Ted Nugent says covers of Cats Scratch Fever “lack groove”
He noted that covers by Pantera and Mötorhead “lacked groove”
Image: Rey Del Rio / Getty
Ted Nugent has claimed that covers of his popular hit Cat Scratch Fever “lack groove”, noting that “no one’s ever played it correctly.”
Nugent always gets people talking – from feuding with Joan Jett, to comparing US President Joe Biden to Adolf Hitler – and now he may well have rock fans surprised once again by his recent comments regarding covers of his most popular song.
Since 1975, Nugent has released 16 studio albums. And of course, some of his hits have been re-created by many popular bands in the rock scene. In an interview with HMP on YouTube, Nugent discussed covers of Cat Scratch Fever from Mötorhead and Pantera.
He said, “I’m an honest guy. Number one, [I] love Lemmy, love Mötorhead. And I’m humbled and honoured that they would pick one of my songs – that’s a great connection that we have. But that’s not how I hear it.”
He laughed before continuing, “The Cat Scratch Fever lick – no one’s ever played it correctly… They played it real Caucasian, and if that’s what they like, God bless ’em. And the people that liked it, I love all of you. But when I hear Cat Scratch Fever, I hear more of a Motown grunt. And like when the Ramones played Journey To The Center Of The Mind, my Amboy Dukes hit song, it’s just too Caucasian.
“And I think Pantera did Cat Scratch Fever too,” He went on to add. “And again, I love them. Thank you for playing it. Thank you for honouring me by choosing one of my songs. But it doesn’t have the groove that I like, it doesn’t have the pulse and the Motown soulfulness that I created in the song.”
You can watch the full interview below: