Whatever! The Gen-X Podcast is for the generation that grew up on mixtapes, Saturday morning cartoons, and the firm belief that we'd never turn into our parents. Spoiler: we did anyway.
Every week, Dwayne and Heather dig into what it meant to grow up Gen X and what it means to live it out now. There's the music, the movies, the cultural moments we can't let go of, and the real stuff that comes with being a maturing generation nobody saw coming. Equal parts nostalgia trip and honest conversation, with enough humor to make it worth the ride.
Whatever. As if. Talk to the hand. We're back.
Publisher
Dwayne & Heather Tanner
Category
health & fitness · history · music · society & culture · tv & film
Gen X Nostalgia: You Have Died of Dysentery: The Bridge Generation
Dwayne and Heather look back at growing up with one foot in the analog world and one in the digital, from rotary phones and paper maps to dial-up and the early web. Find us everywhere: https://linktr.ee/whatevergenxpod
16 Oct 2026
Gen X Nostalgia: Speak & Spell It Out: The Toys of Our Childhood
Dwayne and Heather went back to the toy box this week to revisit the toys, games, and gadgets that defined a Gen X childhood. They also took on a few that somehow made it past the safety inspectors.
9 Oct 2026
Gen X Today: Latchkey to Life360
Were our parents negligent, or are we unhinged? Dwayne and Heather compare their Gen X latchkey childhoods to how they raised their own kids, covering free-range vs. helicopter parenting, childhood independence laws, and what kids get to do in Germany.
2 Oct 2026
Gen X Today: Pet Peeves, Rants, and Raves
Dwayne and Heather finally let it rip. In this episode, they ranted about the stuff that drives Gen X crazy in 2026, from kids who quit after one try to grown adults on speakerphone in the coffee shop.
26 Sept 2026
Gen X Nostalgia: Hair Bands Part 2 - Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
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 studios and more than a year to make, and a guitarist who never actually toured behind it. Plus Tawny Kitaen, two Jaguars, and a whole lot of cartwheels.
Then came the late wave. Winger, Skid Row, Warrant, and the story of how Jani Lane ended up stuck with "Cherry Pie." Heather made the case for the underrated club bands that never got the airplay they deserved, and they talked about how too many bands with the same look and the same sound, plus grunge, country, and pop all fighting for radio time, brought the whole era crashing down. FireHouse got special attention as the band that beat Nirvana for an American Music Award and kept charting after everyone said hair metal was dead.
They wrapped up with where they are now: Mötley Crüe's backing track controversy, Bret Michaels stepping away to recover, Jon Bon Jovi's vocal struggles, Def Leppard putting their new album on hold for Vivian Campbell, and a whole lot more. Along the way, they shared a few personal moments about the musicians the genre has lost.
6 Sept 2026
Hair Bands Part 1: Feel the Noise
Gen X didn't invent glamorous rock music, but we sure perfected it. This week, Dwayne and Heather trace the lineage from British glam to the Sunset Strip, diving deep into how Mötley Crüe and Poison became the soundtrack to a generation. It's the first part of a two-part hair band extravaganza—because there's just too much greatness to cover in one episode.
26 Aug 2026
Everything Sucks! And, I'm Going To Sing About It!
A listener asked us point blank: was grunge a real movement, or did the record industry manufacture it and sell it back to us? This week, Dwayne and Heather trace the trends that actually led to grunge's rise, talk about what else people were listening to at the time, and break down some of the genre's biggest acts — along with our honest opinions on them. We land on a final verdict together. You'll have to listen to find out where we landed.
12 Aug 2026
Private Eyes, Public Nostalgia
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 Rockford's beach trailer to Magnum's Ferrari in Hawaii, plus "This Week in Gen X History" for August 9–15 and a look at why the P.I. genre exploded after Watergate.
This week's countdown: Vega$, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Matt Houston, Spenser: For Hire, Hart to Hart, Simon & Simon, Remington Steele, Moonlighting, The Rockford Files, and Magnum, P.I., with honorable mentions for Charlie's Angels, Riptide, and The A-Team.
Our theme song is provided by Envato Elements. This episode includes a brief clip of "Back in Black" by AC/DC and short theme music excerpts from every show mentioned above, all used for commentary and critique purposes under fair use (17 U.S.C. § 107).
5 Aug 2026
Lights, Sirens, and Shoulder Pads
Badges, big hair, and back seat handcuffs. Dwayne and Heather count down the top ten cop shows that ruled the 70s and 80s, from Hill Street Blues to Miami Vice, plus "This Week in Gen X History" for August 2–8 and a closer on why cop shows were absolutely everywhere in that era.
This week's countdown: Baretta, Kojak, Adam-12, Starsky & Hutch, Hunter, Cagney & Lacey, T.J. Hooker, CHiPs, Miami Vice, and Hill Street Blues, with honorable mentions for S.W.A.T., Columbo, and Police Woman.
Our theme song is provided by Envato Elements. This episode includes brief clips of "Private Eyes" by Hall & Oates and "Magic" by Olivia Newton-John, short theme music excerpts from Baretta, S.W.A.T., and Hill Street Blues, and brief audio clips from T.J. Hooker and Kojak, all used for commentary and critique purposes under fair use (17 U.S.C. § 107).
