Writer: Ted Nugent
Producers: Tom Werman, Lew Futterman, and Cliff Davies
Recorded: January 1977
Released: Spring 1977
Players: Ted Nugent — vocals, guitar
| Players: | Ted Nugent — vocals, guitar Derek St. Holmes — guitar, vocals Rob De Lagrange — bass Cliff Davies — drums, vocals Steve McRay — keyboards Tom Werman — percussion |
| Album: | Cat Scratch Fever (Epic) |
The title track to his third solo album, “Cat Scratch Fever” is Ted Nugent's only Top 40 hit, peaking at No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the summer of 1977.
Nugent says he had no idea of the song's hit potential when he wrote it. “I just knew it was a good rhythm & blues song,” he says, adding that its success was “just a matter of radio getting behind me and saying 'This Nugent guy, we can't stop him. He's having way too much fun for one white guy, so let's get a piece of him.”
During the Cat Scratch Fever tour, Nugent caused a controversy when he signed an autograph on a fan's arm with the tip of a Bowie knife.
That tour also produced the Double Live Gonzo album and led to a headlining spot at the California Jam II on March 18, 1978.
The Cat Scratch Fever album peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard Top 200 and No. 28 on the U.K. charts. It's his best-selling album with more than two million copies sold.
