Episode 9
History and Rock and Roll: visiting Bret Michaels' Hometown
🎙 Warning: These new shirts may cause history-inspired travel
Best known as the lead singer of the 80s hair band, Poison, Bret Michaels had a big impact on Jenn's life. We took an opportunity to do something a little different and film a Walk With History video from his hometown of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania!
Walking through small-town Pennsylvania was that much more fun as we explored where he grew up, went to high school, played, and eventually put his father to rest.
Bret Michaels Hometown Tour (video)
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Transcript
[Music]
Speaker:greetings and welcome to the talk with
Speaker:History Podcast I am your host Scott
Speaker:here with my wife and historian Jen
Speaker:hello on this podcast we talk about
Speaker:history's continuing impact on us and
Speaker:our personal journey through YouTube as
Speaker:we continue to explore record and share
Speaker:our history locks with you
Speaker:real quick before we get into our main
Speaker:topic I want to lead off with our
Speaker:five-star question of the week
Speaker:and we're still looking for iTunes
Speaker:reviews out there we're a couple
Speaker:episodes ahead haven't gotten quite any
Speaker:uh five star reviews although there was
Speaker:a couple there was two nice ones left on
Speaker:there by myself and bye
Speaker:so if you want to have a question
Speaker:answered on this podcast I will do my
Speaker:best to answer it if you leave us a
Speaker:review on iTunes so please leave us a
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Speaker:this podcast
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:now the 1980s was full of big hair neon
Speaker:clothes loud bands and louder rock and
Speaker:roll
Speaker:the band Poison helped Define the crazy
Speaker:culture around those 1980s hair bands
Speaker:and it had multiple big hits
Speaker:but did you know that the lead singer of
Speaker:poison was from a small town not far
Speaker:from Jen's hometown of Pittsburgh
Speaker:Pennsylvania
Speaker:it's no wonder that my wife has always
Speaker:had a childhood crush on the man that
Speaker:sang for poison
Speaker:and he came from a small town called
Speaker:Mechanicsburg PA so Jen why don't you
Speaker:tell us about who we are talking about
Speaker:today so we are going to talk about
Speaker:um Brett Michael's side check and you
Speaker:would know him just as Brett Michaels
Speaker:and I have always when it comes down to
Speaker:the 80s hair bands that I love poison is
Speaker:number one and because Brett Michaels is
Speaker:there you know their front man he's
Speaker:never one but did you even know who
Speaker:Brett Michaels was I I had zero clue who
Speaker:Brett Michaels was and now I have seen
Speaker:Brett Michaels in concert in person at
Speaker:least three times yes yes we actually
Speaker:saw him like third row in San Diego yeah
Speaker:that was pretty good the last time we
Speaker:saw him at his tiny little uh Casino
Speaker:somewhere in Mississippi yeah that was
Speaker:not very good he's he's getting a little
Speaker:long on the tooth yeah he was like
Speaker:coughing foreign
Speaker:because you know the audience his
Speaker:audience he knows his demographic so
Speaker:he's got to turn the music up a little
Speaker:bit louder but uh no I had no clue who
Speaker:Brett Michaels was so why don't you tell
Speaker:us who he was so he was just a small
Speaker:town Pennsylvania boy so
Speaker:I
Speaker:I am from Pittsburgh and Brett Michaels
Speaker:was born in Butler Pennsylvania which is
Speaker:closer to Pittsburgh but it's when he's
Speaker:five or six years old that his family
Speaker:moves to Mechanicsburg and Mechanicsburg
Speaker:is a little bit farther away from
Speaker:Pittsburgh it's more towards Harrisburg
Speaker:and Mechanicsburg it's a little bit
Speaker:better a little bit bigger city right
Speaker:yeah and it's it's some it's on the
Speaker:other side of the state so it's closer
Speaker:to
Speaker:Gettysburg the Eastern side of
Speaker:Pennsylvania where Pittsburgh is the
Speaker:western side of Pennsylvania so he's
Speaker:moving Eastern and uh and he moved there
Speaker:because his dad was in the Army Navy
Speaker:Navy okay
Speaker:oh there we go I I like Brett Michaels
Speaker:just a little bit more now
Speaker:so and so that is where he's living when
Speaker:he gets diagnosed with diabetes
Speaker:they take him to Harrisburg they take
Speaker:him to the hospital there he's sick at
Speaker:six years old and they can't figure out
Speaker:why he takes them to the hospitals in
Speaker:three weeks he's there and he gets
Speaker:diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and if
