Joe Rogan Experience #1138 - Ted Nugent

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   ... Morgan. …

   1. TNTed Nugent0:00

      ... Morgan.

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:00

      Yeah.

   3. TNTed Nugent0:00

      The masters are out there.

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:02

      I use one of three, two, one (snaps fingers) , boom, and we're live. We're just talking about target panic, ladies and gentlemen.

   5. TNTed Nugent0:06

      Sure.

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Most people don't know about all that.

   7. TNTed Nugent0:07

      It's like, uh, um, uh, uh, erectile dysfunction for archery.

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:11

      It's panic. It's panic, right?

   9. TNTed Nugent0:12

      Yeah, (laughs) panic.

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:13

       You're freaking. Yeah.

   11. TNTed Nugent0:13

       Just because you want that arrow to go so bad. By the way, thanks for having me on here.

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:17

       My pleasure.

   13. TNTed Nugent0:18

       I understand from all the input I get from all my intelligent friends that you deserve me.

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:23

       Oh, I'm excited about this.

   15. TNTed Nugent0:24

       So we'll have a good time. We'll have a good time.

   16. JRJoe Rogan0:25

       Well, your, your assistant reached out and said, "I think-"

   17. TNTed Nugent0:28

       My people reach out, yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan0:29

       She said, "I think you'll have more in common with Ted than you realize."

   19. TNTed Nugent0:33

       Yeah. That was-

   20. JRJoe Rogan0:33

       That was her, that was her pitch.

   21. TNTed Nugent0:35

       Truth, logic, common sense-

   22. JRJoe Rogan0:36

       Hmm.

   23. TNTed Nugent0:36

       ... spirit, physics of, uh, the American dream.

   24. JRJoe Rogan0:40

       Perhaps controversial and misunderstood people?

   25. TNTed Nugent0:43

       Uh, yes. Boy, we're surrounded.

   26. JRJoe Rogan0:44

       Oh, maybe both of us.

   27. TNTed Nugent0:45

       Clusterfuck ring any bells?

   28. JRJoe Rogan0:46

       Yeah. Yeah, indeed.

   29. TNTed Nugent0:48

       Yes, indeed.

   30. JRJoe Rogan0:48

       So, uh, yeah. So target panic, I got lucky in that, uh, I got hooked up with John Dudley early before I developed target panic.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Mm-hmm. …

   1. TNTed Nugent15:00

      use those God-given gifts I mentioned a moment ago to penetrate the otherwise impenetrable defense system of game, because they are sneaky, elusive, crafty. God made them to get away from guitar players with sharp sticks. And so this caught on because people go, "You know, I kill my deer every year with my 30-30 now with the 30-06 and Roy Bre- Weatherby long range. I wonder if I'm a badass enough to get close to a deer with a bow and arrow." So it caught on like wildfire. And they made the first... Fred got the first legal season in Michigan at the Allegan State Park on November 1st, 19, uh, 47 where George Nichols, my buddy, got the first legal buck in Michigan with a bow and arrow on that morning. And so I knew, these are the guys I hang with. These were the founders. These were the... You were- I was at the Concord Bridge of Archery.

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:53

      Mm-hmm.

   3. TNTed Nugent15:53

      And so Fred em- embraced me and he was real suspicious of the long-haired, hippie-looking, you know, rocking maniac, Motor City madman, but all of his friends went, "No, no, he's not into drugs. He's, in fact, he's anti-drug and he's always promoting archery." I shot my bow and arrow on stage forever. I'd shoot flaming arrows at skulls in a big illegal, I think it was a felony, a big turkey vulture I had stuffed, but it looked great back-lit, you know?

