The Amboy Dukes

We, of course, remember Uncle Ted Nugent for his meat eating, drug free, survivalist savage attack on hard rock/metal in the mid to late 70s and through the 80s. But what about his formative years with the Dukes?


Starting off as a Detroit garage band 1968 with the blues-based self titled debut album on Mainstream Records label. Then going into psychadelia with their only hit Journey To The Center Of The Mind which Ted confessed he had no idea it was about drugs even though the album cover displayed all sorts of smoking devices. Then they progressed into even more obscure experimentation with their 3rd album Migration highlighted by the title track and Prodigal Man.


The musicianship was very sharp and eclectic highlighted by classically train keyboardist Andy Solomon, drummer Dave Palmer and, of course, Ted's rapid-fire guitar playing on his trademark Gibson Birdland semi-hollowbody. Time signatures constantly changing with such diversity that included some Jazz flavors by Solomon's sax playing.


After leaving Mainstream Records, they went from a six man lineup to a four man lineup on Polydor Records and recorded two albums. The first was "Marriage On The Rocks/Rock Bottom" in 1970, their most experimental work that totally flopped commercially, but pushed their musicianship even further. The final cut (the sole composition by Solomon) "The Inexhaustible Quest For The Cosmic Cabbage", is an experimental hodge-podge of various music styles, including a Beach Boys parody, ala Frank Zappa's "Lumpy Gravy". The second release was an acclaimed live album "Survival Of The Fittest" with mostly original songs composed just weeks before the show with the exception of a 21 minute version of "Prodigal Man".


After Polydor released them from their contract due to poor sales, Ted put the Dukes on hiatus. Solomon and Palmer both left and in 1973 Frank Zappa put them on his Discreet label. Ted came back with a more blues based, heavy guitar driven version of the group. The two albums "Call Of The Wild" and "Tooth, Fang and Claw" still didn't sell well but still raised a lot of eyebrows in the Hard Rock community.


Finally, Ted went ahead and just axed the Amboy Dukes name altogether and history was made with his self titled debut album.


On a personal note, I never really cared for his solo work outside the cut "Stranglehold". I thought he sort of sold himself out to image more than anything. I owned 3 of the Dukes' albums and thought they were right up there with Purple, Sabbath and even Zeppelin to some extent. All you got to do is listen. The 2 Polydor albums are a bit tough to find on CD which from what I understand they sold better when first released in Europe in 1970 than in the States.


Anyway, I think The Amboy Dukes are one of those very underrated obscure bands along with Captain Beyond among others that didn't get the recognition they should have gotten. Not prog all the way, but very proto-prog or prog related.


'nuff said!