State of Shock by Ted Nugent

State of Shock, Ted Nugent's fifth solo album, hit the racks on Epic in May 1979, closing out a decade the Motor City Madman had spent turning his wild-man act into a platinum franchise. This one broke the streak: it cracked the U.S. Top 20 and went gold in a hurry, but it became his first solo record that never made it to platinum.

Don't blame the opener. "Paralyzed" is pure Nuge, all frenzied, bluesy guitar shrapnel, and it stuck around: Nugent played it on Fridays, the TV show, in 1980, and it resurfaced a year later on the Great Gonzos! best-of. "Saddle Sore" is another highlight, while "Alone" is the curveball, a rare power ballad handed to singer Charlie Huhn. For the full sweaty experience, the 1997 archive release Live at Hammersmith '79 catches the band on stage in this era.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.