‘Jailbait’: unpacking Ted Nugent’s most unsavoury single
Ted Nugent has always traded in outrage. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that if someone is consistently provoking articles with the word “repellant”, “unforgivable”, or “inflammatory” in the headline, they’re probably doing it on purpose. Before social media gave him access to millions of people across the globe, Nugent relied on music to spark controversy, which is precisely what he did with his 1981 single ‘Jailbait’.
By the late 1970s, Nugent likely understood that his reputation as a guitar hero among hard rock fans provided ample opportunity for scandal. There had long been an association between mainstream rock musicians and non-consensual sex with minors. Nugent played on this in ‘Jailbait’, which includes the following line: “Well, I don’t care if you’re just thirteen/ You look too good to be true/
I just know that you’re probably clean.”
By 1981, Nugent was 32 years old and already regarded as one of the most unsavoury characters in rock, a reputation he exploited to ensure his presence in the music press. His Intensities in 10 Cities album was deliberately manufactured to generate maximum outrage and publicity. It will be no surprise to hear that the track immediately after ‘Jailbait is titled ‘Predator’.
Nugent made a concerted effort to frame himself as a subvertor of contemporary morality, reminding listeners that he had “no inhibitions” and would happily sleep with pre-pubescent girls even if it led to his arrest. “Wait a minute officer/ Don’t put those handcuffs on me,” he sings in the final verse, “Put them on her and I’ll share her with you.”
It’s easy to dismiss all of this as a sick joke, but Nugent’s actions just a few years before the song’s release imply that he may have had more investment in the lyrics to ‘Jailbait’ than previously thought. Just two years before Nugent recorded the song, he became the legal guardian of 17-year-old Pele Massa, with whom he was also in a relationship. During an interview on VH1’s Behind The Music, he explained that her parents had consented to the arrangement, which gave Nugent legal rights over a girl considered underage in several US states. “I guess they figured better Ted Nugent than some drug-infested punk in high school,” he said.
More recently, Courtney Love claimed she performed oral sex on Nugent when she was around 12 years old. “I didn’t have breasts yet,” she said, “It’s sick”. This allegation would have been around the time of Nugent’s 29th birthday; In other words, less than two years before the release of ‘Jailbait’. When allegations of non-consensual sex with underage girls were bought up during one of Nugent’s live streams, he scoffed and replied: “Chris Farley did the same thing, Jimi Hendrix and all of them. Jim Morrison, all of them.” It’s that understanding of sex with young groupies as somehow part of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle that makes ‘Jailbait’ so disturbing. The song’s lyrics shed light on something everyone knows but refuses to address: that the most revered icons in music repeatedly abused their power for sexual gratification.
