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Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
On today's show, Motor City Madman, Ted Nugent joins me. Also, Alicia Krauss has the news. Hey, this is Adam Carolla from The Adam Carolla Show. Prediction markets talk outcomes. BetOnline puts odds behind them. For decades, bettors have trusted BetOnline for accurate lines, deep prop markets, and real money action across every major sport.
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Just search Adam Carolla Show and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also get the podcast wherever you like to listen. And for extra content, ad-free episodes, and more, you can head over to our sub stack and sign up today. From Corolla One Studios in Glendale, California, this is The Adam Corolla Show. Adam's guest today, the Motor City Madman, Ted Nugent.
Plus the news with Alicia Krause. And now, Adam Corolla. Yeah, get it on. Got to get on. No choice but to get on the mandate. You get it on. I'm in Texas. I'm at John Clay Wolfe's studio. And Ted Nugent has joined me. I'm a huge fan of Ted's work on and off the stage.
Well, I would like to present you with the Ted Nugent Swinging T-Rex Scrotum Award for Truth, Logic, and Common Sense because every time you speak Adam Carolla, you hit the nerves of we the people in the asset column, working hard, playing hard America. I mean it in all sincerity. Thank you for that. Thanks, Ted.
Well, Ted and I were talking off the mic, and he said, what gives you your common sense and your logic? And I said, I think it's my building background. I actually said, because you're a carpenter. Yeah, it helps you stay logical, grounded reality on reality's terms. But you said... For you, it was sort of chopping your own wood that kept you who you are.
Rugged individualism, that's not even legal anymore. But yeah, my dad raised me to be an asset to the family and not a liability to the family, which means we had to do all the chores together and do all the chores from the time we could walk. I think I was walking at eight months. But bottom line is, I just met a couple little girls at John's Auto Museum here today.
And they came up, the dad wanted to introduce them to me. They were, what, maybe five and six years old? And they knew my song, Fred Bear, and I gave them guitar picks, but I made sure I asked them, do you do chores? Have you ever done the laundry? Do you vacuum? Have you done the dishes for your mom? Then here you can have a Ted Nugent guitar pick.
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Chapter 2: How did Ted Nugent's upbringing shape his perspective on discipline?
Willow Run Airport. Willow Run is where they built them. Yes. I deer hunt at Willow Run Airport today, this last year. Really? You know, I sort of tell people this because I find it interesting, and I don't know if this will resonate with you, but... Ford was a pretty famous anti-Semite, and also he had Lindbergh as his test pilot, who was also an anti-Semite. Really? I had no idea.
Yeah, well, Ford used to put anti-Semitic newsletters out at the dealers and stuff like that. Oh, yeah, eventually the dealers were like, hey, could you not pull those off the truck? We've got some Jewish buyers who may be interested in F-150, probably an F-100 back then. But here's my point.
ford it was it has been accused of being an anti-semite historically and and so did charles limberg wow but ford built those bombers and limberg tested those bombers and then they liberated europe with those bombers and when they liberated europe they liberated most of the camps where the jews were being
exterminated so I tell people all the time it's easy to go that guy's this and that guy's that but what has he done for you lately and I'll take I'm sure anyone in that camp would not care if the guys who were liberating them were anti-Semitic or not. They were being liberated. And we do way too much labeling and this guy's a mean guy or this guy's a misogynist or this guy's a racist.
We hang labels on everyone and then we want to throw them out. My thing is like, where's the rubber meet the road? What did they do? Lindbergh risked his life testing those bombers. Ford, of course, built those bombers and we won the European campaign with those bombers. You know, they can be both. Well, identity politics does not even enter my life.
I mean, I just want to know, can my plumber plumb without a leak? I just want to know who my pilot is. I don't care any of his personal habits. I want to know his flying record because the most important thing in the world is my life. I thought I'd mentioned that in Mrs. Newton Agrees. Yeah, isn't that fascinating that you brought that up and I had no idea because...
Toxic politics, hate, bigotry, racism, identity politics. It's like I have a golden dome that rejects such counterproductive thought processes. I mean, I just don't give a rat's ass about any of that. Well, at the end of the day, it's not pragmatic. And if you're a super pragmatic person, then you should not really care what color anyone is or what religion or what their sexual proclivities are.
You just want to hire the best mayor or elect the best mayor, the best electrician, the best plumber, the best governor. You just want the best. I mean, it's a very pragmatic thought. The ones where you start figuring in people's
gender and the race those aren't pragmatic thoughts you you might not end up with the best pilot you just want the best plumber and the best pilot I was thinking about you and maybe talking about you I think last week because somebody brought up the rock and roll hall of fame yeah Is that what that is?
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Chapter 3: What concerns does Ted Nugent have about modern technology and self-sufficiency?
They have the same bands they have to love. They have to love Lou Reed. Yes. Fucking Lou Reed sucks. But they're also bought and paid for, those pussies over at the Rolling Stones. I know exactly who they love. They all love the Beastie Boys. They all love Lou Reed. They all love Velvet Underground. No one will say anything about Joan Jett. They're all bought and paid for.
