The Amboy Dukes

Best remembered for their 1968 acid-rock classic "Journey to the Center of the Mind," Detroit's Amboy Dukes also introduced the world to the Motor City Madman, guitarist Ted Nugent. The group's roots date to 1965, a period when a teenage Nugent was living in Chicago; there he formed the first incarnation of The Amboy Dukes, borrowing the moniker from a recently-disbanded Detroit band who themselves took the name from an infamous explotiation novel of the period. When Nugent returned to southeastern Michigan in 1967, he assembled a new Dukes line-up including vocalist John Drake, his former bandmate in the Lourds, as well as rhythm guitarist Steve Farmer, bassist Bill White, keyboardist Rick Lober and drummer Dave Palmer. Quickly the group emerged as one of the hottest attractions on the Detroit club circuit, famed for their snarling closer, an incendiary cover of Them's "Baby Please Don't Go."



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