Culture with Justin and Greg.
We kind of rebranded it and renamed it where we
are going to put two iconic directors up against each other.
We're going to compare and contrast some of their biggest
movies and vote for the best director. So that's coming
up in a couple weeks as well.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Nice fantastic. Well, folks, go check them out if you
haven't already, pop Culture Reflections. You can get them anywhere
you get us, and they're released Thursday, the day after us.
So listen to us, and then go listen to Justin
and his show and maybe maybe you'll hear me and
or Lindsey on there because we've been guess frequently, Justin's
been kind enough to have us a lot, so it's
(50:22):
always a blast.
Speaker 4 (50:23):
In fact, you guys will be coming up again real soon.
Speaker 1 (50:27):
We're looking forward to it.
Speaker 3 (50:28):
Yes, can't wait.
Speaker 2 (50:30):
Well, I'm excited about that episode coming up.
Speaker 3 (50:34):
So well, if you haven't.
Speaker 2 (50:36):
We would appreciate it if you would go ahead and
hit that subscribe button so that you never miss an
episode and you could leave us a five star review.
Speaker 1 (50:48):
More important than that, tell somebody. You can reach us
on social media at Children of Underscore Eighties, or if
you prefer to send an email, like some of us
older Gen X and boomers do, you can send it
to Children of the nineteen Eighties at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2 (51:10):
Until next time, I'm Jim and I'm Lindsay, and we
are Children of the Eighties.
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