Hulk Hogan Talks Trying to Join Metallica & The Rolling Stones

– Hulk Hogan recently spoke with The Top Rope (transcript via wrestlinginc.com), here are the highlights…

On When He Started To Get famous: “Well when it first started happening it was in the late 70s. I went to New York in ’78. The fans came around and kind of overwhelmed me, and then you get used to it, the whole main event and ‘Runnin Wild’ and Mr. T. Then you get used to it, and at this point of my career you thank God it’s still happening, you know what I mean? You see how the people are, they still treat me like I’m the champ. When I walked out of the house this morning, the guys cutting the grass across the street, they don’t go ‘Hey, Terry how you doing?’ They go ‘Hey Hulk, brother, what’s up?’ The moment I walk out of the house and put the bandana on my bald head, I turn into Hulk Hogan. I love it though. I love it.”

On Netflix’s GLOW Series: “My daughter went to the premiere, Brooke. And she said, ‘I was in the middle of the special screening’ red carpet, everyone was there, all the producers – she goes “Dad, I feel like the most special person in the world. I sat in the middle of the room and all they talked about was Hulk Hogan and me all over the thing, and the girls were trying to imitate me and when the girls said ‘You gotta believe in yourself.’ She said ‘I felt so special, I felt like the proudest person in the room.’ And I haven’t seen it yet.”

On Trying to Join Metallica & The Rolling Stones: “Before I ever got into wrestling I was a studio musician. Up and down the east coast, finally came back to Florida and got the Bad To The Bone band together. 10 years, that’s all I did up and down. So I finally came back to Florida, and when you’re in high school there’s like 10 different bands, right? So when I got back, I grabbed the best keyboard player, I played bass, I got a good lead guitar player, and we had Ruckus, the band, we were getting ready to go national. We were ready to go national and open up for Blackfoot. To make a long story short – one guy just got married, and another guy’s girlfriend is about to have a baby and doesn’t want to leave. And I said ‘Are you kidding me? After all this time we’ve been together, we got this huge break to open for this national act and we got all our original stuff ready to go -‘ and they wouldn’t go. I said ‘That’s it! I’m done with you guys! I’m quitting, I’m going to be a wrestler!’ “They all just belly laughed and fell on the floor laughing so hard. So fast forward, I’m doing my Hulkamania thing during the 80s, and the bass players for the Rolling Stones – they needed a new bass player so I just happened to be with Jerry Hall over in the U.K. doing entertainment show, we were presenters. And after we presented I was thinking ‘Wow, how do I get to your – how do I say something?’ So all of a sudden we go backstage and she goes, ‘Oh my son is a huge fan, would you mind sending some merchandise at all?’ I said, ‘No problem, and by the way tell Mick I played bass, I played for 10 years and I was a studio guy, and I know every song play and I’d love to be in the band.’ Never heard a word from them. Never heard a word from anybody. Then, we fast forward to when I saw Metallica was looking for a bass player. I was like ‘Oh my god, Metallica!’ Man I’m making tapes, I’m sending stuff – never heard a word from them either. So I was trying, but I never heard from anybody.”