Eddie Vedder changed the lyrics of ‘Stranglehold’ on his cover but Ted Nugent wasn’t pleased.
Pearl Jam changed the lyrics of Ted Nugent’s 1975 song to make it anti-gun. They did this at their concert in Baltimore on September 12. During the show, guitarist Mike McCready started playing the well-known riff from ‘Stranglehold.’
Vedder then sang, “I don’t own a gun, I don’t ever want to own a gun / I don’t own a gun, never want to own a gun.” After repeating parts of ‘Stranglehold,’ the song ended. Pearl Jam then began playing their own song, ‘Even Flow.’
“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,” Nugent wrote on X in his reaction to the cover.
Pearl Jam has often shared their liberal political views. In contrast, Nugent is a strong conservative who supports gun rights and other right-wing issues.
Pearl Jam previously targeted Donald Trump in their song ‘Wreckage’ from their latest album ‘Dark Matter.’ “There is a guy in the United States who is still saying he didn’t lose an election, and people are reverberating and amplifying that message as if it is true,” Vedder talked about it in a chat with U.K.’s Sunday Times.
The singer added, “Trump is desperate. I don’t think there has ever been a candidate more desperate to win, just to keep himself out of prison and to avoid bankruptcy.”
Eddie further criticized Trump, explaining, “It is all on the line, and he’s out there playing the victim — ‘at least they’re doing this to me, because if not, they would be doing it to you’ — but you haven’t falsified your tax records. You don’t have classified information in your basement. So the song is saying, let’s not be driven apart by one person, especially not a person without any worthy causes.”
On the other hand, Nugent is a long-time supporter of Trump. In a March episode of The Spirit Campfire With Ted Nugent, the rocker expressed his desire for Trump to be president again.
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.
— Ted Nugent (@TedNugent) September 13, 2024