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Ted Nugent

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Theodore "Ted" Nugent (born December 13, 1948) (a.k.a. The Nuge, Uncle Ted, Terrible Ted, Sweaty Teddy, Deadly Tedly, Great Gonzos, Theodocious Atrocious and The Motor City Madman) is a hard rock guitarist from Detroit, Michigan. He originally gained fame as a member of the Amboy Dukes. He is noted for his support of conservative political views and his vocal pro-hunting stance.

Nugent has amassed a sizable list of well known songs which include "Stranglehold", "Free For All", "Dog Eat Dog", "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang", "Fred Bear", "Cat Scratch Fever", "Motor City Madhouse", "Paralyzed", "Great White Buffalo", and "Wango Tango".

Nugent gained acclaim for his raucous, intense live music, and still performs live.

Personal life

) and race.

Nugent also suffers from hearing loss. A November 2005 Rolling Stone article noted Nugent, among others, has publicly acknowledged hearing problems. According to Nugent, the hearing loss in his left ear is so complete that "It's just there for the looks. It doesn't work. I can't even talk on the phone with it." your mom said so shut your mouth ]

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Music career

To date, he has released over 31 recordings and sold over 35 million albums. Ted Nugent is famous for playing the semi-hollow Gibson Byrdland. Gibson Guitar Corporation has developed a model named for him. He is also known throughout his early career in the 70's for using Fender amps, a large part of his signature sound.

Performing professionally since 1958, Nugent has been touring yearly since 1967, averaging more than 300 shows per year (1967–73), 200 per year (1974–80), 150 (1981–89), 127 concerts in 1990, 162 concerts in 1991, 150 concerts in 1993, 180 in 1994, 166 in 1995, 81 in 1996, Summer Blitz '97, '98, Rock Never Stops '99, 133 concerts on #1 Tour in the World with KISS 2K. His was the #1 grossing tour act in the world in 1977, 1978, and 1979. Nugent's 2005 plans include a tour with country music singer-songwriter Toby Keith, whom Nugent met in Iraq while they were both performing in USO-sponsored shows for the coalition troops.

Amboy Dukes

The Amboy Dukes' second single was Journey to the Center of the Mind, which Nugent, an ardent anti-drug campaigner, claims to this day he did not realize was about drug use. The Amboy Dukes (1967), Journey to the Center of the Mind (1968) and Migration (1969)—all recorded on the Mainstream label—sold moderately well.

After settling down on a ranch in Michigan, in 1973 he signed a record deal with Frank Zappa's new record label DiscReet and recorded Call of the Wild. The following year, Tooth Fang & Claw (which contained the song "Great White Buffalo"), established a fanbase for Nugent and the other Amboy Dukes. Personnel changes nearly wrecked the band, which became known as Ted Nugent & the Amboy Dukes.

Solo career

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). This personnel was the backing band for many of his classic 70s albums. Nugent's solo career was most successful when he released hits such as "Cat Scratch Fever" and "Stranglehold". This band toured extensively until its break up in 1978 when St. Holmes and Grange departed. St. Holmes was replaced by Charlie Huhn and Grange by Dave Kiswiney. Davies finally left around 1982.

Damn Yankees

During the 1980s Nugent released a series of albums. Near the end of the decade, Nugent formed the 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, selling 5 million albums, thanks in no small part to the smash hit power ballad "High Enough." The "High Enough" video featured Nugent in a priest's collar and later in a zebra-striped cape during the guitar solo.

Back to solo

Returning to a 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 currently hosts an outdoors television show called Wanted: Ted or Alive on Versus.

Organization memberships

Since the early 1990s Nugent has become both popular and criticized for his conservative beliefs and his anti-drug and anti-alcohol stances. He is a national spokesman for the DARE program, advocating the "natural highs" to be found in an outdoor lifestyle. He has also hosted the Ted Nugent Kamp for Kids, which combines a curriculum of hands-on hunting, conservation, archery and a strong anti-drug message aimed mainly at underprivileged inner-city children. He is also a spokesman for the National Field Archery Association, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.

An advocate of hunting and gun ownership rights, Nugent has served on the board of directors of the National Rifle Association (NRA). He appeared on CNN in April 2007, which mentions his NRA board membership.

Outspokenness

As Snopes has said of Ted Nugent, "He is not one to be shy about sharing his take on things with the media, and interviews with him make for highly entertaining reading."

Regarding NRA

When Nugent was a speaker at the NRA's 2005 National Convention in Houston, he received an enthusiastic reception from the delegates, telling them: "Remember the Alamo! Shoot 'em! To show you how radical I am, I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want 'em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot 'em."

