Ted Nugent has blasted Neil Young for wanting to "censor people" after the legendary singer demanded that his catalog be removed from Spotify in response to "fake information about vaccines" being "spread" on the platform via Joe Rogan's podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience". Young delivered an ultimatum, adding, "They can have Rogan or Young. Not both." Spotify announced a few days later that it would pull Young's music catalog from its platform.

In a new interview with Kristi Leigh, a former reporter for the Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned KMPH-TV, Nugent was asked to weigh in on Young's position. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Number one, he's a Canadian so he started at the back of the shitkicker line. And I love my Canadian friends. Look what they're doing right now, the truckers in Canada," he added, referencing what started as a truckers' protest against COVID-19 mandates but has since snowballed into a blockade in the Canadian capital and gridlock at a U.S.-Canada border crossing. "That's the human instinct. That's the defiant middle-finger celebration of autonomy and good over evil. So Canadians are great people. But some of them, like Americans and everybody else in the world got so stoned that their brains got burnt. Have Ozzy [Osbourne] form a sentence for ya. And I love the man. But comfortably numb is uncomfortably dumb. And Neil Young is the poster child for that. I mean, [he sings] 'Rockin' In The Free World' but he wants to censor people? Hey, Neil, choose one. You can't do both, you dirtbag. He's just a sad… And I hope he's healthy and happy, but I think his brain is so burnt, he doesn't know what happy is anymore. If he is 'rockin' in the free world,' then he wants to censor somebody who's bringing information from world-renowned virologists and epidemiologists and calling that misinformation, but he's gonna quote Joe Biden as the decree of… Are you kidding me?

"When you do that much mind-destroying chemicals upon yourself, your brain is burnt and you struggle to find logic, truth and common sense," Ted added. "Neil Young has no common sense. He's out of his mind. And all you can do is pray for him and ignore his stupidity. That's what I do."

In the days after Neil had his music from Spotify removed, a handful of notable artists have pulled their music from the streaming giant, blaming the platform for spreading false information about coronavirus via Rogan's podcast.

Neil's wife and acclaimed actress Daryl Hannah took to Twitter to express criticism for Rogan's podcast and the eventual choice Spotify has made regarding Neil's ultimatum.

Daryl wrote: "sad to see some confuse censorship & free speech with the choice a private company has in deciding what they profit from a podcaster is free to say whatever they want Just as Neil is free to NOT have his music on a platform that makes $$$ of disinformation that harms folks".

In response, Rogan promised to "do my best, in the future, to balance things out," while Spotify said it would add content advisories to podcast episodes with information about COVID-19. In an almost 10-minute-long Instagram video posted on Monday, Rogan said he would "try harder to get people with differing opinions on" on his show, which averages 11 million listeners per episode.

"The Joe Rogan Experience" became a Spotify exclusive in 2020, when Rogan signed a multi-year exclusive licensing deal with the streaming giant.

Spotify's company's chief executive Daniel Ek has defended Rogan in the past, including after an episode that featured the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in 2020.

"We want creators to create," Ek told The Financial Times at the time. "It's what they do best. We're not looking to play a role in what they should say."




Ted Nugent reacts to Neil Young calling on Spotify to remove Joe Rogan…

Full interview coming soon!

Posted by Kristi Leigh on Sunday, January 30, 2022

David Crosby, Graham Nash and Stephen Stills have requested that their labels remove their collective recordings from Spotify. In solidarity with their bandmate Neil Young, and in support of stopping harmful misinformation about COVID-19, they have decided to remove their records from the streaming platform including the recordings of CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG, CROSBY, STILLS & NASH and CROSBY & NASH, as well as Crosby's and Stills's solo projects. Nash has already begun the process to take down his solo recordings.

In a unified statement, the band members commented: "We support Neil and we agree with him that there is dangerous disinformation being aired on Spotify's Joe Rogan podcast. While we always value alternate points of view, knowingly spreading disinformation during this global pandemic has deadly consequences. Until real action is taken to show that a concern for humanity must be balanced with commerce, we don't want our music — or the music we made together — to be on the same platform."

Last month, Neil demanded that his catalog be removed from Spotify in response to "fake information about vaccines" being "spread" on the platform via Joe Rogan's podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience". Young delivered an ultimatum, adding, "They can have Rogan or Young. Not both." Spotify announced a few days later that it would pull Young's music catalog from its platform.

In the days after Neil had his music from Spotify removed, a handful of notable artists have pulled their music from the streaming giant, blaming the platform for spreading false information about coronavirus via Rogan's podcast.

