Back in 1992, grunge icons Pearl Jam covered Ted Nugent‘s 1975 single, “Stranglehold“. As Nugent‘s definitive song, Pearl Jam‘s original performance of it emerged as a partial rendition, ultimately being cut off roughly two minutes in, before. Afterwards Pearl Jam could be heard uttering from the stage, “I didn’t want to play that. They forced me to play that. I think Ted Nugent‘s a stupid idiot.” That performance was captured and remains available on select platforms.
Fast-forward several decades and the diamond-certified Seattle, WA natives decided to take another stab at the song last night, September 12th. Their latest partial cover made its way into the setlist during their performance at the CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, MD.
However, this time around Pearl Jam vocalist/guitarist Vedder reinvented the lyrics of the song into an anti-gun anthem. As you can expect, as a noted advocate of guns and right wing politics, Nugent himself was not enthused with this latest cover of the track. He responded via X:
hey Eddie join me on my RAV spirit campfire to discuss how your insane liberal policies have created an explosion in engineered violent recidivism while you fight to disarm helpless innocent citizens.https://t.co/OBjHpsWgru
— Ted Nugent (@TedNugent) September 13, 2024
If you’re not aware, the ‘spirit campfire’ mentioned above is a weekly show hosted by Nugent. Pearl Jam have generally leaned left with their politics throughout their career and have actively campaigned against gun violence in the past.