Speaker:you know anything about Michael's he
Speaker:he's pretty open about that yeah
Speaker:and so he that's where he grows up and
Speaker:he's just I just take him as a Small
Speaker:Town Pennsylvania guy I love sports
Speaker:loves the Steelers loves to hunt loves
Speaker:all those kind of Pennsylvania things
Speaker:and he gets a band together now we in
Speaker:the video
Speaker:we go to his house on Hemlock Drive
Speaker:which is easy to find the address yeah
Speaker:we've so we we drove to Mechanicsburg on
Speaker:our way back from Washington DC yes
Speaker:that's right and
Speaker:we give a little history about
Speaker:Mechanicsburg like why is it called
Speaker:Mechanicsburg that was actually really
Speaker:interesting can you remind the Conestoga
Speaker:wagons when they would travel West
Speaker:remind me what the Conestoga wagons were
Speaker:again you know when people would the
Speaker:wagons like when people would travel
Speaker:west across America to go Homestead okay
Speaker:so like back when people were actually
Speaker:discovering them yeah old wagons with
Speaker:Wagon Wheels Mechanicsburg is usually
Speaker:the place people would stop to get
Speaker:things fixed yep that's where the
Speaker:mechanics were yeah I thought that was
Speaker:so interesting because it makes so much
Speaker:sense yeah oh yeah that makes a ton of
Speaker:sense yeah very basic
Speaker:um but we go to his home where he grew
Speaker:up he was there from the age of six to
Speaker:the age of 17. so from
Speaker:1969 to 1981 because he's born in 1963
Speaker:March 15th 1963. so he does most of his
Speaker:high school there and everything and he
Speaker:doesn't live there now there's nobody
Speaker:connected to him there now but that that
Speaker:house faced a fire that's right so it
Speaker:was kind of rebuilt
Speaker:um since he's lived there but we just
Speaker:kind of stood outside there and yeah we
Speaker:found his house we found his old high
Speaker:school yeah so we go to his high school
Speaker:so he went to Mechanicsburg Area High
Speaker:School
Speaker:and he graduated he's class of 1981. and
Speaker:it's at that time he puts together a
Speaker:band and it's called Paris that's right
Speaker:and he gets some guys from high school
Speaker:um Ricky rocket and Bobby doll so now
Speaker:where were they from Mechanicsburg as
Speaker:well yeah that area yeah they were from
Speaker:the general area and then another guy
Speaker:too who eventually will leave
Speaker:to come back to Mechanicsburg from LA
Speaker:and that's when CC
Speaker:will step in okay and so they they he
Speaker:was a guitarist the guitarist where they
Speaker:have this huge it's one of those things
Speaker:that it's where the two people can't get
Speaker:along but they make magic together right
Speaker:so I think it's that
Speaker:drama that you know that anxiety that
Speaker:you feel with each other can be like
Speaker:amazing and can also be
Speaker:terrifying it's like riding a wild horse
Speaker:you just kind of like hang it on while
Speaker:you're hanging on it's like man that's
Speaker:incredible yes until someone gets [ __ ]
Speaker:off yeah and then it can be toxic yeah
Speaker:um
Speaker:so and then it's so it's 1983 so they
Speaker:graduated high school 81.
Speaker:hanging around the area playing with
Speaker:their band Paris in 83 then they had
Speaker:they figure we need to go for it we're
Speaker:gonna go to La so this is 84. yeah so
Speaker:this is like classic yeah 80s movie want
Speaker:to start a rock band make it big this is
Speaker:classic story this is like 100
Speaker:80s like hey I'm from nowhere
Speaker:Pennsylvania I got my band we're going
Speaker:to Hollywood we're gonna make it big
Speaker:we're living in the van we're going to
Speaker:the Sunset Strip and we're going to play
Speaker:these places and we're going to hope
Speaker:that we make it big and they do right
Speaker:and I so that's their guitar sleeves
Speaker:because he wants to go back to
Speaker:Mechanicsburg be with his girlfriend I
Speaker:think and then that's when CeCe steps in
Speaker:and becomes the guitarist and they just
Speaker:make it you know they start yeah and not
Speaker:only is their their music big and loud
Speaker:of the time and really good but they
Speaker:kind of have this a little bit of the
Speaker:Stick of like really kind of prettying
Speaker:themselves up like really that almost
Speaker:metrosexual oh so much you know so my my
Speaker:one of my earliest memories is seeing
Speaker:the cover of look what the Cat Dragged
Speaker:In and if you ever saw that cover it's
Speaker:the four of them but so androgynous
Speaker:right you can't tell if it's a man or a
Speaker:woman and I just I must have been like
