Saturday Boxing - Ted Nugent

As I prepped for today’s post, I wasn’t too sure if I was going to post anything from this Ted Nugent box, Out of Control. First, I’m not much of a fan of his music anymore. Second, what I perceive as his slightly-too-rightwing politics really annoys me.

There was a point, when I was probably 14-15 years old, when KISS and Ted Nugent were the only music in my little world. Nothing else mattered. They toured together a couple of years ago and I remember telling someone if that would have happened 25 years previous, I would have walked around with a … for a week! (I’ll try to keep this family-friendly and let you fill in the blank.)

As I’ve documented here, the last couple of years I was in high school, I was into punk rock. All the accoutrements of my heavy metal and hard rock fandom went into a box, to be dragged out very seldom. As such, you may be surprised to hear a twist in the plot. Toward the end of my senior year, when all the cool kids were readying for prom, a buddy of mine from the rocker days managed to land two tickets to see Terrible Ted play live at a small hall in Bakersfield, Calif., which is not far from where I grew up.

I made an impulse decision (helped along by the fact that prom date pickin’s were gettin’ mighty slim) and decided to go see Ted, for old time’s sake. Blowing off your senior prom to see Ted Nugent? In 1981, he was still popular enough that this seemed like a rock and roll thing to do.

I’d be lying if I claimed to remember much about this show I saw 20-some years ago. I recall it was, to that point, the absolute loudest concert I had ever been to. Not that that was a bad thing, though.

Some people look back fondly at the memories of their senior proms. I, on the other hand, look back fondly at blowing mine off and going to a rock and roll show. So, in the end, I decided I would pay tribute to that memory by putting up a few songs from Out of Control.

Sony issued this two-disk set in 1993. While it’s short on rarities, it captures most of the hits and is a fair representation of the Nuge from his 60’s-era garage rock roots with the Amboy Dukes through 1986’s Little Miss Dangerous. Because of the lack of rarities, I’ve mixed in a couple of crowd favorites with the unreleased stuff. Lacking also are any notes on the songs other than production info. Play it loud and don’t worry about what your neighbors think.

Gloria.mp3
With the Amboy Dukes. Recorded 1968. Previously unreleased.

Free-For-All.mp3
Recorded May 1976. From the album Free-For-All.

Cat Scratch Fever.mp3
Recorded January 1977. From the album Cat Scratch Fever.

State of Shock.mp3
Recorded February 1979. From the album State of Shock

Oh Carol (live).mp3
Recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon, June 1979. Previously unreleased.

Little Miss Dangerous.mp3
Recorded February 1986. From the album Little Miss Dangerous.

Labels: classic rock, guitar heroes

posted by aikin @ 11:56 AM