If there's one motto I try to stick to whenever reviewing or discussing outspoken individuals in the world of Rock/Metal, it's "Judge a person by their personality and a musician by their music". In other words, regardless of how big a tosser or saint someone is in real life, your opinion of that person shouldn't affect your enjoyment of their craft as an artist. It's OK to like an album by a dickhead or, vice verse, hate an album by a genuinely decent person. However, it's always nice when the stars align and you can talk about how terrible an album by a piece of shit is...sadly, this isn't necessarily one of those times.
The Music Made Me Do It (which is probably going to be Ted's defence when he's arrested for shooting black people in a few years) is as bland and lacking in originality as you'd expect a 2018 album by Ted Nugent to be but unfortunately, it doesn't reach the point where as a casual critic you feel like you can justifiably rip it to pieces. It's got some solid riffs and solos here and there, almost certainly enough to get the average Rock fan's foot tapping along to several songs. A good example of this is the album opener and title track, "The Music Made Me Do It". It kicks things off with a bang and proves that Ted can still play guitar to a decent degree.
Not only that but the improvements in modern recording technology make the music sound cleaner and the riffs stand out more, something Ted was presumably happy with instead of choosing to put in the effort to make the material sound raw and untamed like his earlier records. Funny how Ted's willing to change with the times in some areas, huh. Anyway, the positives don't stop there. There's a good amount of musical variety for those who like slower acoustic ballads that still Rock ("Fred Bear") and faster Blues Rock numbers that maybe should've lasted a little longer ("Bigfundirtygroovenoize"), not to mention standard Hard Rock songs we've come to know Ted Nugent for ("Where Ya Gonna Run To Get Away From Yourself").
However, as I mentioned earlier, the lack of imagination in some of the songs really is telling. Ted's choice to write shorter Blues Rock tracks that rely on repetitive lyrics and riffs ("I Love Ya Too Much Baby") feels more like he couldn't be bothered to come up with a full-length track so chose to whack out generic boogie-woogie rather than spend a couple of extra hours penning a proper song. This might sound like I'm being too judgemental but when you factor in the fact that Ted's straight up copied his previous material on multiple occasions, the argument suddenly becomes a lot stronger.
Oh yes, Ted has absolutely phoned it in after realising that being out of the game for so many years tends to dry up the well of creativity. "Cocked, Locked & Ready To Rock" might sound familiar to fans of his earlier work because it quite literally copies the riffs, structure and even vocal melodies for "Stormtroopin'", a much better song from his self-titled debut that doesn't contain lyrics like "It's time to make a stand, it's time to put a gun in your hand", and tweaks them just enough to justify calling it a new song. Then there's "Backstrap Fever", a rerecording of "Cat Scratch Fever" but with altered lyrics, a slightly faster tempo and more refined riffing. Admittedly, this does result in a better song than "Cat Scratch Fever" though.
Finally, the album closer "Sunrize Fender (Fender Bass VI Solo)" is an extended version of the previous track, "Sunrize", but with different instrumentation. "Sunrize" is a great Rock instrumental that would've been the perfect album closer whereas "Sunrize Fender (Fender Bass VI Solo)" should've been a bonus track on the regular or special edition. However, since it's track 10 on a 37 minute album, it implies that Ted wanted it to be a proper song on the album. If he extended some of the shorter tunes and maybe added one or two more songs, it wouldn't have been an issue but this feels cynical. Either Ted couldn't be bothered to write more music or he was simply unable to, resulting in a smaller package that lacks the same power as contemporary Hard Rock records.
Basically, what I'm saying is Ted Nugent can't do a lot with his little package.
The Music Made Me Do It answers all of the questions you could possibly want to ask about a new Ted Nugent album. Ted can still play guitar and he knows how to write a passable Hard Rock song, although he can't keep all of his idiotic politics out of his music ("I Just Wanna Go Huntin"). He also still can't write music with any real depth to it or lasting appeal aside from good riffs/technically proficient solos. Fans of his earlier material might like some of the tracks but all in all, the album doesn't do enough to convince me that Ted Nugent should keep writing music. His best work already exists and anything else he comes out with is either generic or a rehash of his better songs from the late 70s.
I wasn't expecting a magnum opus, since Ted's claimed that this album basically came about through jam sessions, but it could've done with more time in the oven before being served. I rate it 4/10 but if Ted put more effort into some of the material, maybe it could've been a 6...or maybe the music is subconsciously making me think that Ted Nugent's mediocre work is actually great and that his politics are spot on, although I doubt that.
COMING SOON: A blog post about ten anti-Mexican and pro-arming our nation's children songs!
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