And they're cowards, by the way. Yes, when Joan Jett cracks the top 25 guitar players of all time, then the list is corrupted. And by the way, it's not even a slight against Joan Jett. No, she plays a great rhythm guitar. She's just not good enough to be there. and I love Rock and Roll Sucks, and Crimson and Clover's another crap remake.
I mean, she remade two shit songs and got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So Ted Nugent should be there only, but then there's politics, and they don't like your politics, but I don't even know if they know your politics. I mean, you hunt, so that's a strike, and you get your own food instead of doing the factory farmer thing. But... I guess it's voting for a Republican. I don't know.
It's a weird set of rules. You open up... All of which I break, by the way. Yes. You open up... You essentially say, I'd like to open a museum. And you go, well, who's going to be in the museum? Who's going to be featured in the museums? And you go, the greatest painters of all time are going to be featured in this museum. And then you go, oh, okay. But...
And then you have a crappy painter in your museum, and that's Joan Jett. You go, why is her shitty art hanging in here? And they go, wait a minute, Ted Nugent, that guy's a great painter. No, no, we're not letting him in the museum. Well, then why did you start a museum? But you know, as you look across at me here, Adam, I can't hardly speak because I'm laughing so hard.
It doesn't affect me at all, except I like honesty. I'm a big fan of honesty, and it's all so dishonest. But I'm having the greatest musical year of my life, my New Year's Eve show. We played in Ardmore last week with these incredible virtuosos, Phil X. Jared James Nichols and a young black kid from Connecticut named Amani. My band, Jason Heartless and Johnny Big.
We played music that God hasn't even authorized yet. We did stuff that Chuck Berry and Bo did and Little Richard are rolling over their graves going, damn it, I wish I would have done that. So I'm so inspired by the energy, the piss and the vinegar, the music loving of the audiences every night. And no, I'm not selling out stadiums. We had like a couple thousand people here and there.
But I come home with a bag of money and a buddy with a jet to sleep with my wife and my dogs. Am I... Am I missing something here? No. It's about the music. I'm literally living my dream with the Lourdes in 1960, playing the VFW on Grand River in Detroit. It's raw. It's primal. It's energetic. We're still exploring the guitar neck. We're still exploring rhythms.
We're still exploring chord mutilations and raw, primal, aboriginal musical orgies every night. So I don't need no Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And if you go on social media and check out the testimonials from people, or if you're Followed me here and had the motorcycle guy stop me at John's Museum and thank me for the music. Thank me for standing up for the Second Amendment.
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Chapter 4: How does Ted Nugent view identity politics and labels?
I really believe that a higher level of awareness will bring you the only supreme happiness, real happiness, not fake happiness because of an outside influence high. That's where I am in 2026.
And for me to be able to claim gravity-defying reality, because it's gravity-defying that after 7,020 concerts, that last weekend was the best two hours of music in my life, that's just ridiculously unbelievable. but it's because we practice and we talk about the grooves and we talk about the movement, the dynamics, and the sound, the sound of the drums.
Going all the way back to that Motown 4-track, I remember the sounds. Drummer, that's not the sound. You have to have the drum. My drummers get the sound. My bass players get the sound. My Gibson Birdland, the tone I get is just insane. intoxicating in the movement of the music. And that's just an example of how I approach everything in life.
And as I witnessed Adam Carolla with the things that you do, obviously you seek the mountaintop in everything you do. You don't stop halfway up the mountain and go, ah, this is high enough. Yeah, I mean, listen, I'm probably... And I'm the greatest casual ease. I remember I spent three hours every afternoon in a tree, completely quiet. I don't move an inch. I'm waiting.
So I'm the master at absolute flatlining calmness while still maintaining a high level of radar attentiveness. It's so intoxicating. No, no, I get it. You have to have a sort of low resting pulse. Yes. And then you have to be able to sort of pounce. But you can't walk around. Well stated, yes, exactly. Wound up all the time. No. Because...
Well, like the calmest people you'll ever meet are either race car drivers or MMA fighters. Yes. Because they're... They're saving it. Their pulse rate is so low because if they were wound up normally, then when they went to the arena to get in the cage, they would explode with anxiety. Waste of energy. Right. So they're all very sort of detuned, you know?
I've always said that my hero, Fred Bear... The world's greatest bowhunter. All my favorite bowhunting friends. That's why I have to be... more attentive because I'm not calm when I think about the things that stimulate me. I get real uppity, which helps the energy of the performance with the music.
But when it comes to my bow hunting life, which is equally important and time-consuming and dedicated as my music, Fred Bear, if he did an interview with you and I or with you, we'd still be on the hellos. I mean, these guys, the best bow hunters, the best fighters, the best race car drivers, They're kind of, you know, when they carry on a conversation, they're kind of easygoing.
Have you noticed that? Well, I'll tell you what I noticed. It makes me think of it. It's like, you ever hear flight recordings from airplanes that are having... catastrophic failure. Air disaster is my favorite TV show. And you hear the guy, she's like, yeah, we got a right wing on fire. Yes! No, we're not going to be able to make it back to LaGuardia. Yes!