Speaker:seven or eight like looking at this
Speaker:cover and I couldn't tell I knew they
Speaker:were guys because I heard their music
Speaker:but I'm looking at this cover going is
Speaker:is that is that a guy or is there
Speaker:wearing makeup they're all the stuff and
Speaker:Brett Michael's like and honestly like
Speaker:Brett Michaels kind of came up with like
Speaker:the pouty face look like that duck face
Speaker:that little like it was go okay look him
Speaker:up right some of his most famous
Speaker:pictures has that little pouty lips
Speaker:things that like women do today like
Speaker:that like he kind of came up with he did
Speaker:he totally does it
Speaker:um
Speaker:so we go we go to his house we go to the
Speaker:high school and then we end up going to
Speaker:like the park where he would do with the
Speaker:community park where the pool was where
Speaker:the high school football field was
Speaker:because before they had a high school
Speaker:football field at their high school they
Speaker:actually played at that Park so we go to
Speaker:that Park so those are the places we go
Speaker:in Mechanicsburg and talk about him but
Speaker:just
Speaker:the thing that I like about Brett
Speaker:Michael so yes we've seen him a lot I've
Speaker:seen him in San Diego I've seen him in
Speaker:Pittsburgh I've seen him in Mississippi
Speaker:with you and then I saw him in Memphis
Speaker:at Graceland that's right and I went by
Speaker:myself remember and I had met some great
Speaker:people there and I actually got to meet
Speaker:Brett Michaels and he actually brought
Speaker:me on stage for Something to Believe In
Speaker:because I'm a veteran I'm a Navy veteran
Speaker:yeah that's like kind of what that
Speaker:song's about yes and he loves veterans
Speaker:he loves the military and he was the
Speaker:nicest guy like
Speaker:you you can you know you imagine people
Speaker:are but he really is genuine nice cared
Speaker:about what I had to say was interested
Speaker:like listening to me talk like wasn't
Speaker:looking like he was done I needed to go
Speaker:somewhere like really was the nicest guy
Speaker:and even with the first time I really
Speaker:got a true introduction to Brett
Speaker:Michaels was when he was on Rock of Love
Speaker:Yes 2007 2000 we just got married we had
Speaker:just been married and so we just started
Speaker:watching the show like that we actually
Speaker:watched that show pretty ridiculous if I
Speaker:wasn't married Scott I'd totally be on
Speaker:yeah so he's on the show and he's like
Speaker:typical single like you know kind of
Speaker:still sort of a rock star kind of pass
Speaker:past that
Speaker:um you know and again that was early on
Speaker:with shows like that right there wasn't
Speaker:hadn't been too many shows no like kind
Speaker:of like a bachelor kind of show but it
Speaker:hadn't really been done but so he's a
Speaker:genuine guy and you can even see it on
Speaker:that show like he is in interested he
Speaker:likes women oh for sure he doesn't make
Speaker:that no he he's there's no bones about
Speaker:it yeah he was there for the pretty
Speaker:girls he likes women and he likes all
Speaker:women and he's very like equal
Speaker:opportunity women like her and he is
Speaker:open to talking to all of them and
Speaker:giving them all his time and he doesn't
Speaker:seem to like discriminate against any
Speaker:type of woman so it's no not at all he
Speaker:seems totally like chill about that he's
Speaker:done a lot of like he did cribs so if
Speaker:you watch his cribs okay I don't think I
Speaker:saw that he totally is again seems
Speaker:completely chill and he won Celebrity
Speaker:Apprentice that's right in 2010 with
Speaker:with then just Donald Trump yeah he got
Speaker:it that's right all the celebrities oh
Speaker:my gosh again I think that genuine
Speaker:goodness that he's just a good guy comes
Speaker:out yeah and he he won that whole show
Speaker:oh I forgot about that yeah so now Jenna
Speaker:I have to ask you something
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:do you remember kind of my initial
Speaker:introduction to 80s music
Speaker:through you this is the CDs I bought you
Speaker:yes so for those who who are listening
Speaker:who aren't familiar with Jen and I right
Speaker:so she's she's a couple years older than
Speaker:me and so so she introduced me to 80s
Speaker:music and she gave me a couple CDs and
Speaker:one of them was Chicago
Speaker:I don't even remember six sticks and
Speaker:classic so so like of the time right
Speaker:when we first started dating right there
Speaker:nobody really had like iPods or anything
Speaker:like that yet and so we had CDs and so
Speaker:she was so she circled Hey listen to