   4. JRJoe Rogan16:19

      (laughs)

   5. TNTed Nugent16:19

      And I'd shoot that fucker off the amps at night and people didn't know whether to shit or go blind (laughs) as this wild man screaming at the bird lands going (screams) just making all this outrageous racket and I come out with a bow and arrow and a flaming arrow and blow up a turkey vulture. Yeah, like what more do you want? And so Fred loo- got- looked past the insanity of the fear factor of rock and roll and he finally admitted to me, he said, "Every sporting goods show I go to, Ted, all the young people, anybody under 30, all they want to know if... is if I know Ted Nugent." Because that was the first time they ever saw a bow and arrow. And they read my in- do my interviews about the- the spirit, the cleansing of escaping the insanity of whatever your job description might be, mine being maniacal rock and roll. I need to shut the fuck up. Take a deep breath. Get my bow and arrow. Let my guitars breed, head back to the woods and live and- and remember who I am and what I'm here for, and I never killed a deer. I was just a little too uppity and we didn't know what we were doing back then. But-

   6. JRJoe Rogan17:33

      You were too uppity?

   7. TNTed Nugent17:35

      You think?

   8. JRJoe Rogan17:35

      What do you mean?

   9. TNTed Nugent17:36

      I just... I'm high energy. (laughs)

   10. JRJoe Rogan17:38

       So you're too-

   11. TNTed Nugent17:40

       I do- I-

   12. JRJoe Rogan17:40

       Too loud, too... Right.

   13. TNTed Nugent17:40

       I wasn't the stealthy guy. Well, I don't know about too loud. I mean, I could walk ru- I learned from Fred, I learned that walk toe first and I learned to go around anything you... instead of stepping over and to stay in the shadows, so I knew the maneuvers, but coming out of a tour and playing 350 nights a year and then you get a couple days off during November and you get the bow and arrow, it's hard to go from that to-

   14. JRJoe Rogan18:03

       Right. Total silence.

   15. TNTed Nugent18:04

       This. But you know what, Joe?

   16. JRJoe Rogan18:06

       What?

   17. TNTed Nugent18:07

       I've mastered it.

   18. JRJoe Rogan18:09

       Oh, I know you have.

   19. TNTed Nugent18:10

       Finally. I mean, I did by the-

   20. JRJoe Rogan18:12

       Well, you've been- you've been doing it for a long time.

   21. TNTed Nugent18:14

       ... by the '60s. By the '60s I, I don't know about mastered it, you'll never master it, but I've mastered the transition.

   22. JRJoe Rogan18:19

       What do you say- what do you say when people... Like, the- one of the arguments about hunting that people bring up is why would you use a bow and arrow? A bow and arrow is not as effective. If you wanted to kill something, you should use a gun. There's people that don't hunt that think that hunting should only be one thing and it should only be killing the animal for meat.... whereas I think that someone who hunts definitely kills the animal for meat.

   23. TNTed Nugent18:39

       Always.

   24. JRJoe Rogan18:39

       But there's more, there's more to the whole thing. And-

   25. TNTed Nugent18:42

       Have you ever seen me expound on that fun, sport, meat-

   26. JRJoe Rogan18:47

       Yeah.

   27. TNTed Nugent18:47

       ... trophy? You can't hunt without having fun, or you won't do it. It's fun to challenge yourself. It's fun to get up in the dark of the morning.

   28. JRJoe Rogan18:53

       But some people have a problem with that word, right?

   29. TNTed Nugent18:55

       Well, they, they can kiss my ass.

   30. JRJoe Rogan18:56

       (laughs)
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Yeah. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      it.

   2. TNTed Nugent30:00

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      Yeah.

   4. TNTed Nugent30:00

      And more and more ... You know, I used to ... I still get death threats because I murder innocent animals. (laughs)

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:06

      Yeah, but-

   6. TNTed Nugent30:06

      I mean, but-

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:07

      No, I get those too.

   8. TNTed Nugent30:07

      What the hell? So, I mean, it's just so absurd.

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:10

      But I think they're, they're heart, like, really is in the right place.

   10. TNTed Nugent30:13

       I don't think ... No. I don't think-

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:13

       They just don't know what they're talking about.

