Ted Nugent Digs Into the Vault – And the Stories Are Just as Wild as You’d Expect
Meltdown | WRIF
I’ve interviewed Ted Nugent more times than I can count, but let me tell you — every single time feels like a front-row seat to a rock ‘n’ roll sermon. He doesn’t talk about music. He lives it. This week, I sat down with Uncle Ted to talk about his massive new project: The Nuge Vault — and, as always, things got spiritual, primal, and totally unfiltered.
So what’s the Nuge Vault?
It’s a deep dive into decades of raw, unreleased recordings, jam sessions, and musical chaos straight from Ted’s own barn in Michigan. We’re talking reel-to-reels, cassettes, 8-tracks, and who knows — probably a few hieroglyphics scratched on a cave wall. With the help of drummer Jason Hartless (who Ted calls a “techno-wizard”), all this old-school material is finally seeing the light of day.
“Jason started pulling out boxes, and I’m going, ‘Wait — this is the first Stranglehold jam. From 1968!’ I had it on a little Kresge cassette player!”
Let that sink in: Stranglehold, one of the most iconic guitar tracks of all time, started taking shape seven years before it hit vinyl in ‘75. And get this — it was almost left off the album because it had no chorus and was “just a jam.”
So what did Ted do?
“I told ‘em, with all due respect… We’re recording it first. Period.”
That solo you’ve heard a thousand times? One take. Never written. Never rehearsed. Just straight-up fury pouring out of a Gibson Byrdland like a wildfire in a feedback loop.
“I’d never played those licks before. It was out-of-body. Goosebumps had goosebumps.”
The stories Ted told during this conversation were endless — how the Amboy Dukes formed, how Damn Yankees came together (Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades walked into a room and boom — “Come Again” was born), and how his primal love of music started in Detroit with lessons on Grand River and a newspaper route that doubled as guitar transport duty.
And yeah, he dropped more quotes in an hour than most people do in a lifetime.
“If I wasn’t me, I’d go see me play every night.”
“Piss and vinegar — if you don’t have that, go play country music.”
“My enthusiasm destroyed my ego long ago.”
“Goosebumps had goosebumps.”
“If someone tried to stop me from jamming, that’d make a great police video.”
At the heart of it all is one thing: the music. Pure. Raw. Defiant. And honest.
Ted’s not just walking down memory lane — he’s unleashing decades of rock history with the same fire that powered every sweaty night at the Grande Ballroom and every packed stadium since. The Nuge Vault isn’t nostalgia — it’s documentation of a Detroit-born rock legacy.
“Whether it was the Lords in ’61, Amboy Dukes in ’65, or Ted Nugent in ’75 — I’ve always been chasing the same thing: soul, fire, and music that means something.”
Amen to that.
Ted Nugent And The Damn Yankees
I had to ask Ted about the Damn Yankees. Ted is Ted, but I was curious about what it’s like for a guy like him, a guy who is always the leader of his own career, to join forces with other big-time rockers. He said that even though he was a monster solo act, he was still a “bandmate”.”I’m still just a Roustabout rock n’ roll guy from Detroit.”
Ted talked of how easy it was to work with a guy like Jack Blades. He said the song “Come Again” happened immediately. He said that the first album was powerful. “It was as raw and primal and honest!”
He spoke a ton more about that 90s supergroup band. A band I love!
🎸 Check out The Nuge Vault and explore the archives: https://nugevault.com/
And for the full chaos, check out the interview now. Just be prepared — it’s like trying to bottle a lightning strike… with a flamethrower attached.
Rock on,
Meltdown
