Ted Nugent commented on death of FOO FIGHTERS drummer Taylor Hawkins during yesterday’s edition of “The Nightly Nuge.”
“It’s heartbreaking on so many levels,” Nugent said. “Fifty years old with a horrible, long-term celebration of substance abuse. I’m not… Well, I am casting judgment because substance abuse is selfish. His wife and daughter, they should have been taken into consideration. Is spending time with your wife and daughter more important than getting high or less important than getting high?
He continued: “I’ve told the story many times, but I’ve witnessed it. My bass player Greg Arama — so gifted at 15; listen to the bass part on ‘Journey To The Center Of The Mind’ by the AMBOY DUKES — and the guy was just a gifted, a virtuoso, a savant of groove and musicality. And he started smoking dope and ended up with h*roin and died when he was — I don’t know — early 20s. And the future he could have had.
“I told Jimi Hendrix, I said, ‘No, I don’t want your dope, and it’s gonna kill you, Jimi.’ Bon Scott [AC/DC] would come to the studio when my band was recording Weekend Warriors [1978] out of Miami and AC/DC was coming in [and working on] Highway To Hell — just phenomenal musical powers. And he’d come in drunk every day with a [bottle of] Jack Daniel’s or an Old Grand-Dad [whiskey] and he’d go, ‘Hey, Teddy, try some of this.’ And he smelled like a diaper. What a talent. What a nice guy. These were all nice guys.
“But what happens is the music can be so overwhelming, the delivery of your comedy or your art or your dream, it can be so obsessive that it’s hard to get rid of it. You know how with just a guy that doesn’t make music, sometimes it’s hard to get a song out of your head?
“Well, think of how difficult it is for those of us that make the art. And if they don’t have a bow and arrow — and a lot of people will dismiss this as being just absolutely too simple, but it’s not; it’s perfectly simple — if you’re so obsessed with delivering your art that you can’t escape it, they think drugs and alcohol with help. It only makes it worse.
“So, if you loved Taylor Hawkins — I loved him; I loved the man; I still love him,” Ted added. “But I love his wife and daughter more. Because they didn’t break his heart; he broke their heart.
“So, God rest Taylor Hawkins‘s soul and all those stoners and drunks that died prematurely. Thank God for every day you’re above ground. Breathe deep, concentrate on the positive and show reverence for your gift of life and your sacred temple. Do not poison your sacred temple. It’s that simple.”
An official cause of death for Hawkins hasn’t yet been released, but Colombia’s attorney general’s office released a preliminary toxicology report, saying that medical examiners found evidence of 10 types of substances in Hawkins‘s body, including opioids, benzodiazepines, marijuana and antidepressants.
Before joining FOO FIGHTERS in 1997, Hawking was the touring drummer for Sass Jordan and Alanis Morissette, as well as the drummer in the progressive experimental band SYLVIA.
Hawkins is survived by his wife Alison, whom he married in 2005, and their three children: Oliver Shane, Annabelle and Everleigh.
