Joan Jett has fired back at Ted Nugent’s public critique with blistering clarity. The feud began when Nugent criticized Jett’s spot at No. 87 on Rolling Stone’s 2003 list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists,” calling the inclusion evidence of “lying” and claiming Jett shouldn’t be above certain male peers.
When pressed by NME, Jett responded with a mixture of defiance and candour: “Is that his implication—that he should be on the list instead of me? Well, that’s just typical. It’s what I’ve dealt with my whole life—being written off.” She continued: “He’s not a tough guy. He plays tough guy, but this is the guy who shit his pants—literally—so he didn’t have to go in the Army.”
Jett’s reference came from a notorious 1977 interview with High Times, in which Nugent claimed he avoided the Vietnam War draft by dropping personal hygiene and “defecated in his pants.” He later retracted or re-contextualised the story, but the claim remains in circulation.
Nugent, unshaken, responded that Jett’s remarks were a “vicious personal attack,” stating that he had nothing but respect for her rock credentials—but disagreed her place on the list. He said: “I love Joan… But belonging on the ‘Top 100 Guitar Players’ list? Let’s not pretend.”
The back-and-forth highlights larger issues in rock culture: gender bias, legacy debates, and how icons are defended—or attacked—in real time. Jett, a trailblazer from the all-female band The Runaways through her solo career, has earned her status through grit and consistency. Her retort to Nugent wasn’t just a clap-back—it was a reminder of who actually earned their place in rock’s history.
Whether Nugent’s story is fact or folklore, Jett used it as a visceral symbol of inauthenticity—and turned years of being “written off” into a moment of reckoning.
