A Detroit-based rock band, best remembered for their hit single "Journey to the Center of the Mind," the Amboy Dukes also launched the career of the "Motorcity Madman," Ted Nugent. Nugent, who had heard of a Detroit band called "Amboy Dukes" that had just broken up, took the name for a new band he was forming. Originally the name was the title of a novel about gang members.
The Amboy Dukes' first album, "Journey to the Center of the Mind," was released in 1968 on "Mainstream" records, and the single of the same name rose to number 16 on the US charts. Despite the apparent drug references of the song, Nugent fervently denies any drug use.
Their three following albums, "Migrations," "Marriage on the Rocks," and "Survival of the Fittest," were not well received, and the band dissolved when Nugent, who claims to have been the "babysitter" for the rest of the band, took a few months off.
