Damn Yankees(The Group)-Were They Really That Bad?

I've been listening to some friends bitching about how bad the DY's were, I thought their first disc was excellent. Talk about Supergroups, we could probably throw them in the mix for best Supergroup. I saw them for their first record, they kicked ***. Every so often, I'll read all these "critics" who trash the record, yet, as I said, I've always enjoyed the record. Then again, I've always enjoyed Night Ranger's stuff, so thats probably why I dig DY's.

Anyone else dig these guys?

 

No, they were pretty good. Their album cuts were generally superior to the singles, though.

 

Never could stand them but like you, really like a lot of Night Rangers stuff and I liked Styx as well. Weird I know. Makes no sense to me either!

 

Chances are, they are trashing the style of music, not the band itself.

That first album has some great songs on it. IMO, Jack Blades really helped resurrect the careers of both Shaw and Nugent.

 

Saw them in 94 when I was in the Corps. The MWR put on a helluva show, all free. Drivin and Cryin, Damn Yankees, Joe Walsh and Lynyrd Skynyrd. What a night

 

This. Think so too. Like I said, i saw them when the record came out, and Blades was great. I've seen Night Ranger too(at their peak), and Blades is great. Loved the dual vocals from Blades/Shaw on "High Enough". I remember the crowd going apes$%* when they played that song.

 

Which I'll never understand . . .

 

I think they really were that bad or even worse but, so what. Listen to what you like

 

I like them. Great 1st album.

Pat

 

Why? It's a bad a$$ song. They did some Night Ranger stuff that night. That first DY's disc was excellent, try to give it another listen? Worst case scenerio: You may end up liking it.

 

Yes, they were that bad.

 

High Enough = they're alright in my book

 

I preferred the Shaw/Blades album.

My Hallucination

 

I got sick of that song, but there are many others I still like.

Unfortunately, Damn Yankees was doomed. Guns N' Roses and Metallica were already changing the landscape and Nirvana was on the horizon. On top of that, Nugent got a lot of criticism for (yet, again) selling out. That style of rock was just on its way out.

The drummer got the gig with Lynyrd Skynyrd and the other three went back to their respective gigs, so it's all good.

 

That's got to be it. The monster ballad has been passe for a long time now (unless it's sticking around in country music). It's unlikely to be the band itself: are people really going to expend the energy to trash a band that had two hits? (To praise them, sure, but not to bury them!)

Although I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I didn't know that "High Enough" and "Where You Goin' Now" were two different songs until I looked them up on Wikipedia to see how many hits they had had.

 

Liked Damn Yankees, especially the first album and tour. Looked like they were having fun. So much in fact, when I saw them - they were cursing after every song like a bunch of drunken sailors. I expected as much from Nugent, but Blades and Shaw? Hmmm.........

From time to time, Shaw will throw in a DY song or two in the Styx set. Usually Coming Of Age and/or High Enough.

 

Tonight they were. They got eliminated from the playoffs. Oh, you mean those Damn Yankees.

 

As a die hard Detroit fan, that was nice to see.

 

I liked both of the DY albums. Too bad the 3rd album never saw the light of day and probably never will.

 

"High Enough" is a great ballad, especially when done in an unplugged arrangement.

 

I like both Damn Yankees albums, but they sound like holdovers from the '80s. The Ron Nevison productions -- super clean, all digital, totally professional -- are relatively easy on the ears, thanks in part to the smooth, unobtrusive mastering preferences of the time. I also think Blades and Shaw made a good singing and songwriting team. But by the time Don't Tread came out in 1992, the majority of the listening public had moved on from the arena rock sound, although the album apparently went gold. It must still have some kind of audience, though, because Collectables reissued it after Warner Bros. allowed it to go out of print.

By the way, what non-LP tracks made it out? There's "Bonestripper," which I haven't heard and seems available only on MP3 at the present. What else is there from the period of the two released albums?

 

Yes.

 

I like Damn Yankees, especially the first album.

 

They were a strange act in a way. The singles were mostly the lush power ballads of the era, but then on stage you had Nugent still doing some of his schtick - ie: I remember seeing them and Ted was shooting his bow and arrow at a roving cardboard cut out of Saddam Hussein. I recall them doing NRs "You Can Still Rock In America" and I believe Tommy did "Renegade."

 

Sums it up well!