Ted Nugent has slammed PANTERA's cover of his signature tune "Cat Scratch Fever" as having "no soul, no balls" and "no feel," adding that the members of PANTERA appeared as "Ozzy-like zombies on TV" whose conduct on stage went against his lifelong anti-drugs and -drink stance.

Responding to a fan posting on Nugent's official message board (dubbed "The Nuge Board") about late PANTERA guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott and the VH1 "Behind the Music" special on PANTERA that premiered this past Thursday, Ted (who posts on the message board under the name "Nuge") wrote that he "never thought too highly of anyone foolish enough to take on the nickname of a life-destroying dope product and promote such family-destroying conduct on stage." (Apparently referring to the fact that Darrell's "Dimebag" nickname is a slang term for a $10 bag of marijuana.)

When another fan pointed out that Dimebag "loved" Nugent's music and that he had stated in a magazine interview that he often played some of Ted's riffs before a show to loosen up the fingers — going so far as to cover "Cat Scratch Fever" for the 1999 "Detroit Rock City" soundtrack — Nugent responded, "though I'm no expert on all things PANTERA, I did hear their version of 'Cat Scratch Fever' and it was exceedingly white. No soul, no balls, no feel. Caucasian all the way. Elements of dope, booze and heroin disconnect quite apparent as usual. There is no excuse for such horrifically negative, irresponsible, criminal, America-wrecking behavior as such chimp-like substance abuse. Period. They appeared as Ozzy-like zombies on TV. Ya think. American drunks and dopers are allahpuke terrorists' favorite allies. Damn them. Damn them all."

After the fan who started the original thread (who calls himself "the_A_team") defended Dimebag by saying that "you have to at least respect Dime as a guitarist," adding that "even though he did drugs, I heard he didn't do very many," Nugent replied, "I indeed do respect all people for the positives in their life. Sadly, there comes a time of diminishing returns in the balance. At the end of the day, my respect is reserved for those solidly in the asset column of mankind."

Check out the original thread on "The Nuge Board" at this location.

(Thanks: Hamish)