Ted Nugent isn’t happy with the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, calling its organisers out for inducting the likes of Grandmaster Flash, Madonna, ABBA and more.
Speaking in a new interview, the controversial right-wing rocker, who has been eligible to be inducted into the Rock Hall as a solo artist since 2000, thinks he hasn’t been inducted yet because the people that run the Hall are “dishonest” and “rotten”.
“Why am I not in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame? That has a lot to do with the fact that you can’t always explain why people are rotten. Why do some people violate other people and commit vicious crimes and lie?” Nugent told KNAC.
“I would like to think about what is going on with the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame… I don’t take it personal,” he continued. “I think I’m in the ultimate Hall Of Fame. I went on stage a couple days in Abilene [Texas] with a great man Tim Montana. The Tim Montana band opened up for ZZ Top to a packed house in Abilene. Tim Montana says, ‘We learned ‘Cat Scratch Fever’. Come up and play it with us.’ I asked Billy Gibbons if that was okay to do, and he said, ‘Oh yeah. I’d love to hear that.’ They introduced me and the audience went berserk. So don’t tell me what my Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame is. I’m in the ultimate Hall Of Fame with real and true lovers of my music! There’s nothing more important than that.”
Nugent added that he wasn’t “offended” by the fact that he hasn’t yet been inducted, but he did question the inclusion of a number of artists already in the Hall.
“Why isn’t a band like Triumph in there, but Grandmaster Flash is?! That’s just dishonest,” he said. “Why are Patti Smith, ABBA and Madonna in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, but not STYX?! Are you kidding me?! You can only explain that is that the people who made those decisions are just plain rotten people. The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame should genuflect to Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, the Motown Funk Brothers. Are you kidding me?! How dare you put Grandmaster Flash, ABBA and Madonna in that?!”
“I’m not angry that I’m not in there because I’m having so much fun that it’s stupid,” Nugent continued. “I have a new album called ‘Detroit Muscle’ which is another authoritative, rhythm and blues rock and roll album from the Motor City. I’m surrounded by guitars and amps and I play with a bunch of killer musicians. My music is a flamethrower of fun, positive energy and piss and vinegar. That’s the ‘real’ Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, since the people who run the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame have been dishonest.”
He added: “It would be an honour to be part of an institution that celebrates the founding fathers of rock and roll, like Chuck, Bo, Little Richard, James Brown and going back to Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters and Sam & Dave and Wilson Pickett. I would be honoured to share that. What a middle finger to the ‘real’ heroes of rock and roll and rhythm and blues to put in those other people. Grandmaster Flash?! Really?! Why don’t we go down to Chuck Berry’s grave and piss on it!!! Are you kidding me?! That’s not a Ted Nugent presumption; that’s not an opinion… The evidence is overwhelming.”
Nugent went on to give his opinion on what he thinks artists need to do to get inducted. “You wanna know how to get into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame?” he asked. “You get ‘high’ with the board. I don’t get high with anybody because I have campfires and I have the healing power of nature. I get high on high without poisoning my sacred temple. I call on God. I call on the good earth to help cleanse my soul and to help stimulate my very spirit.
“I know people say, ‘Nugent is a radical and he dodged the draft.’ That’s a lie. They say, ‘Oh, well, Nugent is a racist.’ That’s a lie. They say, ‘Oh, Nugent adopted a nine-year old-girl.’ That’s a lie. They say, ‘Nugent disrespected Native Americans.’ That’s a lie. Are you kidding me?! Around my campfires, we laugh till we cry about the attacks on me. They are just so stupid. Those people that say that are strangled by hate.”
The controversial rocker has been in the news a lot this year. In June, he backed the baseless conspiracy theory that January’s riot at the US Capitol was sparked by Antifa and Black Lives Matter activists.
In May, he claimed that systemic racism does not exist in the US. In a video posted by he and his wife Shemane, he described “systemic racism” as a “lie”.
Nugent also contracted COVID-19 in April, one week after performing maskless in Florida, and said he’s “never been so scared in all my life” as when he battled the virus.
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