He flew jets for the Navy and helped fix the Hubble Space Telescope for NASA. But at 82, retiree John Hetlinger is making waves for his full-throttle take on a famous heavy metal song. Hetlinger’s gusto has taken him from karaoke night to an appearance on America’s Got Talent.
Earlier Tuesday, Hetlinger also became an unlikely star for the Born and Bred Metalhead Facebook page: A video of the octogenarian throwing himself into Drowning Pool’s 2001 song “Bodies” — the same song he performs on America’s Got Talent — drew more than a million views in just seven hours Tuesday.
That’s far more people than the number who viewed Hetlinger’s own posting of the video back in 2014, when he gave it the caption, “karaoke at The Glenn 80 yr old man sings Drowning Pool ‘Bodies’!” We’ll warn you: The video ends with a bit of entirely earned profanity.
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