CRIME AND PUNISHMENT THE TED NUGENT INTERVIEW

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT THE TED NUGENT INTERVIEW

FEATURES

Jeffrey Morgan

by

If anyone deserves the title of Hardest Working Man In Rock �n� Roll, Ted Nugent does. It�s a reputation that dates back to 1963 and it�s a tradition he continues to maintain a quarter of a century later with a brand new album (If You Can�t Lick �Em, Lick �Em) and a brand new tour.

A strong believer in the work ethic and

a notorious opponent of drug, tobacco and alcohol use, Nugent has spoken out in song on a number of social issues in the past, including the rape of the environment (�Cannon Balls�), the decline of quality postal service (�Pony Express�) and the rise of urban violence (�Stormtroopin� �), to name but a few.

However, because most people these days know Nugent only as the gonzo Motor City Madman who sings �Wango Tango� and �Cat Scratch Fever�—and because each new day heralds the need for an additional lock on the front door and fosters new fear of walking neighborhood streets alone at night—this seems

a good time to check in with the man who is also responsible for such prior albums as Call Of The Wild, Tooth, Fang & Claw and, of course, Survival Of The Fittest.

During our three-hour conversation, Nugent displayed the same high level of involvement whether he was being the accomplished hunter demonstrating the new laser sight on his bow backstage at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, or being the proud father showing off snapshots of his two children (Toby, age 11; and Sasha, age 13) in his hotel room an hour later.

Looking a full decade younger than his 39 years, Nugent spoke with emotion and from the heart, maintaining eye contact at all times, and occasionally getting up to underscore a point or act out a scenario.

Toward the end of our talk, he said, �When I read that someone makes a statement, and I believe in it, I like that person.�

Ted Nugent�s statements reflect a genuine concern not only for the world in which he lives—but for the world which his children will inherit.

Come along if you care.

Come along if you dare.

I assume you've seen Death Wish.

Yeah, I loved it, but I was too close to it. I didn�t believe in it as a movie, I believed in it as a social reality.

Well, it�s �Stormtroopin.� �

It�s ��Stormtroopin�� in a%#!&©★ nutshell. Independence. Standing up for something.

Bernhard Goetz stood up for something and got six months for possession of an unregistered firearm.

I think it sucks. I think it�s deplorable, and a typical case of the world that we live in turned upside %#!&© ★ down. That justice does not exist, and that right and wrong is upside down. He should have shot those four %#!&© ★ dead. And he should�ve been given an award. Period.

Crime didn�t go down that week, it vanished. Those kind of confrontations, what�d they figure? That there was one every four hours or something on that subway until Bernie shot the four pieces of shit? And then it didn�t go down to two an hour, it vanished for two weeks until they brought charges against him—and then all of a sudden the criminals went, ��Yeah, they�re protecting us, let�s start over again.�

Did I miss something here?

Shoot the %#!&© ★ and he ain�t going to rob you again. Period.

If he robs you, put him in jail for a long time and beat him pretty often. And I guarantee when he gets out—if we decide to let him out—he ain�t going to try that shit again.

Too many people are getting too many rights in this world.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Too many of the wrong people are getting the wrong rights.

And all the wrong ones are walking.

You bet. I mean, people actually came out and criticized him for blowing these dirty %#!&©★ away and tried to put them on a pedestal, saying they were victims, when they were vicious, evil, preying bastards that have mutilated, hurt and ruined lives. And they tried to say these poor, little savages were victimized by Bernie defending himself.

One of them raped a pregnant woman once he got back on the street.

The only guy that didn�t continue preying on society was the one who was paralyzed! And if he wasn�t paralyzed, he�d have been right out there %#!&© ★ with people again. You know it! Who could possibly defend these %#!&©★?

Did I miss something?

I mean, we are alive and we are working and we are earning our way and we are getting from point A to point B and these mother%#!&©^ step in our way and they take our lives and they rape our children and they mutilate our psyches.

