Ted Nugent

TED NUGENT

Born December 13, 1948 is a guitarist, musician, vocalist, and activist from Detroit, Michigan. He originally gained fame as the lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes, before embarking on a lengthy solo career. He is also noted for his conservative political views and his ardent defense of hunting, conservation, and gun ownership rights.

CAREER

Nugent has released more than 34 albums, and has sold a career total of 30 million records. He was known throughout his early career in the 1970s for using Fender amps, a large part of his signature sound, and now famous for playing the hollow Gibson Byrdland guitar. Gibson Guitar Corporation had developed a model named for him.

Performing professionally since 1958, Nugent has been touring annually 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 with KISS 2K. Nugent’s 1005 plans involved a tour with a country music singer-songwriter Toby Keith, whom Nugent met in Iraq while they were both performing in USO-sponsored shows for the coalition troops. Nugent toured with local Detroit musician Alex Winston during the summers of 2007 and 2008.

On July 4, 2008, at the DTE Energy Music Theatre 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 Ted’s guitar teacher from 1958 Joe Podorsek all jammed on stage with Ted for various tunes.

AMBOY DUKES

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

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. The following year, Tooth Fang and Claw (which contained the song “Great White Buffalo”) established a fan base for Nugent and the other Amboy Dukes. Personnel changes nearly wrecked the band, which become known as Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes.

Nugent reunited with the other members of the Amboy Dukes at the 2009 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. Derek St. Holmes (guitar, vocals). Rob Grange (bass) and Clifford Davies (drums) were the primary additional band members for his classic 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,” It was during these three years that Nugent truly emerged as a guitar hero to thousands of young hard rock fans, many of whom were unaware of his lengthy apprenticeship with the Amboy Dukes. This band lineup toured extensively, also releasing the multi-platinum live album Double Live Gonzo! Until its breakup 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 after staying on to record Weekend Warriors (1978), State of Shock (1979), Scream Dream (1980) and Intensities in Ten Cities (1981).

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 sold-out night at London’s Hammersmith Odeon in 1979. An album of this program, however, was not released until 1997.

During this era, Nugent was notable for his frequent declarations that he did not drink alcoholic beverages or smoke tobacco or marijuana. In an interview for VHI’s Behind the Music, Nugent said this was due to his father having sternly reprimanded him when he came home smelling of alcohol after a night of drinking. This was an unusual stance for a major rock performer of the 1970s, and Nugent has been cited as an important early influence on the straight edge movement, which disavows drinking and recreational drug use.

INFLUENCES

Nugent has been praised for his playing style, and is cited as an influence by many other hard rock and heavy metal musicians. Nugent has cited his own musical influences as Vanilla Fudge, Jeff Beck, Chuck Berry, The Kinks, Jimmy Page, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Yardbirds, Bo Diddley, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Steppenwolf, Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, The Animals, Little Richard, MC5, Frank Zappa, and Muddy Waters.

DAMN YANKEES

During the period of 1982-89, Nugent released a series of moderately successful solo albums. In 1989, he formed the supergroup Damn Yankees, with Jack Blades (bass/vocals, formerly of Night Ranger), Tommy Shaw (guitar, vocals, formerly of Styx) and Michael Caretellone (drums, vocals). Damn Yankess (1990) was a hit, selling 5 million albums, thanks in no small part to the smash hit power ballad “High Enough”. The video for this song featured Nugent in a priest’s collar, and later in a zebra-striped cape during the guitar solo. It also saw the first appearance of his famous ‘WhackMaster’ hat.

BACK TO SOLO

Returning to a solo career, Nugent released Spirit of the Wild in 1995, his best-reviewed in quite some time. This album 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 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, as well as Surviving Nugent and Supergroup-Damnocracy on VH-1. In 1006, Nugent was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.

Ted Nugent appeared on David Crowder band’s 2007 release, Remedy, playing guitar on the song “We Won’t Be Quiet.”

Nugent announced his “Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead” tour on April 21, 2010. Tour dates are still being finalized.

