No Life 'til Metal - CD Gallery

The Yanks are a "supergroup" made up of Ted Nugent, Tommy Shaw (Styx), Jack Blades (Night Ranger) and drummer Micheal Cartellone. Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades went on to record a disc together titled Shaw Blades, with Micheal Cartellone performing as a guest drummer. Shaw and Blades aslo teamed up to write many songs for other famous artists including Aerosmith. Ted Nugent successfully resurrected his solo career releasing several new CDs as well as headlining and co-headlining several tours.

1. "Coming of Age" (4:21)
2. "Bad Reputation" (4:29)
3. "Runaway" (4:02)
4. "High Enough" (4:43)
5. "Damn Yankees" (4:37)
6. "Come Again" (5:38)
7. "Mystified" (4:14)
8. "Rock City" (4:28)
9. "Tell Me How You Want It" (4:32)
10. "Piledriver" (4:18)

Interesting story regarding this CD. I was flipping through the used CDs at a local shop and listening to the kid next to me in the Korn shirt have a discussion with his friend who was wearing a Metallica t-shirt. They picked up a used copy of this CD and laughed. The kid in the Korn shirt said of Ted Nugent, who is simply wearing jeans and a black t-shirt, "ah, he's just trying to copy Metallica when they were an 80's band." Shows how ignorant the trend following kids are today that they don't even know the roots of their own music. This is a band of rock legends, especially Ted Nugent, who has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid in grade school in the 70's. (My mom bought me "Double Live Gonzo" as a new release. If she would've actually heard the album she would have flipped.)

My initial interest in this band was, of course, that Ted Nugent was their guitarist. Unfortunately, Ted's influence on the bands sound wasn't what I had hoped and this album sounds more like the polished, radio-ready, hard rock of Night Ranger than anything the whackmaster would crank out. In spots, however, Nugent's influence is apparent. "Piledriver" especially sounds like a Ted Nugent song. This is the only song that Ted handles the lead vocals, although his voice can be heard in various parts of other songs as well. There are excellent vocal melodies throughout (ala Styx) as Shaw seems to handle the majority of the lead vox. Opener "Coming of Age" rocks with a hard, crunchy chorus. "Bad Reputation" and "Damn Yankees" also sport heavy riffs and some infectious, sing-along choruses. ("Bad Reputation" was used in Gremlins 2 in the scene where the little green gremlins were tearing the room to bits.) "High Enough" is one of the mellower moments on the album. This ballad gave the Yankees a good amount of radio airplay and pushed this album to sell double platinum. "Rock City" is typical of 80's hard rock both in sound and in the lyrics. However, having grown up in that musical time period, I didn't mind the lyrics at all. So, while this CD was initially a letdown due to my preconceived ideas, I quickly grew to like and appreciate this disc. Shaw and Blades are an excellent songwriting team.

A bit heavier than their debut. "Don't Tread On Me" starts off with what sounds like a Ted Nugent inspired riff before breaking into a semi-heavy melodic metal song continuing right into another rocker "Fifteen Minutes of Fame." The rest of the album follows in a similar pattern to the debut with radio ready ballads and hard rock anthems. Not really up to par with anything Ted Nugent did as a solo artist in my opinion.