Ted Nugent

Ted Nugent (born December 13, 1948 aka the Nuge) is an American guitarist from Detroit, Michigan, originally gaining fame as a member of the Amboy Dukes. Later, he became quite controversial for his right-wing beliefs and his anti-drug and anti-alcohol stances.

The Amboy Dukes' second single was "Journey to the Center of the Mind", which Nugent claimed he didn't know was about drug use. The Amboy Dukes (1967), Journey to the Center of the Mind (1968) and Migration (1969) sold moderately well, establishing a fan base for Nugent and the other Amboy Dukes. Personnel changes nearly wrecked the band, which became known as Ted Nugent & the Amboy Dukes. Though the group's studio recordings rarely sold well, the band was an exciting live group and managed to keep a large following.

Ted Nugent dropped the band name and signed to Epic Records in 1975, with Derek St. Holmes (guitar, vocals), Rob Grange (bass) and Cliff Davies (drums) as his back-up. Ted Nugent was his first solo release; the album was a success among the heavy metal community. Personnel problems led to St. Holmes' departure from the band before the recording of Free For All (1976), with Meat Loaf, then unknown, replacing him. St. Holmes returned for Cat Scratch Fever (1977); the album was another hit, as was the titular single. Nugent had begun dressing as a caveman for live shows, which were growing more and more extravagant. Double Live Gonzo (1978) increased his superstardom even further, though personality and financial problems continued to drive band members away.

During the 1980s, Nugent released a series of generally ignored albums. Near the end of the decade, however, Nugent joined a supergroup, Damn Yankees, with Jack Blades (bass, vocals, formerly of Night Ranger), Tommy Shaw (guitar, vocals, formerly of Styx) and Michael Cartellone (drums). Damn Yankees (1990) was a hit, but the group was unable to sustain any momentum.

Returning to his solo career, Nugent released Spirit of the Wild, his best-reviewed album in quite some time. A series of archival releases came out in the 1990s, keeping Nugent's name in the national consciousness; he also began hosting a radio show in Detroit and owns several hunting-related businesses. He also created and hosted an outdoors television show, also called Spirit of the Wild, that currently airs on The Outdoor Channel.

An avid hunter, Ted Nugent was a frequent visitor to Canada until the government of Ontario cancelled the spring black bear hunt in 1999. Upset that he could not participate in the hunt, Nugent vowed to never set foot again in what he described as "an idiotic country".

In 2004, Nugent served as host of a VH1 reality television program, Surviving Nugent: The Ted Commandments, in which city dwellers moved to Nugent's Waco, Texas compound in order to survive such "backwoods" activities as building an outhouse and skinning a boar. During filming, Nugent injured himself with a chainsaw, requiring 44 stitches and a leg brace.

Ted Nugent currently resides in Concord, Michigan.

Nugent avoided the draft during the Vietnam War. According to the July 15, 1990 Detroit Free Press Magazine, Nugent claimed that he tried to avoid the draft:

"He claims that 30 days before his draft board physical, he stopped all forms of personal hygiene. The last 10 days, he ingested nothing but Vienna sausages and Pepsi; and a week before his physical, he stopped using bathrooms altogether, virtually living inside pants caked with his own excrement, stained by his urine. That spectacle won Nugent a deferment, he says. ‘... but if I would have gone over there, I'd have been killed, or I'd have killed, or I'd killed all the hippies in the foxholes...I would have killed everybody.’"

This has led to criticism, with many alleging hypocrisy.