Ted Nugent has defended his recent comments about Joan Jett, saying that he was only being “honest” when he questioned her inclusion on Rolling Stone‘s list of the world’s top guitar players.
Last month, Nugent railed against Jett‘s inclusion on the list while praising such great musicians as Angus Young, Eddie Van Halen, Billy Gibbons, Neal Schon, Joe Bonamassa, Derek St. Holmes, Tommy Shaw and Rickey Medlocke during his December 30 YouTube livestream.
He said: “So I just mentioned some killer, monster guitar players, huh? Some of the best that ever lived. But when you see the Rolling Stone magazine list of greatest guitar players, they list Joan Jett but not Tommy Shaw.
“How do you list the top 100 guitar players and not list Derek St. Holmes?” he continued. “How do you do that? You do that by lying. The same way you get Grandmaster Flash in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. You do that by lying. You have to be a liar. You have to have sh*t for brains and you have to be a soulless, soulless prick to put Joan Jett…
“[I] love Joan. Some of my greatest memories include lesbians. I love the lesbians; it’s a cocktail of wonderment. [I] love Joan Jett — ‘put another diamond in the jukebox, baby’; great rock and roller — but as a top 100 guitar player, but you don’t list Rickey Medlocke or Dave Amato [REO SPEEDWAGON]. Really? Or Dick Wagner? Dick Wagner and THE FROST from Detroit. Or Mark Farner? Mark Farner from GRAND FUNK RAILROAD. Joan Jett is on the list but not Mark Farner? Grandmaster Flash is in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame but not GRAND FUNK RAILROAD? [Laughs]
“By the way, if Grandmaster Flash is in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and Joan Jett is on the list of top 100 guitar players, then I’m Caitlyn Jenner‘s boy toy.”
He now doubled down on his comments during an interview with Dave Spuria of The Real Music Observer. Addressing the negative feedback he received for his remarks, Nugent said: “I started off by praising Joan Jett‘s genuine sh*tkicker, down-to-earth, all-American rock and roll credentials. I started off by praising her. I even saluted the lesbian thing.
“Here’s the question: how on God’s good green earth could someone listen to what I say and then claim it’s about hate and about knocking and belittling? Joan‘s awesome. I mean, THE RUNAWAYS. Her whole, ‘Put another diamond in the jukebox, baby.’ I mean, she’s the real rock and roll McCoy. But belonging on the ‘top 100 guitar player’ list anywhere on planet earth, even ‘Boring’ Stone before genuine virtuosos of the six-string? That was my statement. I was only using Joan as an example because she happens to be a perfect one.”
Addressing Spuria directly, Nugent added: “I think I can tell that you are a real music lover — you love spirit and soul, defiance, middle fingers on fire, genuine musical authority, all that combination that represents that dynamic and majestic soundtrack to our lives, our American Dream, and if there is a German or a Spanish Dream, I hope they get a soundtrack as well. But Joan Jett represents that. But on the top 100 guitar players list, before Tommy Shaw [STYX], before Rickey Medlocke and before Derek St. Holmes — I can go on with a hundred examples… I was only using that beautiful young lady as an example, and people literally went berserk trying to twist it into hate.
“There was no hate. I don’t have any hate. I had my hate amputated when I was five years old. No hate — all love and compassion and honesty. That’s what drives people crazy: my honesty.”
