Joan Jett said her case in a new interview with NME—citing a wild dialog Ted Nugent had with Excessive Instances in 1977.
Rolling Stone included Jett as #87 of their checklist of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of all time, which was initially Up to date in 2003. Final December, Nugent—who didn’t make the checklist—slammed the choice to incorporate Jett within the checklist.
“It’s important to have shit for brains and you need to be a soulless, soulless prick to place Joan Jett [on the list],” Nugent said throughout a livestream on his YouTube account on December 30, 2021.
Jett fired again months later, defending her standing as one of many best guitarists, and explaining that Nugent’s assault was a poor selection of phrases based mostly on previous interviews.
“Is that his implication,” Jett asked NME, “that he must be on the checklist as a substitute of me? Effectively, that’s simply typical—it’s what I’ve handled my entire life, being written off. Ted Nugent has to dwell with being Ted Nugent. He needs to be in that physique, in order that’s punishment sufficient.”
“He’s not a troublesome man,” she continued. “He performs robust man, however that is the man who shit his pants—actually—so he didn’t must go within the Military.”
The 1977 Ted Nugent x Excessive Instances Interview
Jett was alluding to Nugent’s notorious 1977 interview, first Up to date in Excessive Instances, however ceaselessly cited. In 1977, Nugent was on the peak of his fame together with his largest hit “Cat Scratch Fever.”
When Excessive Instances author Glenn O’Brien interviewed younger Ted Nugent in 1977—like many different old-school Excessive Instances articles—the interview went off the rails at instances. Nugent mentioned he prevented being drafted into the Vietnam Conflict in 1967 by dropping his personal private hygiene and dabbling in medicine to seem like a hobo.
“I obtained my bodily discover 30 days previous to [being drafted],” Nugent advised Excessive Instances. “Effectively, on that day I ceased cleaning my physique. No extra brushing my tooth, no extra washing my hair, no baths, no cleaning soap, no water. Thirty days of particles construct. I ended shavin,’ and I used to be 18, had somewhat scraggly beard, actually regarded like a hippie. I had lengthy hair, and it began gettin’ kinky, matted up.”
Nugent continued, “Then two weeks earlier than, I ended consuming any meals with dietary worth. I simply had chips, Pepsi, beer—stuff I by no means touched—buttered poop, little jars of Polish sausages, and I’d drink the syrup, I used to be this facet of loss of life. Then every week earlier than, I ended going to the toilet. I did it in my pants. Poop, piss the entire shot. My pants obtained crusted up.”
Nugent additionally defined that he was usually “extraordinarily anti-drug” however “I snorted some crystal methedrine” with the intention to keep away from the draft, which is ironic contemplating his long-held stance on medicine.
Nugent is certainly nonetheless anti-drug these days, and mentioned as not too long ago as 2018 that he’s “hardcore” against pot. “I’ve stepped over so many lifeless our bodies who tried to persuade me that smoking dope was a victimless crime,” Nugent said in an interview on WKAR’s “Off The Report.”
What Actually Occurred
So the place did the story about getting out of Vietnam come from within the first place? In accordance with an up to date autobiography, Kenny Mills, a drummer who goes by the stage identify of KJ Knight, claims that it was he—not Nugent—who “used wild antics” on the Selective Service bodily and was rapidly dismissed from serving. Knight was a prolific drummer in bands like The Knightriders and The Amboy Dukes with Nugent.
In accordance with navy data, and reported by Truth Checker and the Reno Gazette Journal, Nugent got a student deferment, which is not “draft dodging” provided that he confirmed up for the medical examination.
Nugent later admitted that a few of the story was made up in later interviews. Nugent obtained a highschool scholar deferment (1-S) in 1967, a university scholar deferment (2-S) in 1968, and after being reclassified for navy service (1-A) in 1969, Nugent was rejected because of a bodily examination (1-Y) in 1969 and reportedly acquired a 4-F classification.
Scholar deferments are a authorized technique of avoiding service within the navy—you realize, the identical technique that Dick Cheney, Mitt Romney, Donald Trump, Invoice O’Reilly, and Invoice Clinton used to get out of the Vietnam Conflict. Clinton additionally obtained assist from pals in excessive locations and didn’t comply with by on some guarantees to keep away from service however is legally thought-about to not have violated the Navy Selective Service Act.
In any case, Nugent’s criticism of Jett was most likely accomplished with out remembering his notorious Excessive Instances interview a long time in the past.