Neil's wife and acclaimed actress Daryl Hannah took to Twitter to express criticism for Rogan's podcast and the eventual choice Spotify has made regarding Neil's ultimatum.

Daryl wrote: "sad to see some confuse censorship & free speech with the choice a private company has in deciding what they profit from a podcaster is free to say whatever they want Just as Neil is free to NOT have his music on a platform that makes $$$ of disinformation that harms folks".

In response, Rogan promised to "do my best, in the future, to balance things out," while Spotify said it would add content advisories to podcast episodes with information about COVID-19. In an almost 10-minute-long Instagram video posted on Monday, Rogan said he would "try harder to get people with differing opinions on" on his show, which averages 11 million listeners per episode.

"The Joe Rogan Experience" became a Spotify exclusive in 2020, when Rogan signed a multi-year exclusive licensing deal with the streaming giant.

Spotify's company's chief executive Daniel Ek has defended Rogan in the past, including after an episode that featured the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in 2020.

"We want creators to create," Ek told The Financial Times at the time. "It's what they do best. We're not looking to play a role in what they should say."




pic.twitter.com/yyhHTQi7fm

— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) February 2, 2022








Rogan promotes anti vaxer shit that is getting people killed

Dead …he’s not that stupid so he knows it’s a lie

He sells it anyway to make a lot of money

I’d rather I wasn’t in the same market place https://t.co/9QF0X3aEHO

— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) February 2, 2022








I don’t want to censor him …just don’t want to be in the same marketplace ….he is doing harm with antivaxer bullshit that gets people killed https://t.co/mfst4zv2aa

— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) February 2, 2022








If one of you can reach Taylor Swift I want very badly to speak with her

— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) February 1, 2022








The reason for wanting to speak with miss Swift is that she is the only one who has successfully kicked Spotifys ass

The only one

I think she could give us good advice

This isn’t over

— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) February 2, 2022

According to Rolling Stone, NIRVANA has responded to the second amended lawsuit against the band filed by the man who claims he was the baby featured on the cover of NIRVANA's "Nevermind" album.

In the latest filing in federal court in Los Angeles, lawyers for the group say Spencer Elden's latest complaint filed January 12 should be dismissed with prejudice. "This case must end", the filing states. NIRVANA says that "no amendment is possible to salvage [Elden's] claim. In his ever-shrinking pleading, Elden has now dismissed all but one of the myriad state- and federal-law claims he previously attempted to charge against defendants", the claim adds. "The time has run. Elden's decision to not sue these defendants for the past 30 years, despite his decades-long knowledge of their same and unvaried conduct, is dispositive of his claim. It is as simple as that."

Last August, Spencer Elden filed the lawsuit, alleging the photo of the baby reaching for a dollar in a swimming pool violated federal child pornography statutes and arguing child sexual exploitation. He also claimed the image on the cover was taken and used without his consent.

In December's motion to dismiss, NIRVANA, as well as Kurt Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, had asked the court to throw out the lawsuit, saying Elden's claim that the photograph on the "Nevermind" cover is child pornography is "not serious" and insisting that his claim is "barred by the applicable statute of limitations." Federal child pornography law has a 10-year statute of limitations, beginning when a victim "reasonably discovers" the violation itself or the harm caused by it.

On January 3, Judge Fernando M. Olguin, who was presiding over the case at the U.S. District Court in Central California, dismissed the case after Elden missed his December 30 deadline to file an opposition to the defendants' motion to dismiss. However, Elden had the option to refile an amended lawsuit by January 13, which he did.

In the amended lawsuit, Elden claims that NIRVANA "intentionally commercially marketed the child pornography depicting Spencer and leveraged the lascivious nature of his image to promote the 'Nevermind' album, the band, and NIRVANA's music, while earning, at a minimum, tens of millions of dollars in the aggregate." However, the second amended complaint drops a claim related to sex trafficking. Elden's prior suit alleged that the defendants did "knowingly benefit from participation in what they know or should know is a sex trafficking venture."

In their motion to dismiss, NIRVANA said: "Elden has spent three decades profiting from his celebrity as the self-anointed 'Nirvana Baby'. He has reenacted the photograph in exchange for a fee, many times; he has had the album title 'Nevermind' tattooed across his chest; he has appeared on a talk show wearing a self-parodying, nude-colored onesie; he has autographed copies of the album cover for sale on eBay; and he has used the connection to try to pick up women."

The motion added: "Elden's claim that the photograph on the 'Nevermind' album cover is 'child pornography' is, on its face, not serious. A brief examination of the photograph, or Elden's own conduct (not to mention the photograph's presence in the homes of millions of Americans who, on Elden's theory, are guilty of felony possession of child pornography) makes that clear.

