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I’ve made this candid confession before: as an idiotic 13 year old, I actually went through a phase when I thought Ted Nugent was a better guitar player than Jimi Hendrix. Eventually, as I acquired a bit more perspective on things rock-ular, I realized how stupid that was. One of the catalysts for my critical re-evaluation of Uncle Ted had nothing to do with how fast he could go “tweedlee-tweedlee-tweedlee-tweeee” on the guitar. Rather, it was a single line from one of his songs, “Free For All.” In it, avowed drug-shunner Nugent boasted: “Stakes are high, and so am I…”
Even as a 13 year old, I smelled a rat. It was certainly “cool” to make claims about how high you were back then, and — had it been anybody else — this lyric would have just been another effort at achieving fringed buckskin jacket and mirrored shades status. But the Nuge was different — he was the first “straight-edge” rocker, and here he was, bragging about how high he was. Just to sell more records! Hypocrisy!
This got me thinking about other rock star hypocrisies. I’m sure you can think of a few, and I know we’d all like to hear about them. I’d like to believe our musical heroes and heroines say what they mean and mean what they say, 100 percent of the time. To be painfully honest, though, I’m not sure that’s always the case. I think it’s time we brought these all-too-human shortcomings into clear — and perhaps brutal — focus. We need some tough love. How have your heroes let you down? How have they displayed hyprockrisy?
I look forward to your responses —
HVB
