Ted Nugent has once again claimed that one of the main reasons he hasn’t been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame is his involvement with the National Rifle Association.
When asked in a recent interview with the “Dad Talk Today With Eric Carroll” podcast why we have yet to see him in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Nugent replied: “For a couple of simple reasons: ’cause I’m on the board of directors of the NRA and I’m anti-dope. Everybody there hates the NRA and doesn’t think you should be able to defend yourself, and they’re all on dope. That’s it in a nutshell. But you know what? Even as I’m responding — I’m not angry and I’m not hurt — I don’t take it personally.
“How dare you call it the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame when you have the gods of musical genius like Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and then you put in Patti Smith, Grandmaster Flash, ABBA, but not Ted Nugent? You just lost all credibility.
He continued: “And I’ve gotta tell you — that Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame that honors Chuck and Bo and Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis and James Brown and THE [ROLLING] STONES and THE BEATLES and THE KINKS and AEROSMITH and ZZ TOP and finally KISS and FOREIGNER and JOURNEY [and] Howlin’ Wolf and B.B. King and Muddy Waters — of course, of course, we genuflect at the altar of these emotional authorities of musical power.
“What would our life be without the names I just mentioned? It wouldn’t be anywhere near the rambunctious, alive, spirited, energized happiness that we have a sountrack thanks to those geniuses. But to pi*s on the grave of Chuck Berry by putting in Grandmaster Flash? Huh? It’s just indecent. It’s dishonest. It’s sacrilegious, I believe. And Grandmaster Flash, whoever likes him, they should like him. I can’t stand that music. If I want soulful music, I’ve got James Brown, thank you. But there’s so many gods of thunder in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame that the honesty is so compromised by their throwing a bone to their fellow dopers. That’s all it is. They put Patti Smith in because they all got high with her.”