Speaker:these songs these are the classic sticks
Speaker:ones these this is you gave me a couple
Speaker:CDs yeah so I'm driving up to see from
Speaker:San Diego
Speaker:up to Sea to visit my mom I think up in
Speaker:the LA area my mom or dad or something
Speaker:like that
Speaker:and I start playing sticks and you get
Speaker:one of the ones you circled was babe
Speaker:it's like this so it's the second song
Speaker:on the CD so first of all you picked
Speaker:that CD first and it's the second song
Speaker:on the scene and I don't I don't know
Speaker:any of these bands yes none whatsoever
Speaker:and so babe it's it's a it's a kind of
Speaker:power ballad love song yeah I mean it is
Speaker:styx's song right that song it sticks
Speaker:this thing it's a great song now that I
Speaker:know it but at the time we were
Speaker:relatively newly dating we had been
Speaker:dating for a month and this was
Speaker:Christmas I had gotten you these CDs for
Speaker:Christmas she had gotten me these CDs
Speaker:and said listen to them
Speaker:and so I'm driving down the 10 freeway
Speaker:I'm driving on the 10 West
Speaker:had this had this had the CD in I'm
Speaker:driving in my 1998 Pathfinder right I'm
Speaker:driving down the 10 West and if you know
Speaker:the lyrics and if you know the lyrics of
Speaker:babe and it's like babe I love you
Speaker:whatever whatever and so I'm hearing
Speaker:these lyrics and I freak out and I freak
Speaker:out and I'm like oh my God and here I am
Speaker:22 23 years old just dating you for a
Speaker:month and she I was like she's giving me
Speaker:love songs so I freak out so I take all
Speaker:two or three CDs and I literally throw
Speaker:them out of my window on the 10 freeway
Speaker:and I was just like I I panicked I had a
Speaker:little panic attack I got you journey I
Speaker:think I forget what other ones I think I
Speaker:got you meatloaf yeah I don't remember
Speaker:what you got me because they are dust
Speaker:somewhere on the 10 feet you're so funny
Speaker:so I think you called me and you had
Speaker:said something like that and I was like
Speaker:what and you were like yeah that stick
Speaker:song
Speaker:babe I'm like babe yeah it's a great
Speaker:song and you're like you know the lyrics
Speaker:and like yeah you know it's a love
Speaker:ballad it's one of those 80s love
Speaker:ballads and he's like I just didn't know
Speaker:will you try to say that to me and I was
Speaker:like no yeah I did not understand the
Speaker:music or the times or anything I was I
Speaker:was quite young and naive yeah I was
Speaker:funny um so that was my introduction
Speaker:really to to 80s music and then
Speaker:eventually we listened to it together
Speaker:more and I found the I found bands like
Speaker:poison and white snake and you loved
Speaker:Whitesnake and like so I found those
Speaker:like a little bit harder I wasn't as
Speaker:much as a power power Bella guy
Speaker:but this video was so much fun because
Speaker:it really honestly wasn't
Speaker:really for the history we did it just
Speaker:because we wanted to do it and that's
Speaker:and that's part of the fun of doing
Speaker:YouTube and doing these videos and if
Speaker:you're listening to this for some of our
Speaker:what we're learning through YouTube
Speaker:sometimes you just have to make a video
Speaker:that might be close right we we touched
Speaker:on some history Mechanicsburg right his
Speaker:life and his life and we even joked like
Speaker:hey we hesitate to call this history but
Speaker:here we are in the hometown of our
Speaker:favorite you have someone that you love
Speaker:like a band that you love that you're
Speaker:you always wonder where they started
Speaker:right where they
Speaker:you know all come together and that's
Speaker:kind of historic I mean you can think
Speaker:about big bands I mean the poison is by
Speaker:no means like a huge influencer like the
Speaker:Beatles or something but people want to
Speaker:know how those people come together and
Speaker:even Beatles songs right people will
Speaker:find out where
Speaker:those names come from and sure I mean
Speaker:it's a little bit of like VH on VH1 like
Speaker:Behind the Music yes it was a much it
Speaker:was very much like Behind the Music we
Speaker:were kind of doing Behind the Music and
Speaker:so when we go to the park
Speaker:Brett's father had recently passed away
Speaker:Wally psycheck I mean literally just
Speaker:like a year prior so he passed away the
Speaker:same month and year as my dad yeah and
Speaker:um
Speaker:and you can find these things online you
Speaker:can find what his father is buried you
Speaker:can and I didn't want to go there but
Speaker:you can and so I actually put the flags