"The 'Nevermind' cover photograph was taken in 1991. It was world-famous by no later than 1992. Long before 2011, as Elden has pled, Elden knew about the photograph, and knew that he (and not someone else) was the baby in the photograph. He has been fully aware of the facts of both the supposed 'violation' and 'injury' for decades.”

The motion went on to say: "In addition to his child pornography claim, Elden has alleged that the creation of the photograph for the album cover art entailed the sex trafficking of Elden when he was a baby. Setting aside that this premise is absurd, the statute Elden invokes to cover conduct in 1991, became effective on December 19, 2003 and has no retroactive application to conduct by a defendant that pre-dates its effective date."

Late last year, Elden amended his lawsuit against NIRVANA to include the allegation that the photographer hired to take the photo, Kirk Weddle, also shot images of Elden styled to look like Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. The new filing also drops former NIRVANA drummer Chad Channing as a defendant in the case.

According to Rolling Stone, Elden's first updated complaint cited personal journal entries from late NIRVANA frontman Kurt Cobain, which were published by Riverhead Books in 2002, in an apparent attempt to prove the claim that the photographer intended the cover image to be sexual in nature.

"Undated journals written by Cobain sketch the album cover in a sexual manner, with semen all over it," the document stated. "In several instances, the journals describe Cobain's twisted vision for the 'Nevermind' album cover, along with his emotional struggles: 'I like to make incisions into the belly of infants then fuck the incision until the child dies.'"

The documents also repeated the claim that Weddle intended to "trigger a visceral sexual response from the viewer" by activating "Spencer's 'gag reflex' before throwing him underwater in poses highlighting and emphasizing Spencer's exposed genitals." The documents add: "Weddle soon after produced photographs of Spencer dressed up and depicted as Hugh Hefner."

When Elden first filed his lawsuit against the surviving members of NIRVANA as well as the estate of Kurt Cobain in August, he alleged the photo of the baby reaching for a dollar in a swimming pool violated federal child pornography statutes and argued child sexual exploitation.

A month after filing his lawsuit, Elden requested his genitalia be removed from "all future album covers" on the 30th anniversary of the project.

"Today, like each year on this date, our client Spencer Elden has had to brace himself for renewed unwanted attention from the media and fans alike throughout the world," his attorneys told USA Today. "This is a choice that he has never had."

The attorneys said that they planned on continuing the legal proceedings in order to "bring long-awaited privacy and dignity back to our client."

"We implore the NIRVANA defendants to right the wrongs of their past, by acknowledging the harm they have perpetrated and redacting the image of Mr. Elden's genitalia from further reproductions of 'Nevermind' because behind every cover is a person pleading for their privacy back," they added.

A deluxe 30th-anniversary reissue of "Nevermind", featuring its original cover artwork, was made available on November 12.

In Elden's complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court, he claimed that his "identity and legal name are forever tied to the commercial sexual exploitation he experienced as a minor which has been distributed and sold worldwide from the time he was a baby to the present day."

According to the suit, the defendants "knowingly produced, possessed, and advertised commercial child pornography depicting Spencer, and they knowingly received value in exchange for doing so. … Despite this knowledge, defendants failed to take reasonable steps to protect Spencer and prevent his widespread sexual exploitation and image trafficking."

Elden claimed that his parents never signed a release authorizing the use of the photos, which were taken in a Pasadena aquatic center in 1990. He alleged that the band promised to cover his genitals with a sticker, which was never incorporated into the album art.

The suit further alleged the defendants "used child pornography depicting Spencer as an essential element of a record promotion scheme commonly utilized in the music industry to get attention, wherein album covers posed children in a sexually provocative manner to gain notoriety, drive sales, and garner media attention, and critical reviews."

Elden sought damages of either $150,000 from each of the defendants or unspecified damages to be determined at trial, attorney fees, an injunction to prohibit all parties "from continuing to engage in the unlawful acts and practices described herein," and a trial by jury.

"The permanent harm he has proximately suffered includes but is not limited to extreme and permanent emotional distress with physical manifestations, interference with his normal development and educational progress, lifelong loss of income earning capacity, loss of past and future wages, past and future expenses for medical and psychological treatment, loss of enjoyment of life, and other losses to be described and proven at trial of this matter," the lawsuit stated.

Elden's parents were reportedly paid only $200 for the photos, and the shoot lasted around 15 seconds.

In a 2016 interview with Time magazine, Elden said: "It's a trip. Everyone involved in the album has tons and tons of money. I feel like I'm the last little bit of grunge rock. I'm living in my mom's house and driving a Honda Civic.