Regarding animal rights

Nugent and the animal rights movement have long had an adversarial relationship. In 2000, Bhaskar Sinha was jailed briefly following an incident with Nugent outside a department store in San Francisco in which he allegedly threatened and physically assaulted Nugent, who in turn took Sinha into custody until San Francisco Police arrived and arrested the protester. Nugent has reported receiving death threats against him and his family from animal rights activists. On the Penn & Teller's Bullshit! episode about PETA, Nugent claimed, "We've got reports and files with law enforcement across America where animal rights extremists are on record threatening to kill my children on the way to school because we eat pheasant". In 2006 he stated in an interview that "anyone who thinks hunting is terrible can kiss my ass."

Regarding politics

Nugent's views translate to his politics, and according to an interview in Independent he "considers homosexuality morally wrong" and is an outspoken supporter of the Republican Party and the United States military. As a reward for entertaining U.S. troops in Iraq in 2004, he visited Saddam Hussein's war room. "It was a glorious moment. It looked like something out of Star Wars. I saw his gold toilet."

Nugent lives near President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas and said he caught Bush's attention at his private inauguration party in 2000. "When he noticed me, he was surrounded by these huge bankrollers from his campaign. He literally swept past all of them and said, 'Laura! Look who's here! It's Ted!' Then he hugged me and took me by the shoulders. He said, 'Just keep doing what you're doing. Don't think that we don't know what you're up to out here. Stay on course.'"

Yet Nugent does not find Bush conservative enough, thinking the president should take more forceful action on Iraq. "Our failure has been not to Nagasaki them".

Criticism of Pantera

Nugent also caused a small degree of outrage in May 2006 from the heavy metal community after he blasted Pantera's cover of his song, "Cat Scratch Fever", claiming it had "No soul, no balls, no feel" and was "Caucasian all the way" In October 2006, Sebastian Bach commented on this, criticizing Nugent. When Vinnie Paul was asked about Nugent's comments, he stated he was shocked and totally surprised by the comments, stating he and Dimebag Darrell had told him they had planned on covering the song and that originally excited Nugent. He also stated Nugent's comments "really bummed him out".

Performance at Texas Governor's inaugural

Texas governor Rick Perry, who is friends with Nugent, invited him to perform at a black-tie gala hours after Perry's second inauguration ceremony. Using machine guns as props, Nugent appeared onstage as the final act of the inaugural ball wearing a cutoff T-shirt emblazoned with the Confederate flag and shouting offensive remarks about non-English speakers, according to press reports. The NAACP condemned Nugent's flying of the Confederate flag as a symbol of "the enslavement of African-Americans and more recently the symbol of hate groups and terrorists." Nugent himself has vociferously denied the accusations of racism in the event, describing said accusations as "vicious lies and hateful allegations".

Television and video

The Damnocracy logo

Attracting attention for his outspoken statements on issues ranging from gun politics to biodiversity, Nugent has been a regular guest on such programs as Larry King], [The Howard Stern Show|Howard Stern, and Politically Incorrect.

In 1986 he guest starred in an episode entitled "Definitely Miami" on the smash hit television show Miami Vice. Nugent played a villain. His song "Angry Young Man" was featured in the episode. His song "Little Miss Dangerous" was also featured on a Miami Vice episode of the same name, although he did not appear in the episode.

In 2003 he was host of the VH1 reality television program called Surviving Nugent in which city dwellers such as model Tila Tequila, moved to Nugent's Michigan ranch in order to survive such "backwoods" activities as building an outhouse and skinning a boar. The success of the two hour show spawned a four part mini series in 2004 entitled Surviving Nugent: The Ted Commandments. This time it was filmed on Nugent's ranch in China Spring, Texas. During filming Nugent injured himself with a chainsaw, requiring 44 stitches and a leg brace.

In 2004 Nugent was a guest on the VH1 program Forever Wild, hosted by Sebastian Bach (former lead vocalist for the band Skid Row). They shot some firearms and walked around Nugent's cabin in the woods.

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Ted Nugent on Aqua Teen Hunger Force

In 2004 Ted Nugent made a guest appearance on the cult television series on Adult Swim, Aqua Teen Hunger Force in the episode "Gee Whiz", locals believe to see the face of Jesus in a billboard, and mention how Jesus looks like Ted Nugent. Throughout the episode they think it's Jesus's face, but at the end they discover it was in fact Ted Nugent's face in the billboard, and he proceeds to shoot a flaming explosive arrow at Carl (mistaking him for a "varmint").

