No. 52: ‘Journey to the Center of the Mind’

Ted Nugent always maintained he was oblivious to the psychedelic clarion call of his band’s biggest (and only) hit.

“I thought, ‘Good idea, journey to the center of your mind. Good idea.’ A person should always reflect,” he said many years later.

“I thought (it) meant looking inside yourself, use your head, and move forward in life.”

The clean-living guitarist also found himself flummoxed by the front-cover imagery on the Amboy Dukes’ second album: a stash of pot and hash paraphernalia that would be familiar to any hipster of the day: “I didn’t have the faintest idea what those pipes were all about!”

Regardless, the buzzsaw radio hit “Journey to the Center of the Mind” helped tighten the counterculture’s grip on the popular music scene of 1968. Nugent provided the acid rock and bandmate Steve Farmer came up with the tripped-out lyrics:

” Beyond the seas of thought
Beyond the realm of what
Across the streams of hopes and dreams
Where things are really not

The single, released a year after the Summer of Love, trafficked in the psychedelic sounds out of California while anticipating the hard rock and heavy metal that would dominate much of the ’70s. It reached No. 16 on the charts and continues to enjoy a robust afterlife on classic rock radio.

Despite its provenance as an Original Artyfact from the First Psychedelic Era, the number’s genesis apparently was to be found in square pop culture. Bandmembers say Nugent’s monster riffs came from a TV western theme.

The original Dukes bass player Bill White has said the band was watching TV and challenged Nugent to come up with a song based on whatever tune came on next: It was “Rawhide.”

Clint Eastwood, a capable jazz pianist in chaps, probably wasn’t a fan of the result.

Nugent and company ignited a fast-burner that had plenty in common with a handful of virulent singles that found an audience on AM radio: the Who’s massive “I Can See for Miles” of a few months back, Blue Cheer’s recently recorded cover of “Summertime Blues” and Love’s apocalyptic oldie “7 and 7 Is.” All chart successes, to some extent. Top 40 was becoming a heavier place and most of the kids dug it.

Nugent’s fuzzed-out lead guitar gave the Dukes song its sting, but don’t forget about rhythm guitarist Farmer’s Townshend-esque power chords and Dave Palmer’s equine percussion. (All of Nugent’s bandmates had chops, the 1968 edition being a collection of top rock musicians out of the Motor City.)

The group’s second LP, also titled “Journey to the Center of the Mind,” was a bit of a calculated affair, beginning life as a cash-in concept album, the sort of long-and-loopy thing hippies were snapping up at $3 a pop. Farmer had a bit of Zappa in him, coming up with sly but forgettable oddities such as “Why Is a Carrot More Orange Than an Orange” and “Death Is Life.”

The producer, Bob Shad, was the record label owner. His many credits included work with jazz stars such as Sarah Vaughan, Clifford Brown and Maynard Ferguson.

Shad already had dipped his toe into psychedelic waters, producing and releasing the first Big Brother & the Holding Company album in 1967. He went on to release the first Amboy Dukes album on his Mainstream Records.

The second Dukes album was to be split between one side written by Farmer and the other by Nugent. Although Nugent’s contributions made up much of side 1, the collaboration “Journey to the Center of the Mind” opens side 2 with a righteous roar.

The slightly shorter single version was released in May, electrifying Top 40 radio for the rest of the summer. Success didn’t seem to agree with the Amboy Dukes, however, and personnel changes followed. Notably, Rusty Day (of Cactus fame) soon took over vocals from J.B. Drake.

Nuget — “I have never done a drug in my life” — later said he felt like a babysitter, dealing with the stoned shenanigans of his bandmembers. Farmer left after 1969’s “Migration.” After 1970’s well-regarded “Marriage on the Rocks/Rock Bottom” the Dukes essentially became Nugent’s backup band. All subsequent attempts at a single fell flat.

Nugent went on to a successful solo career, combining guitar heroics and frat-boy comedy. The one-time geek sometimes performed in a loin cloth, swinging onto the stage Tarzan-style. The rocker quickly became a polarizing figure in the industry, promoting bow hunting and right-wing politics. His string of multiplatinum albums in the 1970s included “Cat Scratch Fever.”

Farmer released the album “Journey to the Darkside of the Mind” in 2000, continuing his psychedelic musings with tracks such as “Magically Hip – Hip Death Goddess.”

The original Amboy Dukes reunited once, at an awards show in 2009, performing their biggest songs, “Baby Please Don’t Go” and “Journey to the Center of the Mind.”

“Everyone knows that the Amboy Dukes are the ultimate garage band on planet Earth,” Nugent told the cheering crowd.

Liner notes: The early Amboy Dukes landed two songs on the garage-rock comp “Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968.” “Baby Please Don’t Go” appeared on side 3 of the original double-album set, while “Journey to the Center of the Mind” closed disc 3 of Rhino’s expanded 1998 CD version. … Notable covers of “Journey” came from the Ramones on “Acid Eaters,” Slade on the “Beginnings” LP, Sun City Girls on “Libyan Dream” and Nugent himself on “Love Grenade.” … Hat tip to R. Roth, who suggested this track on our reader’s songs list.