Ted Nugent discussed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and if he believes he can get inducted with Jann Wenner’s removal from the board on the Nightly Nuge broadcast.
“Had you not posed that question to me about whether I should be in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, I would never even think about it. I’m too busy playing my guitar and making great music with my amazing musicians, playing for the greatest music-loving audience in my life.
“Stop and think: at 75 years of age, I can honestly say with much piss and vinegar and aplomb that my ‘Adios Mofo ’23!’ tour was the most fun, the most musically gratifying and inspiring, the most intense, ferocious, real musical celebration of my life. And we’re talking almost seven thousand concerts, because I started out inspired by Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley and Little Richard, who had such fire, such passion, such a work ethic to rehearse with their bands that they inspired all the greatest musicians. All your favorite music was inspired by James Brown work ethic, Motown Funk Brothers soulfulness, the piss and vinegar and fire and passion of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley.
“So whether I am ever in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame now that the lying, misogynistic, racist Jann Wenner has been thrown off the board, and my good friend, quite honestly, an ultra-leftist, Tom Morello from the band RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE is on the board, some people have mentioned to me that they’re considering putting me in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.”
“I don’t care. I don’t care that I’m not in it. I just wish that TRIUMPH, GRAND FUNK RAILROAD, so many killer rock and roll bands that somebody is giving the finger… I think it was Jann Wenner [who] was giving the finger to real honest-to-God rock and roll bands to assist inducting his stoner friends. That’s my belief. I believe he got people that got high with him and that hung out with him and that spent time with him.
I don’t think it’s really about rock and roll. And my point is, is that a Hall Of Fame that has Little Richard and James Brown and THE [ROLLING] STONES and THE BEATLES and THE WHO and THE KINKS and Tom Petty and Prince and Bo Diddley, for a Hall Of Fame to have them in it, and then put in Grandmaster Flash, who, he’s anti-rock and roll, and ABBA, which is just pop music; I don’t really think there’s even a drum in the song. I’m, I’m being facetious now.
“So, I want honesty, and if someone decides that Ted Nugent should be in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, all I can tell you is that if they do induct me, my acceptance speech will be very, very special and it will make fun, fun, music-loving people feel really good, and it’ll make idiots squirm.”
The conservative rocker, who been eligible for the honor as a solo artist since 2000, has enjoyed a remarkably successful and eventful musical career over the past five decades, but his music is increasingly overshadowed by his political outbursts.
