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 charting embarking on a solo career
having released 3 albums, While 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 Damn Yankees would be born. Today, let’s explore the history of Damn Yankees.
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.. He would tell Ultimate Classic Rock "I just
had this idea – I think I had dinner with Jack Blades or maybe Tommy Shaw and for some reason,
I got in this mindset,""I knew Ted Nugent well and he wasn’t really doing anything.
Night Ranger wasn’t really doing anything, and Tommy Shaw was kind of in and out with Styx.
So I came up with this crazy idea to have the three of them have a supergroup."
Ted 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 later 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.” The origins of Damn yankees dated back to 1988
when to Shaw and Nugent were sitting together at a music show show business dinner in florida.
Following the meal, Shaw told Nugent according to the Chicago Tribune “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 & Kalodner would claim that
Nugent thought the idea was initially stupid, but after much convincing he gave 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 group’s 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. Blades would tell the LA Times in the same 1991 interview “After we finished doing our
last album, we basically broke up because they picked up their option to do another album and
we refused, because they would have stuffed us into the garbage can again,” “Three days later,
a friend of mine told me Ted and Tommy were rehearsing over in New York City and he said,
‘Hey, why don’t you go and see what it’s like?’ “So I flew to New York three days after Night
Ranger broke up, and the next thing I knew, the Damn Yankees were happening.”
Blades would admit though he didn’t think musically the band would work out because Shaw
and Nugent seemed like polar opposites in terms of their styles. Of course his opinion changed
once he got into a rehearsal room with the pair and the key to the band’s chemistry and success
lied in Nugent restraining his guitar playing with Kalodner telling Ultimate Classic Rock
"Ted Nugent knows that I was one of his biggest fans and I spoke always in that way.
During the formation and early rehearsals of the band, I told him he was going to have to like
calm his ass down. Everybody knows he’s a great guitar player, but it’s not that kind of band,
so he was really going to have to think about not playing over, or the band would be a failure."
By 1989 the trio along with Tommy Shaw’s drummer Michael Cartellone would start writing songs and
rehearsing and Several of the early songs written were the tracks “High Enough” & Coming of Age.
Kalodner knew the band had potential on his hands and shopped them around to Geffen Records , but
felt they had enough corporate rock bands on their roster. Other labels saw the band as a tough
sell.. Blades would tell the LA Times They weren’t listening to the music and its potential,” “All
they were concerned about was potential problems.” In addition to that, the labels were concerned
about the optics of the three rockers who were now in their 30’s and 40’s appearing too old
or not being relevant anymore. They were worried rock radio wouldn’t play them in addition to MTv.
Blades would tell the Times “If we had been in our early ‘20s with that same demo tape, I don’t think
we would have had any trouble getting a deal." 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
Nevison who had previously worked with Led Zeppelin and The Who.
Nevison was originally supposed to work with Night Ranger before the band disbanded so he was always
in Jack Blades mind. Nevison for his part iwasn’t one to mince words and it resulted in him butting
heads with Nugent over the mx of the album. He always felt that Ted’s guitar was too outfront
in the mix.. Nugent would recall to ultimate classic rock "My amp wasn’t even on yet and he hit
the talkback button from the control room and he goes, 'Ted, you’re going to have to turn it down a
little bit.' I hadn’t even played anything yet," Within a week or so the band would wrap up
recording their debut album. Released in 1990, critics seemed indifferent to their debut
record , but it did little to sway the public and rock radio. A representative for KNAC-FM
in Long Beach would tell the Times Fans have responded to the fact that this is a real all-star
group--featuring musicians they’re familiar with,” “Age wasn’t a factor, particularly since classic
rock is so big. What also helped this band is that it’s a strong live band" they'd say.The
album would have five singles that charted on the billboard rock charts and several that had
crossover appeal high enough, come again,, coming of age, runaway, and bad reputation.
The album would be certified multiplatinum. In 1991 the band would hit the road opening
for bad Company and received stellar reviews, often upstaging the headliners. The Pittsburgh
Press would write in one review headline “Nugent and band outgun Bad Company,” while a paper from
St. Louis would claim the same year “Bad Company boring compared to Damn Yankees,”
The band would return in 1992 with their follow up record Don’t Tread. The album
would be being certified gold. but underperformed compared to their first album. It would however
give the band their second highest charting single of their career with Where you going now.
Kalodner summed up the change in attitude on their sophomore effort telling Ultimate Classic Rock
"They wanted to just make an easy second record and collect the money from Warner Brothers."
Also hampering the band were changing musical tastes as alternative rock was becoming popular..
MTV put the group’s single Don’t Tread on me in light rotation on the network,
but Nugent was suspicious of the network telling the Chicago Tribune in 1992
:I gotta tell you i don’t like what i see on mtv. Ihaven’t watched a segment of mtv that
i could stomach. It reminds me of AM radio in the early 60’s it’s as formulated as that was.”
Also not helping the album was that the tour to support the album had to be rescheduled due to
Nugent’s hunting schedule. He would tell chicago tribune in 1992 Certainly its no secret that my
outdoor hunting is not a hobby or recreation with me it’s really a lifestyle. And damn if
the release of our album doesn’t coincide with the beginning of hunting season.
By 1994 Ted Nugent wanted to go solo again, leaving Shaw and Blades to form
their own group named Shaw Blades who put out the 1995 album hallucination.
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 releasing their third album.
Kalodner told Melodic Rock about the failed third record: "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.
Tommy Shaw was interviewed by Eddie 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 w atching. Be sure to hit the like button and
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Ted Nugent would praise Tommy Shaw telling UCR "I always admired his soulfulness,". "I was the
only one who really stood up in defiance of the claim that Tommy Shaw was this cute little blonde
towheaded cherub playing pretty Styx music. I knew that he was a huge black man from Montgomery,
Alabama, raised on the same blues of James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave and Motown
that. It was during those early day jam session that talks of a Styx reunion were happening but
Shaw opted to stay in Damn Yankees, a decision he didn’t seem to regret telling the Daily Caller in
1993 With Damn Yankees, we hang out at each other's houses. We have this buddy system. We
drink out of the same cup, you know, we drive each other's cars. It's like a fraternity house. And
I love that," Shaw said. "Styx was the only band I was ever in that wasn't like that."
So would a reunion ever happen, well it appears Nugent claims he is the only roadblock to that
happening revealing to Kevin Chase "I wish we would get back together," "But I've got
to tell you, if there is one pain-in-the-ass obstacle keeping that from happening, you're
looking at him right now. Because I will not give up my hunting season (Sept- Feb) . I don't care."