MEDIA APPEARANCES

REALITY PROGRAMMING

Nugent starred in his own outdoors television show named after his popular song “Spirit of the Wild”. The song was the theme music to the TV series in which Nugent took viewers on a variety of wild game hunts using his bow. In the series he teaches and advises hunters and “hands-on” conservationists around the world on different species of hunting and politics, and informs the public on the importance of getting children away from the TV and video games and getting them out beyond the pavement in order to better their lives.

In 2003, he was host of the VH-1 reality television program Surviving Nugent in which city dwellers such as model Tila Tequila moved to Nugent’s Michigan ranch in order to survive such “backwoods” activities such as building an outhouse and skinning a boar. The success of the two-hour show spawned a four –part miniseries in 2004 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 2003, Nugent was a guest on the VH-1 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.

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-SkidRow, vocals) and Jason Bonham (Bonham, UFO, Foreigner, drums). The name of the supergroup was originally FIST but later was changed to Damnocracy. Bach had lobbied for the name Savage Animal. Captured on film by VH-1 was a rare Nugent duet with guitar phenom Joe Bonamassa at the Sand Dollar Blues Room for a 45-minute blues jam.

He starred in another reality show CMT in August 2009. The show, entitled Runnin’ Wild…From Ted Nugent, featured Nugent instructing competitors in the art of survival; the competitors had to use those skills in challenges in which they were hunted down by Nugent.

Also in 2009, he played guitar at The Alamo for a Tax Day Tea Party hosted by Glenn Beck and Fox News. Most notable in his set was a version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” in which he used alternate picking and whammy bar effects. The clip and sound bite of this is played extensively on Fox News as well as on The Glenn Beck Program.

ACTING

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

In 1990 he guest stared in the Canadian film Heavy Miami Summer. It was shown on cable channels in the US as State Park.
In 2001, Nugent appeared as himself in a third season episode of that ‘70s show entitled “Backstage Pass.” Donna Pinciotti (Laura Prepon), who works for radio station WFPP, obtains tickets to the upcoming Ted Nugent concert for the entire gang. Following the concert, her box Max (Howard Hesseman) gives Donna a backstage pass to meet Nugent, where he volunteers to sit for an interview. Meanwhile, Steven Hyde (Danny Masterson) and Fez (Wilmer Valderama) try to sell unauthorized T-shirts accidentally spelled Ted Nugent.

Nugent made a guest appearance on the cult television series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, in the episode “Gee Whiz,” on Adult Swim. Locals believe to have seen the face of Jesus in a billboard, and they mention how it looks like Ted Nugent. Throughout the episode they think it’s Jesus’ face, but at the end they discover it was in fact Nugent’s. He proceeds to shoot a flaming arrow at Carl (mistaking him for a “varmint”).

In 2007, Ted Nugent appeared in the music video for Nickelback’s, “Rockstar”, and in 2008 he played a key role in the Toby Keith movie Beer For My Horses as the quiet deputy, named Skunk.

OTHER MEDIA APPEARANCES

Attracting for his outspoken statements on issues ranging guns to biodiversity, Nugent has been a regular guest on such programs as Larry King Live, The Howard Stern Show, and Politically Incorrect.

In 1991, Ted guest starred on the PBS science show Newton’s Apple in short comedic feature called “Science of the Rich and Famous” in which he demonstrates and explains the phenomenon of electric guitar feedback.

On March 13, 2007, Nugent was interviewed on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live and performed the songs “Cat Scratch Fever” and Rawdogs and Wardogs.”

In 2007, Ted debated The Simpsons producer Sam Simon on the Howard Stern Show about the ethics of hunting animals. Coincidentally, he would later lend his voice to an over-the-phone appearance in the season 19 episode of The Simpsons, “I Don’t Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, where, in a humorous jab at his political stance, inmate Dwight picks up his call for voting no to the fictional Proposition 87, which bans crossbows in public schools.

Also in 2008, Nugent appeared on the Memphis-based The Political Cesspool, a radio talk show known for its “pro-white views”.

Nugent was feature in MTV’s “Cribs: Gods of Rock” episode.

On April 15, 2009, Nugent appeared onstage with his guitar in San Antonio as part of Glenn Beck’s coverage of the Tax Day Tea Party protests on the Fox News Channel. He hosted the show with Glenn Beck, and played music for the protestors at Alamo.

