The late 80’s were a difficult time for some high profile rock musicians who enjoyed success
a decade or several years prior. Rock N’ Roll bad boy Ted Nugent’s career seemed pretty
quiet during this time and some people even counted him out. But he wasn’t the only one
struggling at the time as former Styx frontman and guitarist Tommy Shaw was embarking on a solo
career having released 3 albums, Meanwhile, Night Ranger’s bassist Jack Blades was reeling with the
breakup of his band. It would seem strange that three musicians having lulls in their
career would become an attractive prospect to one of the biggest A&R men in the music industry,
but that's what happened and Damn Yankees would be born. But despite being successful, Damn Yankees
were paid a million dollars to simply disappear. Let’s explore what happened in today’s video.
Geffen Records A&R man John Kalodner seemed like an expert in reviving struggling musicians
careers. He helped Aerosmith and Whitesnake reinvent themselves and he had the same plan
for Tommy Shaw, Jack Blades and Ted Nugent.. Nugent would establish himself in the
1970’s as one of the bad boys of rock n’ roll, but like many musicians who were popular during that
decade, by the 80’s musical tastes had changed and newer sounds and bands had taken over.. Tommy
Shaw meanwhile would front the pop-rock/ adult oriented group Styx where he would clash with
Dennis DeYoung over the band’s sound. Jack Blades meanwhile cut his teeth singing, playing bass and
writing songs for Night Ranger, but the record label according to him destroyed the band telling
the LA Times in 1991 “Sister Christian,” Night Ranger’s big 1984 hit, was a ballad, and from that
point on, Blades recalled, “Our record company only allowed us to release more ballads, and
that really destroyed a good rock ‘n’ roll band.” Damn Yankees would be born in 1988 when Shaw and
Nugent were sitting together at a music show show business dinner in florida. Following the meal,
Shaw told Nugent “When it was over we were saying why don’t we get together
after we finish promoting our records.” It would be Shaw and his manager who called up
Kalodner’s office asking for Nugent’s number & the A&R man would claim that Nugent thought the
idea was initially stupid, but after much convincing, he agreed to give it a try.
The early days of 1988 initially saw Shaw and Nugent jamming together on acoustic guitars and
coming up with the song “Come Again” which ended up on the Damn Yankees debut album.
At that time the band had a stand in player on bass and while Nugent and Shaw felt chemistry,
Kalodner felt like the band was missing something. That’s when he enlisted Jack
Blades of Night Ranger fame with Blades recalling “So I flew to New York three days after Night
Ranger broke up, and the next thing I knew, the Damn Yankees were happening.”
By 1989 the trio along with Tommy Shaw’s drummer Michael Cartellone would start writing songs and
rehearsing. They would come up with several more songs including “High Enough” & Coming of Age.
Now, Damn Yankees weren’t the only supergroup in the 80’s as it became kind of a trent as you had
groups like Badlands, Mr. Big and Bad English. The band would end up signing a deal with
warner brothers & Damn Yankees would head in the studio in late 1989 with producer Ron Nevison.
Released in 1990, their self titled debut record would go multiplatinum. The band hit the road
spending nearly a year and a half on the road early 1991 during the height of the After the
release of their debut, the Damn Yankees went on an 18-month world tour with the likes of a
revamped Bad Company, Poison and Jackyl. The group’s tour coincided with the Persian Gulf
War with the band frequently making patriotic statements and incorporating the American flag
in their shows. Even the band’s backstage passes gave a nod to American military as you can see
here. The band’s name would even inspire the US troops who served in the gulf war with the US
Marines who were part of the 2nd Battalion, 12th marrions naming their 155mm howitzer Damn Yankees.
The band would return in 1992 with their follow up record Don’t Tread. Shaw would tell reporter
Gary Graff, "We knew each other better," We had an identity as a band. It felt a little
different writing songs together this time than it did before we knew what Damn Yankees was."
Nugent looked back at the difference between the first and second albums telling the American
Music Press in the spring of 1993 "I think the first album was a fantastic album," "My only
real complaint about it is the overall mix. I thought it was mixed real blandly. I don't
think the drums had any punch. I don't think the guitars had any twang to 'em. I thought it was
done real disrespectful to our R&B pulse." The album would be certified gold. but
underperformed selling a fraction of their debut record. The album would however get a boost
when at the 1992 summer olympics in barcelona Team USA used it as one of their theme songs.
The band would put out their final piece of work the power ballad, "The Silence is Broken,"
for the 1993 action film Nowhere to Run starring jean claude van damme. By the way guys, talk
about 90’s nostalgia. Who else loved Jean Claude van dam action movies?
It was during shortly after this, Blades and Shaw did a lot of outside work, working with
Cher,Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, and Ozzy Osbourne. Blades would reveal in an interview with 80’s
metal recycle bin "It was a good creative period "So it was really a fun time, actually. Then our
record label, Warner Bros., said, 'Why don't you guys do a record?' So we did the first
Shaw Blades record [1995's Hallucination]." Warner did little to support the record and
soon enough the record label’s attitude towards the musicians changed with blades adding "Right
when [the album] was released, that's when all the guys at the record company decided they needed to
shave their heads and be cool and all that kinda stuff. That was the real turning point — like '95,
actually. That was the crazy time." "The new regime came in, and they
didn't want to do anything [with that style of music]. And in fact, they paid
Damn Yankees a million dollars not to do another Damn Yankees record. We're like,
'Really? OK, we'll just take the check. Why not?' That was how it was because Damn
Yankees had sold so many records and we were so recouped, so in our contract the next thing was
like 'we get a million bucks to do an album,' and they just paid us the million dollars not
to do the record. That's how much nobody wanted anything to do with that era and style of music."
"There was a scene change. That was right around the time that Nirvana changed everything. It was
time," Shaw said. "Because there were starting to be these derivative bands and producers were
coming up and creating bands that were in that same genre, and that always spells that the end is
near. Somebody comes in and plays simple songs and all of a sudden clears the boards again,
and it’s a reset. We were due for a reset." The supergroup would reunite in 1998 and 2010.
And In 1999 John Kalodner attempted to reunite the band for a new album for his label Portrait
Records, but Shaw had gotten back with Styx and that prevented the band from doing a third record.
Kalodner told Melodic Rock about the failed album "I didn't think it was quite good enough,
and at the time with 80's style rock, you'd have to come up with something pretty spectacular.
I was disappointed in the record mostly because of Tommy Shaw's non-participation.
Shaw was interviewed by Eddie “I know everybody in that band” Trunk in 2020 and was asked about
a possible reunion saying "Well, we never broke up… We are all still best of friends. [So] who
knows? It's hard, because with STYX, we work so much, and to do that [a DAMN YANKEES reunion],
it would mean putting the members of STYX out of work for a while. So it's a tough one. But
every once in a while, we wind up on the same stage. "In a separate interview 2014 Nugent
would maintain that the band members are still friends but hunting is still a big
part of his life and making any commitment to Damn Yankees would make it difficult to reform
for a long term tour. That does it for today's video guys thanks for watching. Be sure to hit
the like button and subscribe And we'll see you again on rock n' roll true stories. .Take care.