Ted Nugent is continuing his crusade red-blooded, conservative Americanism, the controversial rocker recently weighed in on his fellow musicians, like Bruce Springsteen, that sit on the opposing end of the political spectrum.
Nugent recently sat down with Rock Talk, where he delved into his relationship with left-leaning musicians.
“I love Wayne Kramer, I love Tom Morello, I even love Bruce Springsteen. I’ve never met him, but he paid homage to Mitch Ryder by performing ‘Jenny Take a Ride’ with the E Street Band,” he shared.
Nugent went on to reveal that he’s been trying to sit down with Springsteen, to discuss their opposing political views. Nugent reckons that he and Bruce share similar ethos, but Bruce believes in a political party that contradicts those ethics.
“And I’ve been trying to reach out to Bruce Springsteen because even though we’re completely opposite politically – I’m right, he’s wrong,” Ted Nugent shared.
“But if he paid tribute to my prime musical influence and hero Mitch Ryder in the Detroit Wheels – Johnny Bee Badanjek on drums, Jimmy McCarty on guitar, Earl Elliott on bass, and Joe Kubert on 335 rhythm guitar.
“I could name every lick, every amp, everything they did – but Bruce Springsteen knew that, celebrated it, and promoted it. That’s what I did!
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“So we have to have some common ground there, but I have a funny feeling that a guy like Bruce wouldn’t think there’s the common ground because I believe in freedom, I believe in work ethic, I believe in sacrifice and risk to be in the asset column.
“And obviously, he does, in the application, but he supports policies that are against that. So I could share a ginger ale if he wants to have, a beer, or whatever he wants. But they avoid me, and I can’t really explain in meaningful terms why.”
In other news, Nugent recently attempted to illustrate that he was not racist, by uh, dropping the N-slur. The musician and his wife recently hosted a “campfire chat” live stream where they spoke about Nugent’s admiration for Black icons in music history. IN the conversation, Nugent recalled that being called a “n—–” by a member of the Funk Brothers was one of the greatest compliments of his life.
“So we’re putting our guitars away and the Funk Brother — a big, old, Black dude — comes up, puts his hand on my shoulder, and goes, ‘That was great stuff, boys. You keep playing guitar like that and you’re going to be a n****r when you grow up,'” he recalled. “The greatest compliment in the world: ‘You keep playing guitar like that, you’ll be a n****r when you grow up.’ That word was the perfect expression that we had soul.”