"It's hard not to get upset when you hear how much money was involved," Elden added. "I go to a baseball game and think about it: 'Man, everybody at this baseball game has probably seen my little baby penis,' I feel like I got part of my human rights revoked."

"Nevermind" has sold over 30 million copies worldwide and was certified diamond by the RIAA for sales in excess of 10 million copies in the U.S. al

In a new interview with Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, Alice Cooper was asked how his relationship with Ted Nugent is "holding up right now" considering all the stuff that the legendary guitarist has said in the last few years. He responded: "Ted and I grew up together in Detroit, and he's always been the mouth that roared. When he gets going, nobody can stay with him. I kind of look at him as his own entity."

He continued: "I don't ever talk politics… I hate politics. I don't think rock and roll and politics belong in the same bed together, but a lot of people think it does — because we have a voice, and we should use our voice. But again, rock and roll should be anti-political, I think. When my parents started talking about politics, I would turn on THE [ROLLING] STONES as loud as I could. I don't want to hear politics, and I still feel that way.

"My music and my show is designed to give you a vacation from CNN, you know what I mean?" Cooper added. "I'm not preaching anything up there, and I'm not knocking anybody. If I do a thing like on 'Elected', which we would always do during the elections, and I'd bring out [Donald] Trump and Hillary [Clinton] to fight, and both of them would get wiped out! That's what was funny about it. If you're in the political theater, you'd better be able to take a joke. So, that's okay. I don't mind the satire of it, but I don't ever go up there and tell you who to vote for."

"Elected" was the first single from Cooper's iconic sixth studio album, "Billion Dollar Babies". The record reached No. 1 in the U.S. and U.K. and was certified platinum by the RIAA.

In a 2018 interview with The Guardian, Cooper said that he keeps his political opinions to himself. "I don't like to mix politics and rock 'n' roll," he said. "I don't look at Bono, Sting and Bruce Springsteen as political. I look at them as being humanitarian. I'll contribute to anything humanitarian. Helping people who can't help themselves. But when musicians are telling people who to vote for, I think that's an abuse of power. You're telling your fans not to think for themselves, just to think like you. Rock 'n' roll is about freedom — and that's not freedom."

Six years ago, Cooper said that rock stars offering their political opinions is "the worst idea ever." "First of all, why do people think rock stars know more than they do?" he said. "That is the biggest fallacy in the world — if anything, we're dumber. We're not smarter than anybody else. I mean, why do you think we're rock stars?

"Trust me, we don't read magazines you don't read. Nobody calls us up and gives us as inside information on politics. We know less than you do. If I watch TV, it's 'Family Guy'.

"Rock 'n' roll was built to go as far away from politics as you could get. When my mom and dad talked about who to vote for, I'd go in the other room and put on THE BEATLES or ROLLING STONES — and I'm still like that."

Cooper, who considers himself a humanitarian, said that he had no problem with artists using their platform to highlight global issues if it benefited others.

He said: "I think what Bono does and what [Bruce] Springsteen does, Sting and all the people that raise money for others — that's humanitarian, and I'm all for that. But I don't think that's political."

In a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Cooper stated about then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump: "He's an interesting character. It seems like he shoots himself in the foot every single day and gets more popular by doing it. It's the weirdest. It's like [Kurt] Vonnegut: Everything that shouldn't happen is happening."

Cooper previously said that he would even go so far as to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing just to make a point. During the 2004 election season, he said: "When I read the list of people who are supporting Kerry, if I wasn't already a Bush supporter, I would have immediately switched. Linda Ronstadt? Don Henley? Geez, that's a good reason right there to vote for Bush."

He also mused about sitting between such political rocker icons as John Lennon and Harry Nilsson while they argued politics and thinking, "I don't ca

SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS will celebrate the release of their new album, "4", by performing it its entirety on Friday, February 11. The "Live At Studios 60" concert event will stream live and free on the Slash YouTube and Facebook at 11 a.m. Pacific / 2 p.m. Eastern / 7 p.m. GMT. The concert will be immediately followed by a live question-and-answer afterparty with Slash exclusively on YouTube Premium.

To join the afterparty and live Q&A, fans can sign up for a free, YouTube Premium one-month trial at this location.

A trailer for "Live At Studios 60" can be found below.

As previously reported, SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS will perform their new single, "The River Is Rising", this Wednesday, February 2 on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Tune in at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT / 10:35 p.m. CT on ABC TV and Hulu to watch Slash sit down with host Jimmy Kimmel for an interview and catch the band hit the stage to perform "The River Is Rising" on live TV for the first time.

