“He was so drunk and stoned, he couldn’t carry a conversation”: Ted Nugent recalls meeting his “hero” Keith Richards
Ted Nugent has explained what it was like to meet Keith Richards, his musical hero.
Nugent is known for his strong anti-drugs stance, and tells Indiepower TV, “I could tell you some stories about so many wonderful heroes that would make fun of me because I wouldn’t snort their coke and get drunk.
“Keith Moon and Bon Scott and Jimi Hendrix and John Belushi and John Entwistle, and a lot of people I wanted to be friends with. But because I wouldn’t get high with them, they just became mean, and then they died.”
READ MORE: “Keith woke up in another hotel room in another country without having stirred”: The time Keith Richards got so wasted they had to put his bed on a plane
However, the one exception was Richards, who’s still going strong at the age of 80. Nugent says, “I mean, Keith is my hero, and I got to spend a weekend with him in New York at Studio 54. But again, I wanted to talk Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley and Motown with him, because those were his influences 100%. But he was so drunk and stoned, he couldn’t carry on a conversation.
“Again, I don’t mean to be negative, but you can’t just praise a super talent without identifying the shortcomings. And I have shortcomings. We all have shortcomings. But I don’t do things that will fuck up my bandmates’ musical dreams. And that’s what drugs and alcohol do.”
Along with Richards, another musician Nugent has a lot of time for is Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. Speaking to Forbes last month, he said, “Even as subtle as Billy Gibbons is, he does [Jeff] Beck, [Eric] Clapton and [Jimmy] Page better than Beck, Clapton and Page, as far as I’m concerned.
“[Beck, Clapton and Page] are obviously top dogs,” he explains. “But they’re no better than Jim McCarty from Cactus and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels… Beck, Clapton and Page are okay. The Yardbirds were intensely influential to any guitarist who’s ever lived. But they’re no Jimi Hendrix or Eddie Van Halen.”
You can watch Nugent’s interview with Indiepower TV here:
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
