Ted Nugent On Taylor Hawkins: “I Am Casting Judgment, As a result of Substance Abuse is Egocentric” | MetalSucks

At any time when a rock star’s demise in any approach includes medication or alcohol, there’s a physique of style followers that feels the necessity to chime in with one thing alongside the traces of, Sucks, however fuck you for killing your self with that rubbish. As an alternative of humanizing their fallen idols, or what acquired them to the place they had been after they died, they see their dependancy and substance abuse points as a slight towards their characters at the start, and their deaths as concrete vindications of that. And we guess it’s unsurprising that Ted Nugent is considered one of these folks, as evidenced by a current video he made through which he supplied his two cents on the tragic demise of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins — however it would possibly shock some that he’s not AS dangerous about it as one would possibly anticipate.

Right here was Ted’s take, through Blabbermouth:

 “It’s heartbreaking on so many ranges. Fifty years previous with a horrible, long-term celebration of substance abuse. I’m not… Effectively, I am casting judgment as a result of substance abuse is egocentric. His spouse and daughter, they need to have been considered. Is spending time together with your spouse and daughter extra vital than getting excessive or much less vital than getting excessive?

“I’ve informed the story many occasions, however I’ve witnessed it. My bass participant Greg Arama — so gifted at 15; hearken to the bass half on ‘Journey To The Middle Of The Thoughts’ by the Amboy Dukes — and the man was only a gifted, a virtuoso, a savant of groove and musicality. And he began smoking dope and ended up with heroin and died when he was — I don’t know — early 20s. And the longer term he might have had. I informed Jimi Hendrix, I stated, ‘No, I don’t need your dope, and it’s gonna kill you, Jimi.’ Bon Scott [AC/DC] would come to the studio when my band was recording ‘Weekend Warriors’ [1978] out of Miami and AC/DC was coming in [and working on] ‘Freeway To Hell’ — simply phenomenal musical powers. And he’d are available in drunk day-after-day with a [bottle of] Jack Daniel’s or an Previous Grand-Dad [whiskey] and he’d go, ‘Hey, Teddy, attempt a few of this.’ And he smelled like a diaper. What a expertise. What a pleasant man. These had been all good guys.

“However what occurs is the music will be so overwhelming, the supply of your comedy or your artwork or your dream, it may be so obsessive that it’s laborious to eliminate it. You understand how with only a man that doesn’t make music, typically it’s laborious to get a track out of your head? Effectively, consider how tough it’s for these of us that make the artwork. And in the event that they don’t have a bow and arrow — and lots of people will dismiss this as being simply completely too easy, however it’s not; it’s completely easy — in the event you’re so obsessive about delivering your artwork you could’t escape it, they suppose medication and alcohol with assist. It solely makes it worse.

“So, in the event you liked Taylor Hawkins — I liked him; I liked the person; I nonetheless love him,” Ted insisted. “However I really like his spouse and daughter extra. As a result of they didn’t break his coronary heart; he broke their coronary heart.

“So, God relaxation Taylor Hawkins’s soul and all these stoners and drunks that died prematurely. Thank God for day-after-day you’re above floor. Breathe deep, consider the constructive and present reverence in your present of life and your sacred temple. Don’t poison your sacred temple. It’s that straightforward.”

We wish to suppose that even we are able to acknowledge when Ted Nugent shouldn’t be being a whole nutbar piece and shit, and we are able to say this: this isn’t the worst take on this planet. Nugent is true to tip his hat to Hawkins’ household, and never finish his rant with an enormous, Good going, DICK, which a LOT of individuals have undoubtedly been doing in regards to the drummer’s demise. He shows some restraint, and with a bar as little as his, that’s…commendable?

However it’s additionally bullshit. Dependancy is extra sophisticated than that, and so is fucking stress. Taylor Hawkins was in arguably the greatest rock band on this planet, and if he needed to chemically alter with the intention to cope with the stresses of that activity, I don’t blame him. Nugent is a rock star, to make sure, however he’s not on Foo Fighters’ degree (as a result of solely, like, Metallica and Inexperienced Day are), and so can’t comprehend what it was wish to be Taylor Hawkins. Dude is standing over King Kong’s physique, chiding him for climbing the Empire State Constructing.

And anyway, who’s Ted Nugent to guage ANYONE? Dude is a draft-dodger who wrote a track about banging 13-year-olds. And medication are the issue? Fuck this dude, as all the time.

You’ll be able to watch the entire thing under: