Theodore Anthony Nugent (; born December 13, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He goes by several nicknames, including Uncle Ted, the Nuge, and Motor City Madman. Nugent initially gained fame as the lead guitarist and occasional vocalist of the Amboy Dukes, a band formed in 1963 that played psychedelic rock and hard rock. After dissolving the band, he embarked on a successful solo career. His first three solo albums, Ted Nugent (1975), Free-for-All (1976) and Cat Scratch Fever (1977), as well as the live album Double Live Gonzo! (1978), were certified multi-platinum in the United States. His latest album, Detroit Muscle, was released in 2022. In 2023, he embarked on a farewell tour known as the "Adios Mofo Tour"; however, he has since continued to perform.
Nugent is known for his use of the Gibson Byrdland, his bluesy and frenzied guitar playing, and his energetic live shows. Despite possessing a distinctive, wide-ranging singing voice, Nugent recorded and toured with other lead singers during much of his early solo career, including Derek St. Holmes, Charlie Huhn, Brian Howe and Meat Loaf, only taking on full lead vocal duties later on. His biggest hit was 1977's "Cat Scratch Fever", on which he sang the lead vocals. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was part of the supergroup Damn Yankees.
Since the 2000s, Nugent has drawn attention for his outspoken conservative political views and his vociferous advocacy of hunting and gun ownership rights. He was a board member of the National Rifle Association and is a strong supporter of the Republican Party. He has made a number of threatening statements against advocates of gun control; in one case, the Secret Service investigated him based on his comments about Barack Obama. Since 2015, Nugent has been one of Donald Trump's most outspoken supporters, and has performed at several of Trump's rallies and campaign events.
Early life Nugent was born in 1948 in Detroit, Michigan, the second of four children born to Marion Dorothy (née Johnson) and Warren Henry Nugent. His maternal grandparents were Swedish. He grew up in Redford, Michigan. In 1965, Warren was transferred to the Chicago, Illinois area, where Ted attended St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights.
Draft status Nugent grew up in a military family; his father was a career army sergeant. Nugent himself never served in the military, although he came of age during the height of the Vietnam War. In 1977 and 1990 interviews with High Times magazine and the Detroit Free Press, Nugent claimed he deliberately failed his draft physical by eating nothing but junk food for days beforehand, and urinating and defecating in the same pair of pants for one week.
Nugent denied this story in a 2018 appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, claiming that he invented the story for his and his band's amusement, because news sources at the time often published inaccurate information about them, and that he wanted to mess with the "dirtbag" and "hippie" writers of High Times (a marijuana-themed magazine), because he was "hardcore anti-drug". He further asserted to Rogan that in 1969 he passed his draft physical "with flying colors", and denied that he was given a 4-F draft classification.
Nugent's claims to Rogan are contradicted by his Selective Service record. According to these records, he was given student deferments while attending Oakland Community College, and upon leaving the school received a draft rating of I-A, before failing his draft physical on August 28, 1969. After that physical, he was rated 1-Y ("registrant qualified for service only in time of war or national emergency") until that classification was abolished in 1971. He was subsequently reclassified 4-F, indicating ineligibility for military service due to not meeting physical, mental, or moral standards.
Musical career
Nugent's influences include Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Little Richard.
The Amboy Dukes The first lineup of the Amboy Dukes played at The Cellar, a teen dance club outside of Chicago in Arlington Heights, Illinois, starting in late 1965, while Nugent was a student at St. Viator High School. The Cellar's "house band" at the time had been the Shadows of Knight, although the Amboy Dukes eventually became a staple until the club's closing.
The Amboy Dukes' second single was "Journey to the Center of the Mind", which featured lyrics written by the Dukes' second guitarist Steve Farmer from the album of the same title whose cover features a diverse array of drug paraphernalia. Nugent, an ardent anti-drug campaigner, has always claimed that he had no idea that this song was about drug use. Early albums The Amboy Dukes (1967), Journey to the Center of the Mind (1968) and Migration (1969)—all recorded on the Mainstream label—sold moderately well. On April 7, 1968, shortly after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Nugent joined other musicians in a tribute to King by having a folk, rock and blues jam session. Joni Mitchell played first, followed by Buddy Guy, Janis Joplin, B. B. King, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Richie Havens and Jimi Hendrix. Other musicians who participated were B. B. King and Al Kooper.
After settling down on a ranch in Michigan in 1973, Nugent signed a record deal with Frank Zappa's DiscReet Records label and recorded Call of the Wild under the revised band name Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes. The following year, Tooth Fang & Claw (which contained the song "Great White Buffalo") established a fan base for Nugent and the other Amboy Dukes. Personnel changes at this time nearly wrecked the band. Nugent reunited with the other members of the Amboy Dukes at the 2009 Detroit Music Awards, which took place April 17, 2009. The psychedelic band received a distinguished achievement honor at the event. The Dukes also played together at the ceremony, marking their first public performance in more than 30 years.