In 2005 Nugent was the host of a reality-type show entitled Wanted: Ted or Alive on OLN (now the sports channel Versus) where contestants competed for money as well as for opportunities to go hunting with 'Uncle Ted'. The contestants had to kill and clean their own food to survive.

In 2006 he appeared on VH1's reality show SuperGroup, with Scott Ian (Anthrax, guitar), Evan Seinfeld (Biohazard, bass), Sebastian Bach (ex-Skid Row, vocals) and Jason Bonham (Bonham, UFO, Foreigner, drums). The name of the supergroup was originally FIST but later it was changed to Damnocracy. Captured on film by VH1 was a rare Nugent duo with guitar phenom Joe Bonamassa at the Sand Dollar Blues Room for a 45 minute blues jam.

On March 13, 2007, Nugent was interviewed on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live and performed the songs "Cat Scratch Fever" and "Rawdogs and Warhogs".

Trivia

This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles.
  • Henry Rollins has cited Nugent in the track "It's Kiss! pt2" from the Talk Is Cheap Vol. 2 spoken word album. Despite being a long-time fan of Nugent's music, Rollins is highly critical of Nugent's political stance.
  • Nugent is also known for his unabashed opinions on many subjects:
    • Feminists: "What's a feminist anyways? A fat pig who doesn't get it often enough?"
    • Gun control: "Only a coward supports gun control. You know how to stop carjacking? Shoot the carjacker. If someone is going to kill me for my Buick, I'm gonna shoot until I'm out of ammo — and then I'll call 911".
    • Vegetarians: "Vegetarians are cool. All I eat are vegetarians — except for the occasional mountain lion steaks".
    • He has also stated that smokers should have their health plans revoked.
  • Ska punk band Goldfinger has recorded a song called "FTN" (abbreviating Fuck Ted Nugent) based on his treatment of animals. The song is a bonus track on the band's 2002 album, Open Your Eyes.
  • Nugent made a guest appearance in a 2001 episode of That '70s Show called "Backstage Pass", where Fez makes t-shirts to sell at a Ted Nugent concert. The shirts were spelled "Tad Nugent".
  • In the film Ocean's Eleven, Danny Ocean, played by George Clooney, makes a crack at Rusty's outrageously colored shirt (played by Brad Pitt), remarking: "Ted Nugent called; he wants his shirt back." In Italy, since Ted Nugent is not well known there, this line is dubbed with Elton John instead of Nugent.
  • Nugent once autographed a fan's arm with a bowie knife after the fan had requested it.
  • In late 2007, Ted Nugent is slated to appear on David Crowder Band's latest album, playing guitar on the song "We Won't Be Quiet".
  • Nugent was featured in MTV's "Cribs: Gods of Rock" episode.

Works

Books

  • Nugent, Ted. God, Guns & Rock and Roll. Regnery Publishing, Inc. (September 25, 2001) ISBN 0-89526-173-1 (316 pages)
  • Nugent, Ted and Nugent, Shemane. Kill It & Grill It: A Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish. Regnery Publishing, Inc. (May 2002) ISBN 0-89526-164-2 (250 pages)
  • Nugent, Ted. Blood Trails II: The Truth About Bowhunting. Woods N' Water Inc. (November 12, 2004) ISBN 0-9722804-7-2 (256 pages)

Articles

Solo discography

References

  1. >http://www.thecelebritycafe.com/interviews/ted_nugent_2003_08_07.html
  2. Taegan Goddard's Political Wire, July 15, 2004
  3. ^ "Ted Nugent: Off his rocker?". The Independent. 28 May 2006.
  4. Ringen, Jonathon (November 18, 2005). "Music Making Fans Deaf?". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2006-08-18.
  5. See, e.g.: http://www.nraam.org/pastmeetings/
  6. http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/19/commentary.nugent/index.html
  7. Barbara Mikkelson. "Weekly World Nuge" (html). Snopes.
  8. "Ted Nugent to Fellow NRAers: Get Hardcore," Associated Press article, April 17, 2005
  9. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=56303
  10. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=52243
  11. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=60702
  12. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=55011
  13. ^ Yahoo! Music News. "Rocker's Inaugural Act Creates Stir". January 18, 2007.
  14. http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2007/01/25/01252007wacnugent.html "Ted Nugent, guest column: Surprise, more lies aimed at a lover of America, liberty"], Waco Tribune-Herald, January 25, 2007.
  15. http://live.video.rainbow-media-online.com/video.jsp?video_id=5410&subcategory_id=1943&template_id=1943&backtochannels=1
  16. http://oregonmag.com/NugentBook.htm
  17. http://collegian.ksu.edu/Collegian/article.php?a=182

External links

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