If you don’t know who Bob Couch is, consider this a public service.
His 80s-tastic “Pump Iron” music video is probably THE greatest thing ever created and set the bar higher for what all people should achieve at the gym.
WATCH:
In this country song, Couch croons of how pumping iron eases his mind after having to deal with his nagging boss, a crappy lawn mower and other facts of a “normal middle-class life.”
Couch even argues that working out can improve your lot with the opposite sex — “if you know what I mean” (*winkyface). Sporting an epic mustache and even more epic shorts, a sweat-soaked Couch makes it clear that if you want to be a real man, you better get your butt in the gym. ASAP.
Despite the low budget, this video transcends its limitations and has naturally become a viral hit.
If you hate this video, you are likely a terrible person, and you probably think Planet Fitness is a real gym (have fun with the Lunk Alarm and the free pizza, you critic).
But there’s more to Bob Couch than the greatest music video of all time — he’s also a strong tea party supporter, a hard-working American, a good country singer and he is still pumping iron nearly 30 years after his workout anthem was released.
“The song and video had marginal success when it was first released back in the mid 80s,” Couch told The Daily Caller in an exclusive interview. “The video charted in the top 10 in the video pools in the Midwest, but country music certainly wasn’t as receptive to nontraditional topics or styles as they are today.”
He believes there is still a massive hit within the song — it’s just waiting for the right popular country artist to record it and give it is proper due.
Couch became an avid weight lifter at age 13 and thought his passion would serve as perfect material for a song with a positive message. He also thought it natural to make a music video to accompany it.
“I thought it was an original idea whose time had come and had hoped it would be the start of a career in music,” Couch said. “I decided that I should also do a music video to accompany the song, if I was going to have any chance of being recognized. I tried to make the video more on the funny side, but I was trying to get the message out that when life beats you up, that you don’t have to get drunk or high to cope. Instead, a good workout can help to keep you centered.”
Couch explained how working out could lessen the stress load on all types of people, and he wanted to convey that message through his song.
“I had a group of close friends who I trained with usually six days a week. As we got older and started working full time, getting married and having kids, I noticed that at least one of my lifting buddies would begin the lift complaining about something or another, usually about work or their wife complaining about this or that. But without fail, by the time we finished our training session, we were all in better spirits. So I saw how training acted as a stress reliever or at least a bit of a mood stabilizer,” the singer explained.
At the time he made the song, he considered moving to Nashville and quitting his middle-management position at an established company to pursue his dreams of becoming a country star. But he decided that it was more important to raise his family than to pursue a risky music career.
“After banging on a few doors in Nashville, I was advised by many to move there to really have a shot at making a career in music, but at the time I already had a wife and two young children and I did not think it was fair to them to risk what we had to follow a dream. Of course, I have some regrets, but I wouldn’t trade what I have with my family for anything,” Couch said.
In addition to his music activities, Couch is a strong conservative who keeps well-informed of the news. For instance, he was very glad that President Obama did not use his song as the soundtrack to his widely-mocked workout session.
“I saw the video of our president’s so-called workout a few weeks ago. I posted on my FB [Facebook] wall, that I was glad that my ‘Pump Iron’ music was not in the background,” he opined. “It would be a little embarrassing to have it associated with that video.”
Couch discussed his views on a variety of current issues with TheDC, and they certainly show that he is a big fan of the tea party.
On the housing crisis that led to the 2008 recession, Couch concluded that “whenever the government attempts to alter the laws of supply and demand, it will always come back at some point and bite us in the ass.”
On immigration, he said “Obviously, we need to do whatever is necessary to stop this mass influx, which includes a guarded wall.”
On Obama’s energy policy, he believes they have raised consumer costs and “have also killed countless jobs in the energy industry which also kills jobs in unrelated industries.”
On Obamacare, he simply said “don’t even get me started on Obamacare.”
Proudly proclaiming himself to be a “normal middle-class man” in his legendary song, he believes Obama’s policies have really hurt people like himself and since Obama has been in office, he stated that now “we all have less real income.”
He supports the tea party movement because he believes that the size of the federal government must be reduced in order to have a better country.
“Really, is there anything that any large bureaucracy can do efficiently or effectively?” he said.
Couch even outlined the perfect workout routine for America’s political leaders.
“The workout I would require of American politicians would be to collectively read and discuss the Constitution in order to understand its purpose in protecting our country from within and to oppose any actions taken by individuals that are contrary or attempt to circumvent it. To actively seek out the opinions from the people who elected them, the ones they are suppose to be representing and have the courage to fight, if necessary, in any way possible to protect the people’s interest,” Couch said.
Readers can rest assured that Mr. Couch is still working out regularly and still produces country songs. One of his newer songs, “Fear Me,” is a vigilante ballad that is — needless to say — very pro-gun and very unsympathetic to apologists for criminals who prey on children.
But the “Pump Iron” legend still left one mystery unsolved — what did he mean by attracting the opposite sex “if you know what I mean”? I guess we will never know.