Great Metal Albums of 1986: Ted Nugent- Little Miss Dangerous

It was said that by 1986, the Motor City Madman, Ted Nugent, was fading into obscurity. Having seen Ted live twice on this tour, I can say that if that was the case, he wouldn’t be going down without a fight. The first time I saw him, he opened for Aerosmith and was absolutely superb. In fact, I will go out on a limb and say that he blew Aerosmith away that evening and they were pretty good. Then again, the show was in Philadelphia and Aerosmith had issues with the city at the time. It was Ted’s magnificent performance which led me to buy his 1986 album, “Little Miss Dangerous.”

The title cut from the album was released as a single and it highlighted what I knew was wrong with commercial radio back then and now. The radio friendly version sounded to me like it was dumbed down in attempt to win over the top 40 crowd. The guitars seemed to be turned down too much. That’s what I remember anyway. On the album version, there is no mistake of turned down guitars. They come through loud and clear and like with every song, he wails on his guitar. You should have heard him play this song live. In the Philly show, it appeared that he was somehow lying six inches off the stage while cranking out the guitar solo. Then again, it could have been the effects of the weed on me.

Let’s talk about hidden gems. “Little Miss Dangerous” opens with the song I not only consider the hidden gem on the album, it’s the hidden gem of all Ted Nugent’s songs. I can’t psycho analyze why I love “High Heels in Motion” but I really do. Maybe it’s because it was played so brilliantly when I saw him live the second time. To this day, whenever I see a woman walk past in high heels, this song rushes to the forefront of my brain.

While the rest of the album is very good, Ted shows off his guitar skills on every song, I can’t say that any of the songs stand out the way the first two do. I’m not saying the rest of “Little Miss Dangerous” is filler, it’s not. For instance, the sound effects on “Crazy Ladies” are rather amusing and he shows that on “When Your Body Talks,” he can successfully incorporate keyboards into his sound without going synth pop. Like on every song, the guitars take the lead and the results are a damn fine metal album. You can name any song here and I’ll say it’s a cool song. After all, “Angry Young Man” was used when he appeared in “Miami Vice.” Maybe not it’s as good as classics like “Cat Scratch Fever” or “Scream Dream” but it’s definitely one to stick in your car stereo and turn up the volume at a red light when the guy in the car next to you is trying to act cool playing his top 40 tunes.

Track Listing:

1. High Heels in Motion
2. Strangers
3. Little Miss Dangerous
4. Savage Dancer
5. Crazy Ladies
6. When Your Body Talks
7. Little Red Book
8. Take Me Away
9. Angry Young Man
10. Painkiller

Ted Nugent

Ted Nugent- lead and backing vocals, lead guitar, percussion

Dave Amato- rhythm guitar, synthesizers, lead and backing vocals

Patrick Leonard- keyboards and synthesizers

David ‘Hawk’ Wollinski- keyboards and synthesizers

Lawrence Dermer- keyboards and synthesizers

Ricky Phillips- bass, backing vocals

Jay Ferguson- bass

Michael Mason- drums, percussion, backing vocals

Joe Galdo- drums, percussion

Duane Hitchings- drums, perucssion

Rick Baron, Tommy Thayer, Sandy Slavin, Bobby Colomby, Robby Weaver, Jamie St James, Carmen Appice- backing vocals

I wasn’t going to make any more Steve Lukather jokes but what the hell!

“Little Miss Dangerous” didn’t take the world by storm or restore Ted Nugent to his former glory. When I saw him live the second time in Wildwood, NJ, I don’t think there was more than 500 people in attendance. It’s a shame because this is a good effort from Ted.

Next post: Judas Priest- Turbo

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at tobychainsaw@hotmail.com

On another note, as of today, I begin my final year of being in my fifties.