Ted Nugent took to YouTube last Thursday to speak out against Joan Jett’s placement on Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Greatest Guitarists list, a post which she has held since the article was originally published by David Fricke in December of 2010.
“So I just mentioned some killer, monster guitar players, huh? Some of the best that ever lived,” Nugent ranted. “When you see the Rolling Stone magazine list of greatest guitar players, they list Joan Jett but not Tommy Shaw [of Styx].”
He continued: “How do you list the top 100 guitar players and not list Derek St. Holmes? 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.”
Nugent doubled down on his distaste for the Blackhearts front woman’s inclusion on the list, saying: “You have to have shit for brains, and you have to be a soulless, soulless prick to put Joan Jett…”
However, in an attempt to stop would be detractors in their tracks, Nugent assured viewers that his gripe with Jett had nothing to do with the singer’s sexuality. “[I] love Joan. Some of my greatest memories include lesbians. I love the lesbians; it’s a cocktail of wonderment,” he said.
“[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?”
He added: “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.”
This isn’t Nugent’s first tirade against fellow artists, however. In a recent interview with KNAC, the rocker spoke out against the induction of artists like ABBA, Madonna, and Grandmaster Flash into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
“Why isn’t a band like Triumph in there, but Grandmaster Flash is?! That’s just dishonest,” he told KNAC. “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?!”
The rocker maintains claims that he isn’t “offended” by the fact that he hasn’t been inducted himself, despite being eligible since 2000. He does, however, take issue with the induction of artists who are not, as he describes it, “real heroes of rock and roll”.
“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,” he said. “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.”
