05.10.12
Ted’s bottom-out-of-sighters
Ted Nugent’s fans are what Paul Fussell called ‘bottom-out-of-sighters,’ people so light in the wallet absolutely no one was interested in advertising products to them.
Fussell used it in reference to roller-derby on Saturday morning television back in the late-Sixites and Seventies in his book, Class.
Denver Westworld ran a photo essay on Ted’s fans at RedRocks amphitheatre. It’s here and worth the momentary laugh.
Reads the news weekly: “When this male Ted Nugent fan was asked about the recent investigation by the Secret Service into the Nuge regarding some controversial comments Nugent made about President Obama, his response was, ‘It’s bullshit! He [Ted Nugent] lets the FBI train on his property.'”
Yeah, the Green Berets, too. Would you believe … the local chapter of Boy Scouts of America? Well, would you believe … two guys using a metal detector to find buried old coins?
It’s also worth noting Ted’s notoriously teetotal and prone to bagging on users of spirits. So it’s fitting the only venues he plays are those where the fans are encouraged to smell strongly of drink.
Like old roller-derby, Ted’s fans also don’t buy anything except the occasional concert ticket. They don’t buy records. They may go for an occasional T-shirt.
And when Ted tried to sell his own beef jerky years ago — Ted Nugent Gonzo Meat Biltong — it went bust.