Ted Nugent Criticizes Jimi Hendrix and Keith Moon for Lacking ‘Discipline’
Could Jimi Hendrix, Keith Moon, and Bon Scott have been saved from their tragically premature deaths if they'd been given a little bit of old-fashioned tough love from Ted Nugent's dad?
Sadly, we'll never know. But as he made clear in a recent interview, Nugent credits his own strict upbringing as a crucial component of his success. "Even though I didn't like it when I was growing up, my dad's militant discipline was really the guiding force in quality of life," he admitted. "And now my older brother Jeff, and younger brother John, and sister Cathy, we all get together every year and we remember that we didn't like my dad at the time, but it was his discipline that brought us happiness and quality of life. And I think that is always true in every instance."
It's that discipline, argued Nugent, that kept him from succumbing to the same temptations as many of his peers. "You know, there's been just incredibly gifted heroes of ours, musically, over the years," he continued. "But, unfortunately, Jimi Hendrix didn't have discipline. Unfortunately, Keith Moon and Bon Scott didn't have any discipline. And I don't know how that party's going, but it doesn't look very good from here."
Nugent's views on substance abuse are well-known, and he's used Hendrix as a cautionary example in the past; in fact, more than once, he's drawn a line between himself and Hendrix by rhyming, "Jimi got high, and Jimi’s dead. I went hunting, and I’m still Ted." Expounding on the subject of drugs and alcohol during a 2009 interview, he described himself as "your Recreation and parks Service Man of the Year, your rock-ribbed Ronald Reagan Republican and a permanent voice against drugs and alcohol" and argued, "God blessed me with a level of awareness that I have the duty to optimize and deliver via my instrument. How dare we compromise that gift. It’s blasphemous!"