Is Ted Nugent Underrated? (NO Politics or Lifestyle discussion)!

Aggressive as in coming across as ego driven and predatory. It's a totally subjective interpretation based as much on the way Ted sings the song as the lyrics.

He must've learned pretty fast, here's the complete Rockpalast performance from '76...



After watching this again, the Cat Scratch Fever intro is slipped into Ted's Stormtroopin' solo (3rd number in the performance.)

BTW, I envy your having seen Captain Beyond. From the little video footage I've seen they were apparently an amazing live band.

If this thread lasts long enough I may share my humorous Ted Nugent story from the Dallas International Guitar Fest. where he performed about 5 years ago.


Cat

 

When he wants to he can really rip it up on the guitar, anyone that denies that, well......

 

Underrated or overrated? I dunno... it depends what you're after I guess.

I have room in my life for some of Fiery Ted's brand of Rock and Roll... his over-the-top "don't care if you think I'm a dick" showmanship... his sense of fun and caricature... And, boy, can he handle a feeding back guitar.

In fact, it's not just that I have room in my life for this sort of thing... I still NEED it sometimes... just like I did when I was a teenager in the 70s.

I suspect some people take Ted Nugent's music (studio and live performer) far too seriously. For me it's just rock and roll... fun... escapism.

But underrated or overrated? Depends what you want and who's doing the "rating" for you. The folks that'll dig it will find it and dig it... the folks that don't dig it will either ignore it or bitch about it... The first set of folks will think "underrated" when listening to the second set ranting. The second set of folks will think "overrated" when listening to the first set ranting.

 

The first album is underrated. Everything else is overrated.

 

I forgot all about this one. Such a great tune.

 

Ted's raunch and roll was no worse than Frank Zappa's, in my opinion. Comparitively, inconsequential actually.... except most Zappa fans would consider Zappa's raunch to be part of his "genius" humor.

edit: you could include Bon Scott's and Jim Dandy's raunch as well. I'd consider Ted's output to suffer more from him, simply, not being able to write a song.

 

I think you're getting confused by the fact that it's a hard rock tune. It's going to sound more aggressive than Bread, say, because of that, and that would be the case even if Ted were singing the lyrics to "If" instead.

 

Gorts, can you merge this thread with the Roger Waters thread? But seriously, I think Ted is rated correctly - a good 70's hard rock act that had some time in the spotlight then faded. Double Live Gonzo is a fun rock record

 

The guitar solo on 'My Love Is Like A Tire Iron' is one of my favorites of all time.
IMO, musically the bad outweighs the good in Ted's musical history, but the Ted songs I like... I really like. 'Satisfied' is a great deep track of the 'State of Shock' album.

 

Some of those albums with the Amboy Dukes were especially great like Call Of The Wild &
Tooth Fang Claw. Lots of great tunes on both of these albums.

Ted Nugent's Amboy Dukes - Tooth, Fang & Claw - Amazon.com Music


Ted Nugent And The Amboy Dukes - Call Of The Wild - Amazon.com Music

 

Thanx again hodgo.

 

Don't worry; the Gorts have already deleted that post. I don't like men, but I can appreciate beauty. Does that make me ¨creepy¨ ? I don't think so !

 

I appreciate all the effort you guys are putting into keeping this thread alive, as I'm sure it seems thankless at times. I also appreciate the recommendations by all, especially the Live Gonzo stuff. I'm going to have to find a nice pressing of it somewhere, as I'm really enjoying it. And on that note I think a spin of the SH Ted Nugent S/T is in order. Great album, really great sound!

 

My very first concert was Sammy Hagar opening for Uncle Ted. It was early 1977, for the Free For All tour. I had been into Call of the Wild, Tooth, Fang, and Claw, and obviously his S/T album before I saw him. For a 15 year old going to his first real rock concert, seeing Ted swing from a vine onto the stage from the top of the PA, wearing a loincloth, was almost more than I could have imagined. And then to hear him explain how his Gibson Byrdland was "guaranteed to blow the balls of a charging rhino at 50 paces." I was a confirmed Uncle Ted fan to say the least. Rob Grange, Derek St. Holmes, and Cliff Davies were all so in sync with Ted at that time, they were a powerful act no doubt.

Edit: It was October of 1976 at Kiel Auditorium.

 

I have it, or used to have it. It's OK. Charlie Huhn is no Derek St. Holmes.

 

I remember whining to Goldmine (they were asking for readers' opinions on new CD reissues and comps) when Steve's Amboy Dukes comp came out that the gaps between tracks weren't long enough.

At least I kept it, unlike the RCA Bowie I had.

 

A very intelligent analysis, and a plausible conclusion. The only response I would make to it (and not really a refutation) is that "Cat Scratch Fever" is musically so damn catchy and commercial that he could have been singing about toilet paper and it would have been a hit. Now I was kinda slow on the uptake at 13, but I was virtually ignorant of the various double-entendres in that song, I just thought that it kicked ass. The riff (which is a transparent variant of "Loose" and "Smoke On The Water"), the catchy verse structure, and the exciting lead licks make this a perfect hard rock hit single. Everything about this song is a hook.

 

Any love for Derek St Holmes' and Rob Granges' St. Paradise?
St. Paradise - Jessie James

 

Not familiar, but I love Whitford - St. Holmes collaborations.

 

I love that album. I can't remember the title off my head but I think it's "Miami Slide"? That's a great tune.

@hodgo - thanks for keeping the thread open despite the knuckleheads. I'm sure you have far better things to do with your time than babysitting a Nugent thread. It is appreciated though (from me at least).

 

This came out in '79, almost two years before the Whitford album, but its terrible almost generic band name probably didn't help, and it went nowhere

 

Very overrated imo.

 

He's rated about right, I'd say. Not as good as Aerosmith in terms of American hard rock in the '70s, but he's got plenty of decent tunes going back to the '60s. Don't really care about his career after the live album in '81 though.

 

I think Tedly made a crucial career mistake when he fell out with Derek St. Holmes and insisted on singing his own stuff...not only in terms of quality, but also lost the editing effect of running it thru a band, although the argument could certainly be made that the band's relentless tour/record/release schedule had them running on fumes and out of ideas by that point anyway.

But yes, I think his (self-inflicted) image overshadows his guitar prowess, which deserves to be legendary...