Asif Khan Inc.

Damn Yankees – Damn Yankees

Throughout the history of music, there have been eras which as a thumb rule have occupied the timeline in units of decades, and have had the birth, emergence, establishment and decay of genres which held their mainstay and defined those lengths of time. It does however become quite an interesting study if we try to dig a little deeper and unravel the goings on during that no mans land trapped between these eras, as these inflexion points do tend to throw up quite a few pieces of smoldering brilliance. The 80s was most definitely Hair Metal with bleached blonde hair and close shaven chins, while the 90s saw an angst ridden Grunge shouting hoarse. And between them was a foursome who came out with an eponymous album, which till date has withstood its non-affiliations to either genre. A supergroup (what we call them now, thanks to VH1, but a term virtually non-existent at that time) born out of the collaboration of musicians who were giants, considering their individual talents in their own fairly successful bands, hit the nail’s head with a massive blow, the echoes of whose impact can be heard even today.

Ted Nugent had seen his days of glory with ‘Cat Scratch Fever’; Tommy Shaw had led Styx through the annals of excellence; Jack Blades achieved exuberance with Rubicon and Night Ranger; Michael Cartellone was the only one remaining to complete that kick within the punch that was to form Damn Yankees. Their debut album (and sadly the only one that could register for itself, the second one went unnoticed, the third never saw the light of day) was what best defined the exit of the Glam Rock days. The blues heavy melodies emanating from Nugent’s guitar which had the capacity to pick up all of a sudden and make ferocious encroachments on sane territory proved themselves to be the foundation on which the fantastically soaring octave levels of harmonic duels pitched by Shaw and Blades built magnificent skyscrapers of sound which would leave hearts pounding with acrophobia. You immediately feel that rush of blood as soon as the first track ‘Coming of Age’ picks up motion and by the time you reach ‘Come Again’, you realize the potent combo of Shaw and Blades on vocals, an upward journey which reaches its pinnacle in between when you experience the extremely successful ‘High Enough’ (which has probably become absolutely synonymous with the band) which comes to a screeching halt as soon as you are through with the acceleration of ‘Piledriver’. Hard hitting rock, but woefully gobbled by the melody killing Grunge of the next decade.