Solo career
Nugent dropped the Amboy Dukes band name for good in 1975 and signed to Epic Records. Retaining only bassist Rob Grange from the previous Amboy Dukes lineup, Nugent added Derek St. Holmes (guitar, vocals) and Clifford Davies (drums). This quartet remained the primary band members for Nugent's 1970s multi-platinum albums: Ted Nugent (1975), Free-for-All (1976) and Cat Scratch Fever (1977). These albums produced the popular radio anthems "Hey Baby", "Stranglehold", "Dog Eat Dog" and "Cat Scratch Fever". Despite most of the songwriting credits being listed as solely Nugent, St. Holmes claims that many were co-written by the whole band and that Nugent took sole credit as a way to avoid paying them royalties.
It was during these three years that Nugent emerged as a guitar hero to hard rock fans, many of whom were unaware of his lengthy apprenticeship with the Amboy Dukes.Charlesworth, Chris. A-Z of Rock Guitarists, pg. 65 This band lineup toured extensively, also releasing the multi-platinum live album Double Live Gonzo! (1978), until its breakup in 1978 when St. Holmes and Grange departed. St. Holmes was replaced by Charlie Huhn and Grange by multiple bassists, with Nugent eventually settling on Dave Kiswiney for a three-album stretch in the 1980s. Davies left around 1982 after staying on to record Weekend Warriors (1978), State of Shock (1979) and Scream Dream (1980), all three of which charted in the US Top 25, plus the live album Intensities in 10 Cities (1981). The Intensities in 10 Cities album includes the controversial song "Jailbait".
On July 8, 1979, Ted was on the rock radio program King Biscuit Flower Hour. This was the original broadcast of Ted's performance of Live at Hammersmith '79 which had been recorded during the second set of a night at London's Hammersmith Odeon in 1979. An album of this program was released in 1997.
1980s solo career and Damn Yankees During the period of 19821988, Nugent released four more solo albums (to declining critical favor and commercial performance) and also began assuming a more prominent role as lead vocalist. In 1989, he joined the supergroup Damn Yankees, with Jack Blades (bass/vocals, of Night Ranger), Tommy Shaw (guitar/vocals, of Styx) and Michael Cartellone (drums). Damn Yankees (1990) was a hit album, going double platinum in the U.S., thanks to the hit power ballad "High Enough". The second and final Damn Yankees album, Don't Tread (1992), reached gold status in the U.S., but was not as well-received as the band's debut and the group dissolved soon after.
Return to solo career
Returning to a solo career, Nugent released Spirit of the Wild in 1995, his best-reviewed album in quite some time. The album contained the bowhunting anthem "Fred Bear", and also marked the return of Derek St. Holmes to Nugent's studio band. A series of archival releases also came out in the 1990s, keeping Nugent's name in the national consciousness. He also began hosting a radio show in Detroit on WWBR-FM ("102.7 The Bear, Detroit's Rock Animal") and took ownership in several hunting-related businesses. He created TV shows for several networks: Wanted: Ted or Alive on Versus, Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild on PBS and The Outdoor Channel, and Surviving Nugent and Supergroup-Damnocracy on VH1. In 2006, Nugent was voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.
Ted Nugent appears on David Crowder Band's 2007 release, Remedy, playing guitar on the song "We Won't Be Quiet". He announced his "Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead" tour on April 21, 2010.
Nugent toured with local Detroit musician Alex Winston during the summers of 2007 and 2008.
On July 4, 2008, at the DTE Energy Music Theater in Clarkston, Michigan, Ted Nugent played his 6,000th concert. Derek St. Holmes (original singer for the Ted Nugent band), Johnny Bee Badanjek (drummer for Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels) and Nugent's guitar teacher from 1958, Joe Podorsek, all jammed on stage with Nugent for various songs.
Nugent appeared as video game character in the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. As part of the "solo guitar career" section, the player engages in a guitar duel with Nugent, after which his song "Stranglehold" is unlocked and Nugent becomes available as a playable character.
On March 14, 2011, Nugent released a new song, "I Still Believe", as a free download via his website to subscribers to his newsletter. Nugent says of the song: "America is a target-rich environment for an independent man addicted to logic, truth and The American Way. 'I Still Believe' throttles the animal spirit of rugged individualism in pure MotorCity ultra high-energy rhythm and blues and rock and roll." In April 2011 Nugent announced that former frontman Derek St. Holmes would be joining his band for Nugent's I Still Believe Tour.
On April 13, 2023, Nugent announced that his upcoming "Adios Mofo" tour would be his last, stating that "the logistics are just too complicated" in reference to being away from his dogs and grandchildren. However, he will continue to record music.
Influence Nugent has been cited as a key influence in the straight edge movement, a punk rock-associated lifestyle that developed in the early 1980s and discourages drug and alcohol use. Henry Rollins, former vocalist for Black Flag and Rollins Band, said he and Ian MacKaye, former vocalist for Minor Threat and Fugazi (and coiner of the term "straight edge" from his song of the same title), were inspired by Nugent during their high school years in the 1970s. Rollins has been quoted as saying, "[We] would read about the Nuge and the thing that really rubbed off on us was the fact that he didn't drink or smoke or do drugs ... [Nugent's performance] was the craziest thing we'd ever seen onstage and here's this guy saying, 'I don't get high.' We thought that was so impressive."As quoted by Michael Azerrad (2001) Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981–1991. New York: Little, Brown and Company. , p. 121