   12. TNTed Nugent30:15

       No, they're just haters. They're just-

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:16

       There's a little bit of that too.

   14. TNTed Nugent30:17

       How i- how in 2018 do you not, not acknowledge barbecue?

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:24

       (laughs)

   16. TNTed Nugent30:24

       How in 2018 do you not acknowledge there's a few dead turkeys on Thanksgiving? What? I mean-

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:29

       (laughs)

   18. TNTed Nugent30:29

       You gotta be braindead. I think they're so consumed with hate that they fight. Ignorance is acceptable. I'm ignorant of ... When I go to the Indy 500 I couldn't tune a Cogsworth. I don't ... I'm ignorant about Cogsworth.

   19. JRJoe Rogan30:41

       Right.

   20. TNTed Nugent30:41

       Ignorance is acceptable because you can remedy it with knowledge and, and research. Stupidity is when you guard your ignorance. If you think-

   21. JRJoe Rogan30:50

       Hm.

   22. TNTed Nugent30:50

       ... that we're murdering innocent animals-... to feed our families with the purest protein available to mankind, balancing the herds with more deer, more elk, more bison, more turkeys, more waterfowl, more cougars, more bears than ever in recorded history, except for the bison, but we're way back. We have as many bison as we can sustain in North America. Ma- a lot of the Native American tribes are desperate to get more harvested in an efficient and responsible manner. So, wildlife is thriving because hunters implemented regulations for sustained yield. How many ducks can we kill? How many will they reproduce? Where is their habitat? Where, th- determines their reproduction, we must safeguard that. Delta Waterfowl, Ducks Unlimited. But see, this information is universally available, but the fake news, academia, Hollywood, and half of our government is stone-cold obsessed with political correctness and denial.

   23. JRJoe Rogan31:46

       Yeah.

   24. TNTed Nugent31:47

       So I do what I do and our Spirit of the Wild show has been number one on Outdoor Channel, what is this, 29 years now? Wow, I'm getting old. Um, because we say it like it is. We don't play around. Fun sport and meat trophy, sacred beasts, prayer for the wild things, resource stewardship, conservation-wise use, walk the wild ground before you comment on the wild ground.

   25. JRJoe Rogan32:08

       Yeah.

   26. TNTed Nugent32:09

       Duh.

   27. JRJoe Rogan32:09

       Well, this is what I'm talking about when you were talking about that last Indian that they found, the guy who used to get into the-

   28. TNTed Nugent32:14

       Right, Ishi.

   29. JRJoe Rogan32:14

       Yeah.

   30. TNTed Nugent32:14

       Ishi.
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Well, a lot of…

   1. TNTed Nugent45:00

      always there, and as the song says, "In the wind, he's still alive." And it's powerful medicine.

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:05

      Well, a lot of people know of him because of you.

   3. TNTed Nugent45:07

      Oh, yeah.

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:07

      A lot of people do.

   5. TNTed Nugent45:08

      More people have learned about Fred from me than from the archery industry, yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan45:11

      Do you, do you ... This, this conversation, you've been having this conversation about hunting forever. I mean, I've heard a lot of these things that you're saying today before from you. Does this ... Do you ever get tired-

   7. TNTed Nugent45:21

      No.

   8. JRJoe Rogan45:21

      ... of being this evangelist?

   9. TNTed Nugent45:22

      No, not at all.

   10. JRJoe Rogan45:23

       No?

   11. TNTed Nugent45:23

       I love it so much. And the other side is so dishonest that I know I make inroads. You go to my Facebook, I have millions-

   12. JRJoe Rogan45:32

       Do you think they're dishonest or you think they're ignorant?

   13. TNTed Nugent45:35

       They know the ... They know that there's gonna be new fawns next year, but there's not gonna be any new ground. They know this. They know that venison is good food.

   14. JRJoe Rogan45:42

       Right. But they don't think of it that way.

   15. TNTed Nugent45:44

       Well, they don't think, period.