Nugent makes an appearance in Guitar Hero: World Tour As part of the solo guitar career, the player engages in a guitar duel with Nugent, after which the song “Stranglehold” is unlocked and Dirty Nuge becomes available as a playable character. Ted was on the Alex Jones Show July 30, 2008 talking about his new book “Ted, White and Blue: The Nugent Manifesto (2008) and on July 9, 2010 Ted was again interviewed by Alex Jones and he criticized the latest policies issued by the Obama Administration and the Supreme Court concerning Gun restricting policies, that rejecting the idea of Self-defense that is expressed in the Second Amendment to the Unites States Constitution, which Ted named as the “Gun Control” policies that are most likely to destroy the American society as was in every society in human history (l00% according to Nugent).

PERSONAL LIFE

Ted Nugent was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan before moving to Palatine, Illinois as a teenager. Ted has two brothers; John Nugent and Jeffrey “Jeff” Nugent. Nugent has mentioned his ties with the Christian faith many times during interviews, and has stated that he regularly attends church. He attended St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois. He was married to his first wife, Sandra Jezowski, from 1970 to 1979. They had three children; daughter Sasha Nugent, daughter Starr Nugent, and son Theodore Tobias “Toby” Nugent. Sandra died in a car crash in 1982. In 1978, Nugent began a relationship with seventeen-year-old Hawaii native Pele Massa. Due to the age difference between him and Massa, Nugent could not marry her, so he joined Massa’s parents in signing documents to make himself her legal guardian, an arrangement that Spin magazine ranked in October 2000 as #63 on their list of the “100 Sleaziest Moments in Rock”.

His second marriage was to Shemane Deziel, whom he met while a guest on Detroit’s WLLZ-FM, where she was a member of the news staff. They married on January 21, 1989 and remain married to the present day. They have a son together, Rocco Winchester Nugent and a daughter, Chantal Nugent.

In 2005 Nugent was involved in a legal battle for not paying enough child support for a child he had out of wedlock in 1995. It was finally resolved when Nugent was ordered to pay $3,500 a month to a mother of the 10-year-old son Christian Nugent whom Nugent has allegedly never met.

In the late 1990’s, Nugent began writing for various magazines. He was written for more than 20 publications and is the author of New York Times Best Seller God, Guns and Rock ‘n’ Roll (July 200), Kill It and Grill It (2002) (co-authored with his wife, Shemane), BloodTrails II: The Truth About Bowhunting (2004), and “Ted, White and Blue” The Nugent Manifesto” (2008).

In 1996 Ted Nugent joined the WWBR-FM air staff. The Ted Nugent Morning Show on 102.7 FM in Detroit was a success. Ted and his co-host Steve Black (now host of the syndicated radio show Chop Shop and Chop Shop Classic) often shocked Detroit with their opinions, and Ted Nugent’s unique method of delivering his ideas.

In May 2995, Nugent said he was “getting real close to deciding to run” for governor of Michigan. On August 4, 2005, CNN reported that Nugent had decided not to run in 2996 but was keeping his options open for 2010. Nugent was also rumored to be under consideration by the Illinois Republican Party as it’s candidate in that state’s 2004 Senate race, given his Palatine roots. Ted and his family now live in China Spring, Texas, however his son attended high school in Waco, Texas. He was a weekly contributor to the local newspaper, the Waco Tribune-Herald until 2009. In July 2008, Nugent reiterated his desire, saying, “I was serious when I threatened to run for office in the past if I cannot find a candidate who respects the U.S. Constitution and our sacred Bill of Rights. He has been a special deputy sheriff in Lake County, Michigan, since 1982 and he also has been a reserve deputy constable in McLennan County, Texas.

Nugent is a fan of the Detroit Pistons. He wore a Pistons shirt in the Damn Yankees music video for “Come Again”.

HEARING LOSS

Nugent also suffers from hearing loss. A November 2005 Rolling Stone article noted Nugent, among others, has publicly acknowledged hearing problems. “The ear’s not too good, especially with background noise,” he said in a 2007 interview. “{But} that’s a small price to pay. Believe me the journey was worth it.”

PHILANTHROPHY AND ACTIVISM

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 Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, advocating the “natural highs” to be found in an outdoor lifestyle.

