Texas Governor Perry and rock star Ted Nugent during television interview in Crawford.
Texas Governor Perry and rock star Ted Nugent during television interview in Crawford. Reuters

Ted Nugent, the legendary rocker who gave the world “Cat Scratch Fever” and has since transformed himself into a leading advocate for gun rights and outdoorsman, has drastically changed his appearance by cutting his once-flowing locks of long hair.

Nugent, 64, is a ferocious opponent of President Barack Obama and has repeatedly made headlines for incendiary comments about liberals, Democrats, gays, gun control adherents and others.

CBS in Detroit speculated that Nugent (a board member of the National Rifle Association) may be considering a serious bid for the White House in 2016, given his “conservative” new look.

Nugent’s wife, Shemane, posted a photo on her Instagram account that depicts a startlingly different Nugent – short hair and no ponytail.

Nugent, a hard-core conservative Republican, has previously hinted that he would like to run for governor of his native Michigan or even for president of the U.S.

“Hi, I’m Ted Nugent. I have nine children from seven women, and I’m running for president,” he quipped to the Washington Post this summer. “Yeah, I’m thinking about it.”

Shemane concurred: “He’s talked about it [running for president] before. But this time he seems more serious. People are constantly asking him to run.”

With respect to the federal government shutdown, Nugent blamed it all on Obama and the Democrats.

In an op-ed entitled "Make my Day, Shut it Down" for a conservative website, he thundered: "The government is so out of control. It is so bloated and infested with fraud and deceit and corruption and abuse of power. The American government today will go down and the American people, it breaks my heart to say ... will go down as the dumbest, most unappreciative society in the history of humankind."

He also blasted Obama as a "monster in the White House" who "wouldn't qualify to drive my tour bus."