Speaker:and his father was in the Navy so
Speaker:important to us and he did the same
Speaker:thing for his father's wake that I did
Speaker:told everyone to wear Steelers gear
Speaker:right and we did the same thing for my
Speaker:dad so I just felt this kind of
Speaker:connection so we brought some flags and
Speaker:put them in the Park yeah we didn't want
Speaker:to go to the Grave yeah we just didn't
Speaker:think that was appropriate
Speaker:um and his family still lives close by
Speaker:they live in Camp Hill which is close to
Speaker:Mechanicsburg so his mom and his stepdad
Speaker:they still live close by and he visits
Speaker:like all the time if you follow him on
Speaker:Facebook or Instagram like he goes to
Speaker:his mom's house a lot because he visited
Speaker:Sarah's grave a lot
Speaker:um
Speaker:but yeah I mean I followed him so much
Speaker:like so he Brett has kind of dabbled in
Speaker:things and he dabbled in movies and he
Speaker:made this movie called A letter from
Speaker:death row and I like own it don't you
Speaker:have like the poster of it or something
Speaker:I have I have the movie you have the DVD
Speaker:I have the DVD that's right and I have
Speaker:the DVD of all the poison videos this
Speaker:movie is terrible and it's funny because
Speaker:he's really good friends with Charlie
Speaker:Shane like they would party together so
Speaker:Charlie Sheen is in the movie and he's
Speaker:good but somehow they got Martin Sheen
Speaker:to be in it too
Speaker:and he plays Brett's dad and that's like
Speaker:the only good scene in the whole movie
Speaker:is where Charlie Martin Sheen said I'm
Speaker:like oh you can tell who the real actor
Speaker:are and um
Speaker:and but his wife is in it or his
Speaker:long-term girlfriend Christy is in it
Speaker:and that's also the mother of his
Speaker:daughters
Speaker:so when we saw him in San Diego I
Speaker:remember he brought his daughters out on
Speaker:stage they were yeah and then when I saw
Speaker:him again in Memphis his daughter she
Speaker:goes to I think Vanderbilt oh wow so she
Speaker:was there okay so I feel like I've grown
Speaker:up with Brett Michaels like you have
Speaker:yeah
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:you've even made some friends that are
Speaker:kind of like Michael's groupies oh I've
Speaker:met some groupies and we still are in
Speaker:touch yeah and we still can't wait to go
Speaker:to another country that just cracked me
Speaker:up and uh but he's done a lot of stuff
Speaker:with the military I just really
Speaker:appreciate him and so I
Speaker:I like to just put the word out about
Speaker:him like don't forget him but I I know
Speaker:after you saw him in Mississippi I'm on
Speaker:my own now you are on your own if you
Speaker:ever want to go see Brett Michaels live
Speaker:unless he wants to do like something at
Speaker:a small bar that's more acoustic or
Speaker:something but you were you were on your
Speaker:own so yeah this was just a fun one to
Speaker:do because we drove around kind of a
Speaker:small town in Pennsylvania it was on the
Speaker:way back and it honestly was just kind
Speaker:of fun to do yeah we let the kids have a
Speaker:break yep right they ran around that
Speaker:Park and played on the playground and so
Speaker:we were able to film around yeah we
Speaker:celebrate Michael's like favorite pizza
Speaker:shop and you know we just it was it was
Speaker:very neat and so Brett Michaels so he
Speaker:started in a small town but he dreamed
Speaker:big and brought his dreams to life on
Speaker:the world stage that was the rock and
Speaker:roll of the 1980s and not only did he
Speaker:eventually capture Jen's heart
Speaker:but he continues to capture the heart of
Speaker:his fans and us through his support of
Speaker:the military his hometown ethics Steeler
Speaker:fandom and yes every time we hear him
Speaker:sing Every Rose Has Its Thorn we think
Speaker:of him and the man poison so thank you
Speaker:for listening to the talk with History
Speaker:Podcast today please reach out to us at
Speaker:our website talk with history.com that's
Speaker:talk with history.com but more
Speaker:importantly if you know someone that
Speaker:might enjoy this podcast particularly if
Speaker:they are Brett Michaels fan or a fan of
Speaker:1980s hair band music please share this
Speaker:with them that we grow through you our
Speaker:fans through our listeners
Speaker:tell them and look up the talk with
Speaker:History Podcast or better yet text them
Speaker:a direct link to today's episode
Speaker:anywhere that you get podcasts we rely
Speaker:on you our community to grow and we
Speaker:appreciate you all every day we'll talk
Speaker:to you next time thank you
