Ted Nugent Blames Hippies for Divorce, Abortion, Drugs and Crime

The Rolling Stone ^ | July 3, 2007 | Zachary Weiss

[DogByte6RER]

Ted Nugent Blames Hippies for Divorce, Abortion, Drugs and Crime

7/3/07, 2:22 pm EST

It was only a matter of time before Ted Nugent decided to rain on the Summer of Love’s anniversary parade. In an article from today’s Wall Street Journal titled “The * Summer of Drugs,” the notoriously opinionated guitar god took some time off his busy hunting schedule to blame “stoned, dirty, stinky hippies” for “rising rates of divorce, high school drop-outs, drug use, abortion, sexual diseases and crime, not to mention the exponential expansion of government and taxes.”

* Highlights (including some choice words for Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin) after the jump:

* On the Summer Of Love: “Honest and intelligent people will remember it for what it really was: the Summer of Drugs.”

* On Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Mama Cass: “I often wonder what musical peaks they could have climbed had they not gagged to death on their own vomit.”

* On the hippie movement: “Turned off by the work ethic and productive American Dream values of their parents, hippies instead opted for a cowardly, irresponsible lifestyle of random sex, life-destroying drugs and mostly soulless rock music that flourished in San Francisco.”

* On life as the Nuge: “Clean and sober for 59 years, I am still rocking my brains out and approaching my 6,000th concert. Clean and sober is the real party.”

-- Zachary Weiss

[dfwgator]

This from a guy that penned such classy songs as “Cat Scratch Fever” and “Wango Tango”?

You left out his tender, love ballad, "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang."

[zencat]

Hendrix was a far better guitarist than Nugent.

[RushCrush]

What’s there to debate? The title says it all. :)

[HockeyPop]

We all have our vices...when a brick falls from Century Tower let me know ;-)

[proxy_user]

“Hippies were just another symptom, not the cause.

You mean to say, that given human nature, if a highly affluent, generous, and orderly society happens to have large numbers of children, this sort of thing is likely to happen?

[dfwgator]

Hendrix was a far better guitarist than Nugent.

No doubt Ted would agree, but Ted's still here and Jimi is not.

[DogByte6RER]

[Gay State Conservative]

Damn dirty hippies! I hate 'em,I hate 'em!

[flashbunny]

“was” being the past tense.

[RightWhale]

No.

[stuartcr]

You’re right, he is an accomplished lyricist.

[bray]

The Truth is never Politically Correct.

Pray for W and Our Troops

[BallyBill]

"The Summer of Drugs"

Ahhh, but it was fun. I think, I'm not quite sure.

[dfwgator]

If you remember it, you weren’t there.

[BuffaloJack]

Yeah, that’s who I’d blame too.

[zencat]

No doubt Ted would agree, but Ted's still here and Jimi is not.

True, but we're all not going to be here at some point. Just saying, drug use doesn't automatically make one a talentless loser or socialist.

Ted's just getting a little preachy for my taste. Shut up and play, Ted.

[dfwgator]

“I often wonder what musical peaks they could have climbed....”

Seems to me here Ted is admitting they had tremendous talent, but just that they pissed it away on drugs.

And I too wonder what Hendrix could have done had he lived, I still consider him the most amazing guitarist ever.

[Beckwith]

We are overun with boomer bashing lately.

They got it coming -- selfish narcissists.

[Beckwith]

Oh, I left out spoiled.