Ted Nugent’s popular song ‘Stranglehold’ almost didn’t get recorded due to Epic Records’ demands.
Before starting his debut solo album with Epic Records in 1975, Nugent had a meeting with his entire team, including record company executives, producers, engineers, band members, and crew. They expressed excitement about Nugent joining Epic Records and showed strong support. The rocker said in his interview with Dr. Music Podcast:
“All of a sudden, the tone of the meeting, I sense some confusion, I sense some ‘un-discomfort’ in the room. I think it was [producer] Lew Futterman, it’s almost like he got a nod from the bosses of the record label, and went, ‘Well, we’re excited about the songs, Ted. We’ve all talked about it. Everybody voted to not record ‘Stranglehold’ because it doesn’t have a chorus, and nobody’s gonna play an eight-minute song with all that ‘guitar part’ in it.’”
Nugent Didn’t Give Up From Recording The Song
Although he was surprised by the label’s sudden decision, Nugent quickly explained why the song should not be left off the album. He refused to change his mind and said:
“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. 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.’”
The singer added:
“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*CKIN’ ‘STRANGLEHOLD’!”
In a 2022 episode of The Nightly Nuge, Nugent revealed that he first played ‘Stranglehold’ in October 1967 with Steve Booker and John Souther after a show at the Grande Ballroom.
You can watch the rest of Ted’s conversation below.