What are we sup—may I suggest we eliminate them?

May I suggest when we encounter them we are not unarmed but, rather, we have a gun and we say, �Oh, my wallet? You want my wallet? I�ve worked my ass off to earn this cash and you want it on a whim?�

M%#!&© ★POW, mother%#!&©*-!�

One more out of the system. Get him out, mulch him, put him in a blendeF, pour him on my garden and enhance my veggies. Get him out of the gene pool, do not let him multiply.

I mean, %#!&©★ these people. It�s ugly and it�s not right, but it�s necessary. Bernie Goetz shouldn�t have just plugged them with a .38, he should�ve hosed them down with some good ammo.

We don�t need those people, man. They cost us—and I�m not talking cash now, I�m talking lives and emotion and pain and fear. The society we live in has pampered and promoted predatorship in man�s world. These %#!&© ★ are preying on us—and the system that will not protect you and me says, �Well, he only killed three people, we�ll put him on parole.�

How dare they send these vicious, heinous criminals back on the streets because there�s not enough beds with the proper amount of cushion on them in the jail for them? Or because they forgot to read him his rights as they pulled the knife out of a little girl�s chest?"

Did I miss something?

And, what, 40 cents out of every dollar I make goes to support these pieces of shit?

Christ! The Left can suck my dead dog�s dick.

Boy, do I feel strongly about this.

It makes you wonder what the hell is going on.

Oh, I�m constantly wondering what the hell is going on because this is not the world I would have.

It�s not the world you started out in.

No, it isn�t. Not at all. It�s mostly crime and evil-orientated.

I�ll tell you where our society is at, God help us all. There was a bus stop situation here last year near my home in Michigan where a little nine-year-old girl was mauled by a pack of dogs. They were all Fidos and Fifis, they all had dog collars on; and they attacked the kids at the bus stop and mauled this little girl.

There are packs of wild dogs around the country that run loose and spread disease. In pack form, they revert to their wild instincts. When people go to bed at night, they roam out and kill deer and they kill game and they attack kids at bus stops.

When the animal control officer came back, they�d found the dogs but he said, �I couldn�t get close enough for the net.�

So meanwhile, at the cost of mauled children, you don�t shoot them because of public image?

Shoot the %#!&© ★ dogs!

This sounds like pit bull problem.

Yeah, shoot the %#!&© ★. Why does everybody think everything is so— Sacred?

Give me a break. Fido�s sacred as long as he sits in your lap and wags his tail. When he starts attacking kids at bus stops and molesting them, blow him away.

A lot of people don�t seem to have a good grip on separating fantasy from reality.

I�ll buy that shit. I�m sure of that. That�s just like some people said, ��How could you play the part of a drug dealer on Miami Vice?� I don�t understand that at all. I was acting, man.

I take it you�re still a hard case on drugs.

Real hard. I went through a basic period of my life when I said, �No, no thanks,� to when people would offer it to me I would just go nuts.

Because every time we were late, every time an amp didn�t work, every time a car wasn�t serviced, every time there was a %#!&©★-up, it was because someone was stoned. Period.

And it was a %#!&© ★ thorn in my side and I kicked %#!&©★ ass because it was the only way I was able to clean house. People would offer me drugs and it was just like they were holding a razor to my arm, and I�d go wild because I consider it an affront.

How many of them are even alive today? How many are in jail today? How many talk like the Special Olympics of conversation today? How many drool when they look at you?

I laugh at them. I laugh in their face. When they fall and die, I laugh. I say, �Let�s celebrate, I�m buying Vernors for everybody: the asshole died on drugs.�

I�ve never had a drug in my body; I�ve rfever had a cigarette in my mouth. And I�m better because of it: I�m faster than most people; I�m having way more fun than most people; and I�m alive. And I don�t choke on my own vomit.

So you just say no.

I say %#!&© ★ no, loud and %#!&© ★ clear.