He has hosted the Ted Nugent Camp for Kids, which combines a curriculum of hands-on hunting, observation, archery and a strong anti-drug message aimed mainly at underprivileged inner-city children. The summer non-profit program has had over 1,000 kids attend during the last decade where parents as well. Nugent 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 currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association (NRA).

CONCEALED CARRY WEAPON (CCW) LAW

Nugent is a strong advocate of the right to bear arms. When interviewed by Texas
Monthly editor Evan Smith in season 5 of TexasMonthlyTalks he said, “I would rather that {a victim of violent crime] in Massachusetts last month who was taking her daughter to soccer when they were carjacked by a recidivist maggot, who had been in the prison system all his life but was let out again because we feel sorry for him, maybe he had a bad childhood. Instead of her being hijacked and murdered, I’d rather she just shot the bastard dead. But in Massachusetts, somebody decided she can’t do that. So she’s dead. I would rather she was alive and the carjacker was dead..I’m weird.”

CONFLICTS WITH ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUPS

Nugent once said in an interview, “I’m stymied to come up with anything funnier than people who think animals have rights. Just stick an arrow through their lungs.” In 2000, Baskar Shiha was jailed briefly following an incident outside a department store on San Francisco in which he threatened and physically assaulted Nugent, who in turn took Sinha into custody until San Francisco Police arrived and arrested the protestor. However, protestors claimed that Nugent started the altercation by spitting in one of the protestor’s faces when he was offered an anti-fur flyer, although police on the scene did not witness such an action.

Nugent has reported receiving death threats against him and his family from animal rights activists. On the Penn & Teller’s Bullshit! Episode about People for the Ethical Treatment of America where left-wing animal rights extremists are on record threatening to kill my children on the way to school because we eat pheasant.”

Nugent owns a hunting ranch near Jackson, Michigan, called Sunrize Acres. Anti-hunters claim this fenced facility offers “canned” hunts. Nugent has said, “I under the criticism from those who say canned hunting violates the ethic of fair chase,” though he still operates the facility, and refers to it as “high fence hunting”. Nugent was recently interviewed by Field & Stream Magazine regarding “canned” hunts. At Sunrize Acres he personally guides customers on a hunt for trophy bull bison ($5,000), Russian boar, or white-tailed deer ($1,000) each.

In September 2009, Ted Nugent embarked on a hunt near Somerset, C.A. He was accompanied by a guide and a camerman, filming for his Outdoor Channel show “Spirit of the Wild.” The video taken appeared in an episode of the show first broadcast on February 9, 2010. California Fish and Game wardens who watched the broadcast noticed that it showed Nugent killing a very young buck which had been attracted by commercial bait. Both the killing of such a young deer and the use of bait are crimes under California state law. On August 13, 2010, Nugent pled no contest in Yuba County to two misdemeanors: illegally baiting a deer, and failing to have a deer tag signed by a government official after a kill. He was fined USD$1,750 by the court.

The band Goldfinger has made a song called “FTN”, which is critical of Ted Nugent.

POLITICS

When asked by the Imagineer magazine in a 2010 interview about what he would do if elected to political office, he said, “Slash the living hell out of the waste and corruption and the outrageous army of do-nothing bureaucrats. I would fire every government worker whose job I would deem to be redundant and wasteful. No able-bodied human being would ever get a handout again.”

According to an interview in The 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 US 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 also said: “Our failure has not been to Nagasaki them.”

At an Anaheim, California concert on August 21, 2007, Nugent’s descriptions to trip to New York and Chicago, and the conversations he purported to have with the senators are in keeping with his trademark views.

Closer to home, Nugent has been extremely critical of two-term Democratic Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. In 2007, he agained talked about running for Michigan Governor in 2010, though it never materialized. At the time, he stated, “Michigan was once a great state. Michigan was a state that rewarded the entrepreneur and the most productive, work-ethic families of the state.”

Despite giving previous support for Republican candidates, he thought John McCain “to be catering to a growing segment of soulless Americans who care less what they can do for their country, but whine louder and louder about what their country must do for them. That is both un-American and pathetic.”

Nugent was initially scheduled to speak at Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally on August 28, 2010, but subsequently cancelled.