Nuge Spooge

By outward appearances, it might seem that Ted Nugent’s music career has slowed to a crawl.

His 2002 CD, Craveman, represented his first new studio effort in seven years, and his only other recent releases have been a 2001 live CD, Full Bluntal Nugity, and a new DVD with the same title.

But the outspoken Nugent, who is spending his summer on the road opening concerts for ZZ Top along with some scattered headlining dates, said any appearances of a creative lull are highly deceiving.

“I’m constantly creating this new music,” Nugent said. “I wrote a song last week aptly titled ‘Still Alive and Well’ that is just a scorcher, and if I dare say, the greatest guitar lick song that I’ve ever made, a song called ‘Bridge Over Troubled Daughters.'”

So if Nugent continues to crank out his hyper-fueled brand of R&B-laced hard rock at a steady space, why hasn’t he been committing more of his music to disc and getting it in record stores?

Nugent blames it on his feverish pursuits of other interests.

“My life is so diverse, and each diversionary tactic that I pursue, it’s not a take it or leave it proposition. Everything I do is very passion oriented. It’s impossible [for me] to release an album every six months. God knows I could write one,” Nugent said. “I never find the time to record them because my passions that inspired me to create are taking my time that would allow me to capture the creations. It may seem like a two-edged sword, but it’s all used for positive thrusting, I promise you that.”

An outspoken opponent of gun control and strong proponent of conservation, he belongs to dozens of organizations dedicated to those causes. Nugent is also a national spokesman for D.A.R.E. (the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program) and sponsors the Ted Nugent Kamp for Kids, which teaches kids about the virtues of the great outdoors and hunting and the dangers of drug, alcohol and tobacco use.

And as even casual fans of the Detroit-based guitarist know, Nugent is also an avid outdoorsman who dedicates roughly six months each year to hunting, fishing and trapping.

In seeking to share his love of outdoor sports and demonstrate that hunting is an essential method to control animal populations and maintain environmental balance, Nugent publishes his own magazine, Ted Nugent Adventure Outdoors, contributes articles to numerous publications, books a variety of safaris and other hunting trips and has even co-authored (with wife Shemane) a wildlife cookbook, Kill It And Grill It.

Nugent, who learned to hunt from his parents, feels his passion for gaming is a big reason why, after some 35 years of recording and touring, he remains inspired and excited about music and performing.

“I wish the world would listen to me,” he said. “It is the balancing of the spirituality of my resource connection, my consumer honesty as a hunter/fisher/trapper, returning to the primal scream every fall and winter that allows me to come back to the music every spring renewed as if it’s 10-year-old Ted playing a Lonnie Mack lick in a garage in 19-fuckin'-55.”

While Nugent believes his music is as vital as ever—in fact, he said he considers Craveman to be his best CD—he also has had to face the reality that he is seen within the radio industry as a faded classic-rock act, with only a few radio staples still played such as “Cat Scratch Fever.”

Nevertheless, the Sleep Train Ampitheatre in Marysville should be in for a rude awakening when this modern-day caveman plugs in his guitar.