In one of the recent episodes of Spirit Campfire, Ted Nugent has defended that his music is more ‘fun and relevant’ this year than it ever was.
“Here it is, 2025, and my music is more important and more fun and more inspiring than ever,” Nugent said. “I hear heroes of the military and athletes, I mean ‘Gung Ho’ hardcore warriors of law enforcement and delta force, special forces, green berets, army rangers, navy, seals… They say they play ‘Stranglehold,’ the ultimate song of defiance.”
He added, “‘Got you in ‘Stranglehold’ baby. You best get out of my way.’ That’s the American theme song. In fact, Don Trump Jr. came out to ‘Stranglehold’ because it epitomizes this sense of independence, rugged individualism, defiance, truth, logic, and stand on up warriors.”
Nugent’s self-titled debut album, released in September 1975, catapulted him into stardom. The album’s opening track, ‘Stranglehold,’ became a signature song, helped the record crack the Top 30, and eventually sold over two million copies.
However, the record company didn’t want the song in the album at first. “I said, ‘I love you guys, but that’s insane! Since when is there a rule: ‘A song has to have a chorus’? It doesn’t have to have a chorus,” he recalled earlier in a chat with Dr. Music. “It’s a movement, it’s a song. And by the way, you all signed me and gave me a lot of money because you came to ten of my concerts and you saw how the people love the song ‘Stranglehold.’ And now you want to take it off the record?”
“I was wondering if you guys got the alert, and it sounds like this: ‘F*ck you! Double f*ck you!’ By the way, we have a recording session that starts in one hour. Let’s go to the studio because I have a song to record. The first one’s gonna be f*cking ‘Stranglehold,'” he added.
Nugent didn’t listen to their concerns, and ‘Stranglehold’ quickly became his signature song, in part because of its boldness and departure from typical radio-friendly formats.
