By Adrianna Rodriguez, USA Today | It was supposed to be the decade that never ended. But with the back-to-back-to-back deaths of 1980s icons Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Ozzy Osbourne and Hulk Hogan, it feels like Generation X is bidding a final farewell to the Decade of Decadence.
The losses are feeling particularly heavy for many people because these icons were products of “the pop culture decade … a decade unlike any other,” said Chris Clews, keynote speaker, author and ’80s pop culture expert.
This form of grief can be further compounded when hearing unexpected news of the death of a beloved public figure.
It can feel unexpected because we tend to remember people as they were in their prime and compartmentalize them that way in our minds, Clews said. To him, Hogan will always be “hulking up” during “Saturday Night’s Main Event,” and Osbourne will always be performing alongside the late, great guitarist Randy Rhoads.
“We think they’re never going to die because we don’t recognize they’re aging,” he said. “They were in their 20s and 30s and we kind of get stuck with thinking they’re always going to be that age.”
> > > > > > > > > >
Go here to read why we’re all so sad:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/80s-icons-hulk-hogan-dying-182819129.html
Adrianna Rodriguez is a Millennial (sadly) who can be reached at adrodriguez@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hulk Hogan, Ozzy Osbourne: Why saying goodbye to the ’80s is so hard
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2025/07/25/ozzy-osbourne-hulk-hogan-malcolm-jamal-warner-80s-icons/85336215007/