In a recent interview with Jeremy White, the American guitarist Ted Nugent talked about some musicians that passed away from drug abuse. He stated that musicians like John Belushi, Jimi Hendrix, and Keith Moon died because they tried to avoid their art and fame by using drugs and alcohol.
Ted Nugent often makes controversial statements, especially about American politics. His opinions tend to attract hate and criticism, and he always reacts to the backlash he receives over his views. He is especially strict with his approach to drugs, and he had once revealed that Jimi Hendrix offered him drugs, but he turned him down.
He also had foreseen that Jimi Hendrix, John Belushi, Keith Moon, and Bon Scott would die because of their addictions, and his predictions turned out correct. Hendrix died in 1970, Belushi in 1982, Moon in 1978, and Bon Scott in 1980 due to alcohol or drug-related issues.
Recently he revealed why these iconic musicians had surrendered themselves to the substances. The rocker said that they were addicts mainly because they wanted to escape their art and fame and didn’t want to embrace it with full awareness.
Here is what Nugent said about drug and alcohol abuse:
“If I’m invited to salute flag-draped coffins of heroes that died for my American Dream and your Canadian Dream, that’s also a gift of celebrity, so, I will use that for good. But if I think I’m gonna need it as a crutch, I mean, I told John Belushi was going to die, I told Jimi Hendrix he was gonna die, I told Keith Moon he was going to die.
I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ and you know why they died? Because they were so desperate to escape their art/celebrity that they thought drugs and alcohol were the best way because they were comfortably numb, they could avoid it. But, they didn’t avoid it, it killed them. Keith Richards notwithstanding.”
You can watch Nugent’s full interview below.
