Joan Jett Strikes Back at Ted Nugent: ‘He’s Not a Tough Guy’
John Jett has struck back at Ted Nugent, suggesting the "Cat Scratch Fever" rocker is not as tough as he appears.
Back in late December, Nugent decried Rolling Stone for including Jett in their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time -- a list, it should be noted, was first published in 2003. “You have to have shit for brains and you have to be a soulless, soulless prick to put Joan Jett [on the list],” Nugent -- who was not included in the list -- declared.
“Is that his implication… that he should be on the list instead of me?” Jett asked in a recent interview with NME. “Well, that’s just typical – it’s what I’ve dealt with my whole life, being written off. Ted Nugent has to live with being Ted Nugent. He has to be in that body, so that’s punishment enough.”
Jett then proceeded to skewer Nugent’s macho persona.
“He’s not a tough guy,” the former Runaway declared. “He plays tough guy, but this is the guy who shit his pants – literally – so he didn’t have to go in the Army.”
Jett was alluding to a 1977 interview with High Times magazine in which Nugent said he avoided being drafted into the Vietnam War by abandoning all personal hygiene. “I ceased cleansing my body. No more brushing my teeth, no more washing my hair, no baths, no soap, no water,” Nugent said at the time, adding that he “stopped going to the bathroom. I did it in my pants. Poop, piss the whole shot.”
"So this,” Jett noted, “is the tough guy who’s running around America, stirring things up against each other.”
Decades after his High Times interview, Nugent claimed he’d made the story up. More recently, the guitarist insisted there was “no hate” in his remarks about Jett’s inclusion on the greatest guitarists list.
Jett released Changeup, the first acoustic album of her impressive career, on March 25. She’s set to hit the road with Motley Crue, Def Leppard and Poison on the Stadium Tour starting in June.