Ted Nugent Calls Joan Jett ‘Stupid’ After She Shot Back Over Guitar Playing Insult
For reasons unexplained, Ted Nugent was fired up in late December over Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Players and criticized Joan Jett's inclusion among the bunch. Jett recently clapped back hard in her dismissal of the controversial rocker, which has now drawn a reply from "The Nuge," who called her "stupid" in a long-winded rant.
Again, Nugent never made it clear why he had dredged up a nearly two-decade old ranking of guitarists, but he felt it pertinent to say that anyone who would place Jett within that hallowed top 100 must have "shit for brains" and that they had to be a "soulless prick" for including her. He then proceeded to rattle off a dozen or so names of other guitarists he felt were worthy of inclusion over Jett.
It took a few months for her retort, but Jett (a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, of which Nugent is not) recently told NME that it is typical for her to be written off before unloading on Nugent by saying it was "punishment enough" that he has to be in his own body. She then reminded the world that this supposed "tough guy" intentionally defecated in his pants during his youth as a means of dodging the draft for the Vietnam War.
On his YouTube channel, Nugent addressed Jett's words and began (transcription via Blabbermouth), "All I expressed in an interview on WRIF was how I love Joan and her killer rocking band. She's got a great rocking band. Great songs. The best garage band maybe ever, except for maybe Green Day. [I] love Joan — all I said is how I love her. But I used her as an example — along with Joni Mitchell. [I] love Joni Mitchell… People love that music. People love Joan Jett and Joni Mitchell. I love them. I expressed I love them. But she can't be in the top 100 guitar player list — either of them."
In an apparent criticism of rhythmic guitar playing, Nugent went on, "They play nice strumming guitars; they play nice guitars. I like it. They're good. But top 100 before Rik Emmett of Triumph? That's a lie."
Things turned quite ugly as Nugent then used this as an opportunity to excoriate her for her comments.
"Joan Jett, I love you. Don't get all upset," Nugent continued, "She calls me a racist and [says] I'm jealous. I didn't even mention that I should be on the list. Let's pretend that I don't play guitar. Let's pretend I'm just a keyboard player, or maybe a gay conga player. I never mentioned my name [as being excluded from] the top 100 guitar list — though someone might. But Joan, would you just relax?"
"Maybe the plastic has gone to her brain," he said, suggesting Jett had at some point undergone plastic surgery. "I don't know. I just didn't think she was that stupid. I never said anything about how stupid she was. I didn't think she was stupid; now we know how stupid she is," he added.
Rambling some more, Nugent listed other guitarists who should have been in the list over Jett and stated that this is a matter of fact and not opinion, though he failed to mention any sort of international standard for rules and guidelines for judging guitar playing that would codify these things as fact (because such a thing does not exist and all rankings are subjective opinion).
Spiraling downward with an assessment that contradicted what he had said just minutes earlier, Nugent carried on, "Joan Jett would be in the… certainly Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and maybe the top 20 garage bands. The Amboy Dukes were a garage band, so that's not a negative; that's a positive. Nirvana would be maybe number one garage band. Brownsville Station number two. Joan Jett maybe number three. Green Day maybe three and a half."
He then denied he dodged the draft by defecating in his pants, among other odd behaviors, despite having told his draft-dodging tale in detail in an interview with High Times Magazine in 1977. This time, he said it was actually a "drummer friend" who had behaved in this manner.