1624 - Ted Nugent Stranglehold 1975

Ted Nugent's first solo album defines what was great about mid-'70's hard rock, commercial yet not altogether radio friendly songs that still stand up today. Kicking off with one of rock’s most famous, stuttering and funky guitar riffs, ‘Stranglehold’ quickly locks into place with a deep, hypnotic and vaguely psychedelic bass-and-drums groove that allows Nugent to roam far and wide with his guitar. Which is exactly what he did, reportedly in an incredibly spontaneous single take while demonstrating the song to his bandmates in the recording studio. ‘Stranglehold’ is a masterpice of jammology,” Nugent tells GuitarWorld. “I was showing my rhythm section the right groove for the song… we were going to leave a hole there so that I could overdub a solo later. Then I started playing lead work, just kind of filling in and though I had never played those licks before in my life, they all just came to me.”