   16. JRJoe Rogan45:44

       They think of it as suffering.

   17. TNTed Nugent45:45

       That's why I continue to do this, because I cause them to think. I can tell you thousands of examples since the '60s where people thought I was a, a, a coward for murdering innocent animals that can't shoot back.

   18. JRJoe Rogan46:00

       (laughs)

   19. TNTed Nugent46:00

       I mean, what does that sentence even mean? What does ... What do you mean they can't shoot back? They don't have trigger fingers, you jerk! (laughs) So, I have taken this on and I ... You notice that I smiled throughout that whole thing.

   20. JRJoe Rogan46:11

       Yeah.

   21. TNTed Nugent46:11

       I don't get angry. Um, so I know that by continuing to promote in the absence of any education in our education system. In fact, it's the opposite. Animal rights gets more time in our education system, our anti-education system. The media, lying sons of bitches. Hollywood, goofy. Um, half of the government out to lunch. So, guys like you and me that know the truth, we should never give up because there is a scourge of political correctness and dishonesty. And that's what political correctness is, it's denial and dishonesty. And I know we're making inroads. You should see the bombardment I got, "Joe's a big hunter now. He's really a fighter. He'd speak cleverly, he speaks accurately and, and passionately about it." Well, hallelujah, there's a bunch of us out there. With the advent of the Outdoor Channel and Sportsman Channel, the Pursuit Network, um, more and more people are getting, you know, wind of what we're doing.

   22. JRJoe Rogan47:03

       I think a lot of it from the internet, too.

   23. TNTed Nugent47:04

       And the in- m- monster communication power.

   24. JRJoe Rogan47:07

       Yeah. People ... I think people understand that there's more to it than they thought. And if they're willing to just look a little bit further, look a little bit further, they realize like, well, especially western hunting.

   25. TNTed Nugent47:16

       Yeah.

   26. JRJoe Rogan47:16

       These guys are running hills in their, their, their, their backpacks with-

   27. TNTed Nugent47:20

       Super people.

   28. JRJoe Rogan47:20

       ... heavy weights on their back-

   29. TNTed Nugent47:22

       Discipline.

   30. JRJoe Rogan47:22

       ... for hours and hours every day-
5. 1:00:00 – 1:15:00

   But it's a weird…

   1. TNTed Nugent1:00:00

      guitar. Just a god of thunder. Greg Smith, the best. Like a Funk Brother in heat. And Jason Hartliss, 23-year-old drummer from Detroit is just an absolute animal. And every band from my Royal High boys in the '50s, to The Lourdes in the '60s, and the Amboy Dukes, and even The Damn Yankees with Tommy and Jack and Michael. Are you kidding me? I've had literally the A-list of musicians at my side from Tommy Aldridge and Tommy Clufetos and Mick Brown on drums and, and, and Cliff Davies. Are you kidding me? Denny Carmassi. I mean, the best drummers, the best bass players. I've just been the luckiest guitar player in the world.

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:37

      But it's a weird connection, right? Like most people don't think of rock and roll and bow hunting at the same ... They, just they're so far removed-

   3. TNTed Nugent1:00:44

      Well, if you think of Ted Nugent, you do. I used to-

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:45

      But you're the on- you're the only one.

   5. TNTed Nugent1:00:46

      But there I was geographically in Michigan, uh, a, a firestorm of musical influence. All the best musicians in the world, they'll tell you, come out of Detroit from Motown, Bob Seger, now Kid Rock, Eminem and just, just killer, killer bands. MC5, I got a great Wayne Kramer story. He has a wonderful book coming out called The Hard Stuff.

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:01:06

      Kiss.

   7. TNTed Nugent1:01:06

      You ever, you ever talk to Wayne? You need to have Wayne Kramer on your show.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:01:10

      Actually Kiss isn't from New York. They're from New York.

   9. TNTed Nugent1:01:11

      From the MC5.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:01:13

       But D chart Rock City, I'm thinking of.

