Whatever! The Gen X Podcast

Halloween used to mean a plastic mask held on by a single rubber band, a pillowcase slung over your shoulder, and a coat zipped right over the costume you begged for all month. In this special Halloween episode, Dwayne and Heather went back to the 70s and 80s to relive the decorations that got taped to the window every single year, the homemade costumes that confused the neighbors, and the haunted...

Dwayne and Heather pick up the long-corded kitchen phone this week and talk about being the bridge generation, the last kids to grow up before the internet and the first adults who had to figure it out. They look back at the analog life, the clunky early days of getting online, and the gadgets that made them feel like they’d hit the big time. They also dig into which old-school skills still pay of...

All About Us Dwayne and Heather went back to the toy box this week. They talked about the toys they loved, the ones they played with until they broke, and the ones that probably should have come with a warning label. They also covered the holiday crazes that sent parents into a frenzy and the playground trading that kept everyone's collections moving. Then they took a hard look at today's...

Gen X Today: Latchkey to Life360 Were our parents negligent, or are we completely unhinged? Dwayne and Heather look back at growing up as Gen X latchkey kids, back when you had a house key on a shoelace, after-school reruns, homemade bike ramps, and one rule: be home when the streetlights come on. Then they turn the question on themselves. How did the most unsupervised generation in modern history...

All our links Episode 11 got a little ranty. Okay, a lot ranty. Dwayne and Heather took a break from nostalgia and aimed straight at life in 2026. They started with the big one: whatever happened to trying? The generation that learned computers from a blinking cursor and programmed VCRs by sheer stubbornness wondered why so many people give up the second something doesn't work. (Heather also c...

https://linktr.ee/whatevergenxpod Last week covered how it all started. This week, Dwayne and Heather brought it home. They kicked off with Europe, the Swedish band most Americans only know for "The Final Countdown" and "Carrie," and made the case for their heavier roots and their surprisingly great second act. From there it was Whitesnake's 1987 album, a record that took six s...

Before TikTok makeup tutorials, there was glam rock. Before the Sunset Strip became a tourist trap, it was ground zero for the biggest sound of the 1980s. This week on Whatever!, Dwayne and Heather take you back to where it all started—from David Bowie's theatrical revolution to the New York Dolls' proto-punk attitude—and trace the exact line that led to Mötley Crüe, Poison, and everything...

A listener sent us a question we couldn't shake: was grunge a real, organic movement, or something the music industry built and sold back to us? This episode digs into the actual trends and conditions that led to grunge's rise, takes a look at what else was on the radio at the time for contrast, and walks through some of the genre's defining acts, complete with our own honest takes on...

Trade in the badge for a license this week. Dwayne and Heather count down the top ten private investigator shows that ruled the 70s and 80s, from the beat-up trailer on Rockford's beach to Magnum's Ferrari in Hawaii, and dig into why this genre exploded the way it did after Watergate. Plus, "This Week in Gen X History" covers August 9th through the 15th, including a certain Cold Wa...

Badges, big hair, and back seat handcuffs. This week Dwayne and Heather grab the siren and count down the top ten cop shows that defined a whole generation of Wednesday nights, from Hill Street Blues to Miami Vice. Plus, "This Week in Gen X History" covers August 2nd through the 8th, a Nielsen-informed rundown of who really ruled the small screen, and a closing conversation on why cop show...

This week Dwayne and Heather step away from the news cycle for pure nostalgia: the sitcoms that owned Thursday nights before "Must See TV" was even a phrase. They build a Nielsen-informed top 10 countdown pulled straight from the actual season-by-season ratings, argue over where certain shows landed, and each reveal a personal top 5 of the sitcoms they watched and loved growing up. Topics...

Dwayne and Heather dig into John Hughes, the filmmaker who invented the modern teen movie. Brat Pack drama, the Long Duk Dong controversy, Molly Ringwald's complicated history with Hughes, the soundtrack cuts that made it all unforgettable, plus this week in Gen X history.

We're Dwayne and Heather, and we grew up with a house key on a shoelace instead of a phone in our pocket. Whatever! The Gen X Podcast digs into the music, shows, and chaos that raised us, then drags it all into the present, where we're apparently the generation nobody remembers to talk about. New episodes every Wednesday. Give us a listen.

Whatever! The Gen X Podcast — Episode 3: Malls, Music, and the Radio That Raised Us This week Dwayne and Heather take a trip back to the place that defined Gen X teenage life — the mall. From Orange Julius and Chess King to Waldenbooks and Radio Shack, we revisit the stores, the food courts, and the social rituals that made the mall our second home. We also dig into what happened to radio — how on...

Growing up Gen X meant living with some very specific fears — and somehow trading them for a whole new set as adults. In this episode, Dwayne and Heather compare the panics of their childhood with the anxieties keeping them up at night now. Y2K meets Social Security. Duck-and-cover meets doom-scrolling. Turns out fear just gets an update every generation.

Two Gen Xers, zero participation trophies. Dwayne and Heather kick off Whatever by interviewing each other, what it actually means to be Gen X, what they miss, what they're glad is gone, and the lie their generation got sold.