29 Jul 2026
Our Favorite Sitcoms of the 80s
Dwayne and Heather count down the Nielsen-informed top 10 sitcoms of the 1980s, from Cosby to Cheers to The Jeffersons, then set their own personal top 5s against the official list. Theme songs, ratings history, and a few surprising cast trivia along the way.
22 Jul 2026
The Works of John Hughes
This week Dwayne and Heather kick off with "This Week in Gen X History," before diving into the main event: John Hughes, the filmmaker who basically invented the modern teen movie and then vanished from Hollywood almost as fast as he conquered it. From his Michigan childhood to the fictional town of Shermer he built out of his own Chicago suburb, they trace the wild run of films that came out of him in the mid-80s, and the controversies that still follow a few of them around today.
Topics covered:
This Week in Gen X History
Hughes' path from National Lampoon writer to teen movie auteur
The making of Sixteen Candles and its Long Duk Dong controversy
The Breakfast Club's two-day script and its own reckoning around Bender and Claire
Hughes' recurring "muses": Anthony Michael Hall, Molly Ringwald, John Candy
How music shaped his films, including the "Don't You (Forget About Me)" story and the Beatles influence throughout his work
Hughes' retreat to a farm in Illinois and his friendship with John Candy
Clip & Music Attribution
Brief audio clips are used from Sleepless in Seattle (1993, TriStar Pictures) in the "This Week in Gen X History" segment, and from Sixteen Candles (1984, Universal Pictures) in the main discussion, along with short excerpts of "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds and "Twist and Shout" as featured in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. All clips are used briefly for the purpose of commentary and critique under fair use (17 U.S.C. § 107).
19 Jul 2026
Trailer
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.
8 Jul 2026
The Mall Experience and Downfall of Radio as We Knew It
Remember spending entire Saturday afternoons at the mall with nowhere specific to be and no hurry to get there? This week Dwayne and Heather revisit the Gen X mall experience — the stores that are gone, the food court staples we still miss, and the music stores that were our social hubs before the internet existed. Then we talk radio — Casey Kasem, Rick Dees, taping songs off the air, and how the 1996 Telecommunications Act handed the American airwaves to a handful of corporations. Plus a packed This Week in Gen X History covering seven days in July spanning Amazon, Prince, Springsteen, Toby Keith, Jerry Garcia, Boris Yeltsin, and Ricky Martin.
MUSIC CREDITS
Licensed music for this episode provided through Envato Elements.
The following recordings were used briefly during This Week in Gen X History and episode discussion for the purpose of artist commentary:
Prince — "When Doves Cry" — owned by Warner Records
Bruce Springsteen — "Born in the USA" — owned by Columbia Records
Toby Keith — "Should've Been a Cowboy" — owned by Mercury Nashville
Ricky Martin — "Livin' La Vida Loca" — owned by Columbia Records
Michael Jackson — "Beat It" — owned by Epic Records
Janet Jackson — "Escapade" — owned by A&M Records
Grateful Dead — "Touch of Grey" — owned by Arista Records
Use is commentary-based per fair use doctrine (17 U.S.C. § 107). All rights remain with respective owners.
1 Jul 2026
The Perils We've Faced as Gen-X
Whatever! The Gen X Podcast — Episode 2: The Perils We Faced
This week Dwayne and Heather dig into the fears that defined Gen X — then and now.
We open with This Week in Gen X History, covering the 26th Amendment, Queen's first gig with their classic lineup, the legendary KISS Marvel Comics blood-in-the-ink launch, the debut of the Sony Walkman, and Bon Jovi signing their first record deal.
Then we get into it. Two generations of fear, paired up and laid side by side:
Y2K vs. Social Security Solvency — one ticking clock that fizzled, one that nobody's defusing.
Duck-and-Cover and The Day After vs. Doomscrolling and News Fatigue — we traded one contained apocalypse for an infinite feed of smaller ones we carry in our pockets.
Music Credits:
Licensed music provided through Envato Elements. Additional music discussed in this episode includes works by Queen, KISS, and Bon Jovi, used briefly for the purpose of commentary and discussion.
Queen — "Bohemian Rhapsody"
KISS — "Rock and Roll All Night"
Bon Jovi — "Runaway"
Original recordings owned by their respective rights holders. Use is commentary-based per fair use doctrine (17 U.S.C. § 107).
24 Jun 2026
Intros and Musings
Welcome to Whatever, the podcast for two proudly jaded, totally rad Gen Xers who grew up biking until the streetlights came on and rewinding VHS tapes out of basic human decency.
For episode one, the guests are us. Dwayne (58) and Heather (51) turn the mic on each other. Twenty-one years together, four kids, four states, two countries, and apparently a lot of late-night conversations about what it means to be Gen X that finally turned into a podcast.
We get into what Gen X actually feels like from the inside (not the Wikipedia version), the latchkey kid moment that stuck, the biggest lie our generation got sold about careers and having it all, and what it's like watching your teenage self's predictions about turning 50 turn out to be hilariously wrong.
New episodes weekly. Find us wherever you listen, and tell your friends. Tell your frenemies too, honestly."
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Apple Podcasts (US)
4.8 / 5
5 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
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