   11. TNTed Nugent1:01:14

       Yeah, I'm gonna turn you on to Wayne Kramer.

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:01:16

       Okay.

   13. TNTed Nugent1:01:16

       He's got a new book about his tragic mistakes and near death heroin prison dirt bag maneuvers. But he's a great man, a musical authority. And in the music of Detroit and of course, '50s, Little Richard. How do you not get moved by Little Richard and, and Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry? How do you not ... H- how are you not touched by that? And then you see them on TV in The, Ed Sullivan Show. And I don't care who you are, Steven Tyler or Billy Joel or whoever, or Elvis Presley and now The Stones and The Beatles. Are you kidding me? On-... and, and it's Ed Sullivan and I had a guitar, plus I'm in Michigan and I've ... Every kid was born, you got a Red Ryder Daisy BB gun, you had a WHAM-O Slingshot, and you had a little bow and arrow of some kind. I lived right next to the Rouge River so I was always down there, you know, chasing critters and building forts and crossing the river. And the music and the bow hunting, music and the bow hunting. I met Fred Bear, I got these great musicians, the music and the bow hunting, music and the bow ... Unbelievable. What a life, what a dream, what a firestorm of cravings and fulfillment of those cravings every day. And here it is, last night was my 6,680th concert and that goes all the way back to sock hop.

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:02:33

       You've got them all ...

   15. TNTed Nugent1:02:34

       Count it, all the way back to the 1950s.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:02:36

       How do you-

   17. TNTed Nugent1:02:36

       6,680.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:02:37

       Do you write them down?

   19. TNTed Nugent1:02:38

       No, I d- I did for years. I took out all the books and started adding them up, but from the, from my, uh, uh, musical review with the Royal School of Music in 1958 and then with Joe Podorsek from the Capitol School of Music at the s- at the Detroit Fairgrounds, and then we started playing sock hops and pool parties and malt shops and everywhere, you know, basement parties. I counted those. Those are gigs.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:03:00

       (laughs)

   21. TNTed Nugent1:03:00

       And then when the Amboy Dukes started in '65, we'd do 300 concerts, three f- plus 300 a year for many, many years. And then even with the Damn Yankees in the early '90s, we did over 200 concerts a year. So I added them all up and last year was 6,679 in Okinawa for the US Marine Corps.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:03:20

       Whoa.

   23. TNTed Nugent1:03:21

       Pretty intense. And then last night at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, 6,680. Tonight is 6,681.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:03:29

       Jesus.

   25. TNTed Nugent1:03:30

       Yeah, cool, huh? That's why I look tired.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:03:32

       That's a lot of-

   27. TNTed Nugent1:03:32

       And like-

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:03:32

       ... a lot of shows. How do you have the time?

   29. TNTed Nugent1:03:33

       That's a lot of tree stand remedy.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:03:35

       How do you have the time? Because I always figure out ... I try to figure out how I have the time to do what I do, but I think you do more than I do.
6. 1:15:00 – 1:15:42

   Yeah. …

   1. TNTed Nugent1:15:00

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:15:00

      Yeah.

   3. TNTed Nugent1:15:00

      The irresponsibility and, and, and pharmaceuticaling everybody. You know, they got a mental problem, and then they increase the mental problem with big pharm.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:15:10

      Yeah.

   5. TNTed Nugent1:15:10

      I mean, I've had personal experiences with that, with dear friends of mine that were having mental problems, and they end up in an institution. And then their mental problems are exasperated by chemical warfare upon them. You know, when I was growing up ... How old are you, Joe?

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:15:27

      50.

   7. TNTed Nugent1:15:28

      50, just a boy. Um, when I was growing up, there was this, this, uh, mantra, this, uh, colloquialism, better living through chemistry.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:15:35

      Yeah.

   9. TNTed Nugent1:15:35

      And in many ways it is. I mean, we saved tens of millions of lives in Africa with DDT-

Episode duration: 3:31:00