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Chapter 5: What stories does Ted Nugent share about Keith Richards and substance abuse?
My hero, this Chuck Berry baton handle. He handed me the baton from Chuck Berry. And we couldn't talk. He couldn't talk. He was too fucked up the whole time. I said, God damn it, I'm with Keith. He was hanging around me because he wanted to know all about my guns. Funny stories. But we're at Studio 54. Yeah.
pulsed by what I'm witnessing but I'm with Keith Richards so I can handle anything but we couldn't talk and he the Stones first albums had Chuck Berry Bo Diddley Little Richard and Motown songs on it the first Stones the first Beatles songs also so that American soul music influence was was a an unbelievable connecting rod that I had with my hero Keith Richards we couldn't talk But I tried.
I stuck it out two nights in a row, but never got it. Because he was just so messed up. So just a drooling, slobbering.
Chapter 6: How does Ted Nugent reflect on the impact of substance abuse on musicians?
And Keith, I love you. I worship the musical authority to this day. And I know he's in pretty good shape for being as old a man as he is. But you can imagine the letdown after letdown because of substance abuse where there was no humanity. I wanted some humanity. The thing about the drugs...
and in the drinking and everything else but probably especially drugs it takes down a lot of comedians and it takes down a lot of musicians and nobody thinks you become a better roofer when you're high exactly nobody thinks you become a better plumber well i always say i don't want anybody high except my musicians and my my comedians but
But the problem with drugs and comedians is a lot of people think, oh, I'll lose my creative ability because it's a mental, it affects your brain. So nobody thinks you'll be better at boxing when you're high and nobody thinks you'll be, again, a better plumber or electrician or framer. Meaningful stuff. When you're high.
But people who write songs think, maybe I could write a better song if I was high. And so I think a lot of them fall prey to that, or at least they get a pass. Because if you pull over a long-haul trucker and he's high, you go, hey, man, get out of that truck. You can't do your job.
Chapter 7: What lessons does Ted Nugent emphasize about discipline and creativity?
But if you find a musician or comedian or a poet who's high, you think, maybe that's how he does his job. Yeah. And oftentimes it is. Oftentimes there's inspiration there. Well, a lot of those guys wrote songs that we're aware of and that we love when they were pretty fucked up. And I acknowledge it.
And I was with Sam Kinison night after night after night going upstairs at the comedy store where it was like an outtake from Scarface again. And I go, you guys have got to be fucking kidding me. I mean, I suppose... Didn't Word get around that they didn't want to hang out with Ted Nugent? Yes, eventually. What a buzzkill. This guy's talking about bow hunting. I'm trying to get a freeze going.
But I took Sam and his brother, was it Bill? Yeah.
Chapter 8: How does Ted Nugent advocate for clean living and its benefits?
On a Ford Bronco ride through a forest that I planted. I had these thousands of acres in Michigan with these giant forests that I planted. And I'm driving in my Bronco and I'm driving over some of the forest I planted just to inspire Sam to go wild, to show him what a real wild man looks like. And...
I don't know if you notice, as a comedian lover as you are, as a comedian as you are, there was a moment in Sam Kinison's career where his screams got a little more intense. That was after my Bronco ride. Because I was taking down six-year-old 12-foot trees with my Bronco and really... pushing the envelope of life and death just to inspire Sam and his brother.
But we became good friends and he did clean up and he married the girl from my Little Miss Dangerous video. They got married and they were on their way to Las Vegas that night when he was hit head on by a drunk driver.
yeah it's like stevie ray bog got clean and died in the helicopter and i got to jam with stevie and by all accounts he was a super soulful gentleman kind conscientious fun loving guy and he when they finally get clean and sober these terrible accidents take place so it was heartbreaking Hmm. All right.
Well, I was thinking about getting clean and sober before, but now, since I don't want to die on the road... Yeah, you know, the thing that was crazy about the Sam Kinison thing is a guy hit him and killed him. A young kid. And the kid wasn't very remorseful about it at all. Like, I remember kind of, he was like, eh, shit happens. You know, it was a weird...
take it's weird when somebody takes somebody's life and is sort of casual about it afterwards soulless i could see yeah there's a it is kind of a kind of a soulless thing yeah so you were there you saw them all you were and and you caught them after the show, you know, when they were partying a lot, a lot as well.
And yeah, you going down and jamming with the Blues Brothers and that all-star band they had behind them would have been awesome. Yes. Here's a deep cut since you brought up all these guys and all these famous guys and these session guys. Yeah.
nicky hopkins yes the piano for the stones yes piano for everybody yes the who yes graham parker played with played by the way the employee opened up for the who at the southfield high school in 69 in the gymnasium you oh so you guys opened up for the who one of my favorite bands in 69 yeah At a high school. At a high school. I love those stories. And I got to meet the guys.
And again, Keith was so out of it. And I ran off and on. He'd always have whiskey and all stuff. And they couldn't believe that I wanted to partake. Or didn't want to partake. And I wouldn't partake. And I had to leave. Well, the thing about...
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