"4" will be released on February 11 via Gibson Records in partnership with BMG. "4" is Slash's fifth solo album and fourth overall with his band featuring Myles Kennedy (vocals), Brent Fitz (drums), Todd Kerns (bass, vocals) and Frank Sidoris (guitar, vocals).

In October, SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS released the official music video for the LP's first single, "The River Is Rising", shot on location in downtown Los Angeles with Gibson TV director Todd Harapiak.

For "4", Slash and the band traveled across the country together to Nashville, Tennessee and recorded the new album at the historic RCA Studio A with producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, John Prine, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile), revealing a stunning new sound and style all captured live in the studio. Cobb shared the band's desire to lay down the tracks live, in the studio including guitar solos and vocals — a first for the group.

The band's previous albums over the last decade — "Apocalyptic Love", "World On Fire" and "Living The Dream" — have continued on an upward trajectory, all achieving Top 5 Billboard charting debuts in the U.S. and reaching the Top 10 on 12 major charts across the globe. To date, the three SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS albums have now garnered 10 consecutive Top 5 Radio singles, spawned sold-out world tours, and have earned Slash and the band the best critical acclaim of their career with their latest album "Living The Dream" (2018) singled out by the Los Angeles Times, Classic Rock, Guitar World, Loudwire, LA Weekly, and more, as their best songs to date.

The new album "4" has the added history-making distinction of being the first-ever album to be released on the new Gibson Records label, which is headquartered in the iconic American instrument brand Gibson's hometown of Music City, Nashville. In light of the 30-year partnership between Gibson and the Grammy Award-winning Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee Slash, it makes sense the new SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS' album "4" will be released via Gibson Records.

SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS will kick off a North American headlining tour on February 8, in Portland, Oregon and hit 28 major cities, including Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, Nashville, Dallas, Austin, Houston, and more, before wrapping up March 26 in Orlando, Florida.

"Wild In The Streets", the scorching 1982 sophomore album by the pathfinding Southern California hardcore punk band the CIRCLE JERKS, will receive a remastered, augmented LP reissue on February 18 by Trust Records.

Succeeding Trust's 2020 re-release of the band's 1980 debut "Group Sex", the package will include remastered audio by Pete Lyman and rare April 1982 live performances of material from the band's first two albums, captured at the Elite Club in San Francisco. A lavish 20-page, full-color 12-by-12-inch booklet created for this release assembles historic photographs, club flyers, and an 8,200-word essay by veteran Los Angeles journalist Chris Morris, including new interviews with founding band members Keith Morris, Greg Heston and Lucky Lehrer.

Today you can preview the remastered version of the album's title track "Wild In The Streets" with a new music video directed by storied photographer and skateboarder Atiba Jefferson. The video features a live CIRCLE JERKS performance from 1982 and skaters Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, Christian Hosoi, Eric Koston, Kevin "Spanky" Long, Steve Olson, Victoria Ruesga, Sal Barbier, Rowan Zorilla, Sean Malto, Anaiah Lei, Lizzie Armanto, Dashawn Jordan, Max Perlich and more.

Of the video, Atiba reveals: "I grew up on 'Wild In The Streets', so to be asked to direct this video was a huge honor. I wanted to capture and preserve 40 years of history but also celebrate 40 years of punk rock and skateboarding history."

The release of "Wild In The Streets" coincides with the February kickoff of the CIRCLE JERKS' 40th-anniversary tour with support from NEGATIVE APPROACH, ADOLESCENTS and 7SECONDS (who will be reuniting for the first time in over five years). CIRCLE JERKS' current live lineup is vocalist Keith Morris, guitarist Greg Hetson (BAD RELIGION, REDD KROSS), bassist Zander Schloss (THE WEIRDOS, JOE STRUMMER) and drummer Joey Castillo (THE BRONX, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, DANZIG, BL'AST!, WASTED YOUTH).

"Wild In The Streets" deluxe reissue track listing:

Side A

01. Wild In The Streets

02. Leave Me Alone

03. Stars And Stripes

04. 86'd (Good As Gone)

05. Meet The Press

06. Trapped

07. Murder The Disturbed

Side B

01. Letterbomb

02. Question Authority

03. Defamation Innuendo

04. Moral Majority

05. Forced Labor

06. Political Stu

07. Just Like Me

08. Put A Little Love In Your Heart

Bonus tracks:

01. Letter Bomb (Live '82)

02. Wild In The Streets (Live '82)

03. Stars And Stripes (Live '82)

Photo by Atiba Jefferson