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

Nothing wrong with them. Some good tunes on both CDs.

Pat

 

As much as I like the era and style of music I couldn't stand Damn Yankees.
Give me Bad English as a "supergroup" anyday

 

I remember hearing my local rock station playing the heck out of "Coming of Age" the summer that LP came out. Loved it and we blasted it in the car everytime it came on! I saw them on that tour with the Brian Howe version of Bad Company and they put on a good show, mixing in a Styx, Night Ranger and Ted tune throughout the set. I thought "High Enough" and "Where You Goin' Now" were well done power ballads. Blades and Shaw sound great harmonizing with each other.

 

I remember seeing Mojo Nixon and him going on a rant about how The Great White Buffalo, Mister Wango-Tango himself was now playing in a group with a guy from STYX.

Of course, personally, I'll take Styx over Nugent, but to each his own.

 

I always liked Power Ballads.

And High Enough is one of the best.

A Good band. NOT great, but good enough.

 

I like Damn Yankees, but I really like Shaw/Blades. Hope they'll do another album someday.

 

Ugh. The reverse for me. Bad English was the embodiment of what was wrong with 80's music.

 

The first Damn Yankees disc is a great Summer disc. Throw that thing on on your way to the beach and, if you have a bad time, it's probably your own fault.

I saw them tour with Bad Company back in '91; great show.

Bonestripper was also available on the first Japanese pressing of "Don't Tread."

 

I loved Bad English, but even they were not happy with the music they were making. They barely made it through recording the second album before Neal departed. No tour ensued. Some of the 'supergroups' were controlled more by their labels than others.

I had both DY albums, and found them really uneven. The Nugent songs were IMO awful, but some of the other tracks, like Runaway, were really good. Unfortunately, they have long since disappeared from my collection.

 

Classic AOR. Strange to see Ted in there, but he fits beautifully giving the occasional rough edge to the music. Got both albums, but it's safe to say I play the first more than the second.

Philip

 

I saw them on both tours and went backstage. To this day I have to say Jack Blades is one of the nicest people I have met... I briefly met him on the first tour, talked to him for 5 minutes tops. On the next tour I went backstage again and he greeted me by name "Hey MIKE, how ya been man?". And I had him sign my Don't Tread and NR Greatest Hits CD's. Ted was an enjoyable character as well and not as stand offish as I expected. He talked to my brother for over 30 minutes.

A couple of years ago there was a live release put out by BMG:



And the DVD for that show is available for 8 bucks

http://www.amazon.com/Damn-Yankees-Uprising-Live/dp/B000LW7Z4G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454516294&sr=8-1&keywords=damn yankees uprising

Not sure what is in store for the guys in the future as Tommy is on the road with Styx and Jack is out with Night Ranger (who will be performing here in Panama City Feb 11).

There are no other outtakes I am aware of other than Bonestripper. And I do have the CD single of "You're Invited But Your Friend Can't Come" (not the same version that appeared on Vince Neil's solo album). They also supplied backing vocals and guitars to Jude Cole's Worlds Apart



Some trivia: The song "Runaway" from the first album was a song Tommy wrote with Styx in mind when they tried to regroup in 1988. When Dennis had a solo album to wrap up Tommy went on to DY and by the time Styx was ready it was too late and they added Glen Burtnik.

There was an attempt at a 3rd album with Damon Johnson on lead vocals. Some of the songs have shown up on other albums from Ted, Jack and Styx (I think one of the songs is on Cyclorama).

 

Info on the 3rd, unreleased album with an interview with Damon Johnson:

Dipping into the past here for a moment. You recorded a full album with Damn Yankees that has never seen the light of day. Can you give a little insight to that project?


That was a real cool experience for me, especially because I grew up on those guys and all the bands they were involved in. To be asked to be a part of that was exciting for me. The record just suffered a little bit from too many cooks, there was too many ingredients in the soup. The final mixes I remember were a little disjointed, it was like there wasn’t a cohesive sound. I don’t know if I’d hold my breath that that record’s ever going to get released. All I can tell you is there was definitely some stuff that I was then and still am very proud of. I remain friends with all those guys to this day. I have allot of respect for their talent and their musicianship. It was definitely cool for me to be involved.



Oh, I forgot to mention that Michael Cartelone is busy these days with Lynyrd Skynyrd -- Mike is also a very nice guy.

 

I really liked them at the time. I haven't listened to them since the early 90's... I'll have to give them a spin and see what I think of them a quarter century later.

 

The above info was taken from a 2006 interview on Metal-Rules.com, conducted by @celticbob, a member of this forum and regular contributor. I'm not sure if @celticbob has any more info he can share re: the aborted third Damn Yankees album with Damon Johnson. I believe he also interviewed Jack Blades at some point over the years too...

 

Yes, I did interview both Damon and Jack over the years. Both were really cool. Damon extended an invite to meet him after an Alice Cooper show and introduced both @ptijerm and myself to various band members. Here is a link to the full interview.
http://www.metal-rules.com/metalnews/2006/04/15/damon-johnson-of-slave-to-the-system-alice-cooper/

Here is the Jack Blades one.
http://www.metal-rules.com/metalnews/2008/10/09/jack-blades-night-rangerdamn-yankees/

 

Andrew McNiece on melodicrock.com has heard the third album and claims it's terrible. They try to sound too contemporary by all accounts and it doesn't work. Doesn't mean they can't have another go though.......

 

I wouldn't listen to them again if you paid me, but who cares...if you like them that's all that should count.

 

I seem to remember giving the debut a middling review in the college paper, but it didn't age well for me, and I dumped it decades ago.

 

Not quite true....the first Bad English started as a John Waite solo cd and was very successful and everybody was happy. The second album saw a battle of ego's ensue and arguments over material and songs from outside writers/written with those outside the band caused rifts - mostly due to publishing royalties that certain members would be forgoing...

 

There you have it...I see the situation as quite opposite. For me Damn Yankees, Extreme and Mr Big were at the forefront of everything rubbish wit late 80's rock!!

 

have you heard anything by extreme other than "more than words"?

 

Oh yes indeed....you should know better than to ask me that....!!!!

 

then not sure how you got extreme are rubbish? imo they were very different and unique compared to most of the late 80's hard rock bands and that amazing queen influence showed on their vocal harmonies

 

By the way, I often see Night Ranger albums in the used bins and my only knowledge of their work is their few hits. If I were going to pick one to start with, any recommendations?

 

Bad English-Possession is one of the best AOR songs of the 1980s!