The Nuge. His music should be funny, but I usually just find it too irritating to laugh at (...and I'm listening to and enjoying Kiss' Alive II at the moment. WTF?) I have to vote CRAP. Waffle factor of 6 for the unintentional comedy factor, when I can tolerate it. This "Wango Tango" is one of the best/worst things I've ever heard, and if Ted weren't so staunchly anti-drug, I would presume he was really, really coked up when he wrote/performed it. The lyrics especially sound like an insane cokehead rant to me.

Does anyone really like this guy's records?

I would very much like to shoot him through the head with a compund bow.

A guy I used to work with had a copy of If you can't lick 'em, lick 'em that was turned into a crappy wall clock in his office. Strictly for the comedy value.



I'm also ashamed to admit that I thought the reality show he had was probably only one of the few that was almost entertaining.

The Nuge's politics: CRAP

The Nuge's music: Wankery CRAP, with a WF of Wang Dang Sweet Poontang.

I got into punk rock sometime in 1978, and prior to that I listened mostly to Ted Nugent, Thin Lizzy, and Queen. I mean, I listened to everything, but those were my favorites. Ted Nugent absolutely ruled the hearts & minds of Louisville, Kentucky, in the late 70's--the South End anyway. I saw him in concert six or seven times, and he always put on a high-energy, entertaining show that would have made his Detroit brethren proud. I saw him as recently as 1986, opening for Aerosmith, who had fallen off the wagon mid-tour and were more fucked up than any professional musicians I'd ever seen--until I saw the Dr. Hook video. Ted delivered a no-frills, kick-ass rock & roll show as usual. He even played "The Great White Buffalo."

On one hand, I know that Ted Nugent is CRAP, a braying buffoon with whom I probably agree on one thing and one thing only: that rockin' the fuck out is unrelated to and eminently preferable to drugs. Despite my abhorrence for his politics, his sexism, and his all-around goofiness, I listened to his records so much at such a crucial age that I am incapable of having any kind of objective relationship with them. I'll probably never put a Ted Nugent album on in my home ever again, but I cannot deny the visceral glee that attends coming upon some of his songs on classic rock radio, particularly "Free for All" ("when in doubt, I whip it out..."); "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang;" "Stranglehold," with its eerie sound and robotic drumming; and my all-time favorite, "Snakeskin Cowboys," a straight-up great rock song with no waffle factor whatsoever. Hearing those songs--anytime, anyplace--is NOT CRAP.

I was out in Oakland a couple of years ago and was asked what I listened to before punk rock. When I mentioned Nugent, someone said, "That guy's an asshole. He rants onstage about how people who don't speak English should get the fuck out of America."

"Yeah, 'Wang Dang Sweet Poontang'" another guy said, "what the fuck kind of English is that?"

NOT CRAP: wf 9.

I hate this guy and his music.

CRAP -10

The best thing he was involved in musically was the first Damn Yankees record. That's like saying, the nicest thing I ever did was kill my sister's cat.

He is a fine example of willful stupidity.

Crap