Ted Nugent was actually THE first artist I ever became a fan of, when I was about 10 years old.  Like pretty much every act I got into during my formative listening years, I got into him because my brother Rex was into him.  The first few albums I ever bought for myself were all Ted's.  Sure, no one at my school listened to his work, but it's not like I cared.  In my eyes, Ted was the man.

Tastes change, of course, and at that age, they change rather quickly, and it wasn't long before I all but abandoned the Nuge and started getting into other stuff.  In fact, as of now, I don't own a single Ted Nugent album in any format.

Still, I think that some of his music has aged pretty well, especially his older releases.  His 1975 self-titled solo debut is particularly timeless, and its opening track, "Stranglehold", still gets airplay on classic rock radio even today.  Which means, of course, that I can still enjoy it because I never listen to classic rock radio.

Click here to watch a fan-made video for "Stranglehold" on YouTube.  Like a lot of his early songs, this one was sung (mostly) by rhythm guitarist Derek St. Holmes.  I think he's a much better singer than Ted, which is one reason Nugent's older material holds up so well.