Hard Oh Those Damn Yankees! (music group) Quiz / Test | Music

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Like all supergroups, the Damn Yankees had members that were in previously successful bands. The oldest group member is Ted Nugent. With what band did Ted first have a U.S. hit record?

Answer: The Amboy Dukes

"Journey to the Center of the Mind" by The Amboy Dukes was a Top Twenty hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1968 and featured a prominent guitar solo by Nugent. His popularity and on-stage antics eventually led to the band being billed as Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes by the time of their sixth album, "Survival of the Fittest Live" was released in 1971.

2. The Damn Yankees were blessed with two very talented guitarists, Ted Nugent and Tommy Shaw. With what group did Tommy Shaw previously have major success as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist?

Answer: Styx

Alabama-born Tommy Shaw joined the group Styx in 1975 after their move to the A&M Records label. He added a new dynamic as a gifted songwriter and co-lead vocalist to Dennis DeYoung. Shaw wrote and sang such Styx classics as "Renegade", "Crystal Ball" and "Too Much Time on My Hands".

He left the group in 1983 but returned to Styx in 1995 and continues to tour with them when not involved in other side projects.

3. Before becoming a Damn Yankee, bass guitarist Jack Blades sang "Don't Tell Me You Love Me", "(You Can Still) Rock In America", "Sentimental Street" and many other '80s rock classics with what band?

Answer: Night Ranger

Jack Blades shared lead vocal duties with Night Ranger drummer Kelly Keagy along with writing or co-writing most of the band's biggest hits. Night Ranger split up in 1989 leaving Blades free to join the Damn Yankees. There he found his vocals blended beautifully with those of Tommy Shaw for incredible harmonies on songs like "High Enough" and "Where You Going Now". Jack Blades rejoined Night Ranger in the mid-1990s and still performs with them as well as occasionally with Shaw at special events.

4. Finish the Damn Yankees song lyric: "I don't wanna hear about anymore / It's a shame I've got to live without you anymore / There's a ______ in my heart / a pounding in my _________ that's driving me crazy."

Answer: fire, brain

Poor Jack Blades, such a bad case of heartburn, and headache too! Sounds like Jack needs some Alka-Seltzer. These of course are the first verse lyrics to the Damn Yankees' biggest U.S. chart hit, "High Enough", sung primarily by Jack. It's somewhat ironic that hard-rockin' Ted Nugent, known for song titles like "Wango Tango", "Cat Scratch Fever" and "Stranglehold" would have his biggest American music chart hit with a ballad.

5. During their concert performances in the 1990s the Damn Yankees super-patriotic guitarist Ted Nugent would often shoot arrows onstage at an oversized photo or effigy of a world political leader. What leader did he shoot at?

Answer: Saddam Hussein

Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was the target of many of Ted's arrows. The tradition started in the fall of 1990 with America's involvement in Operation Desert Shield. Over the years other targets of Nugent's onstage bowhunting include a life-size target bison, and a malfunctioning guitar.

6. Let's play "Name the Damn Yankees video". I'll describe the plot and some scenes, then you provide the video's title. Ready? Two young lovers embark on a crime spree. The couple is cornered by police and the girl immediately captured. The boy takes refuge in a house. A hail of police bullets strike the house as Ted Nugent bursts out the front door with a soaring guitar solo. In the final scenes the girl is in a prison cell being given last rights then escorted by Reverend Ted and two guards, presumably to her execution. What video am I describing?

Answer: High Enough

"High Enough" by the Damn Yankees has been voted by VH1 viewers as one of the best of the 1990s. In addition to Ted it features scenes of Tommy Shaw, Jack Blades and Michael Cartellone dodging close calls with bullets inside the house as the police shoot up the place.

7. After the demise of the Damn Yankees perhaps drummer Michael Cartellone preferred a band where bullets weren't flying at him in videos and no one was shooting arrows onstage. What legendary Southern Rock band did Cartellone join?

Answer: Lynyrd Skynyrd

Cartellone joined Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1999, not letting their song "Gimmie Back My Bullets" scare him off after his Damn Yankees "High Enough" video experience. Cartellone also played briefly with the band Accept, best known in America for their song "Balls to the Wall".

When not playing with Lynyrd Skynyrd Michael Cartellone is an accomplished painter, with several of his works receiving prominent art gallery showings.

8. Here's another Damn Yankees video question. The video for "Where You Going Now" features a beautiful blonde on a long journey, overcoming several obstacles to reach her destination. When she does reach it at the song's end where is she standing?

Answer: On top of a rocky hill overlooking a valley

The video never quite explains why she's going there, but the blonde is very determined to reach the top of a rocky hill or butte overlooking Utah's famed Monument Valley. Along the way she encounters a biker gang, bathes in a farm trough, has mechanical breakdowns, and fords a stream. The song itself is about the power of love to conquer all no matter what struggles we face.

9. It's time to play "Name that Damn Yankees song!" Here are the lyrics: "Dressed to kill and lookin' dynamite / In her high leg stockings and her sweater so tight / I asked her her name / She said her name was maybe". Which rocking Damn Yankees song is this?

Answer: Coming of Age

Jack Blades takes lead vocals on "Coming of Age", the first single released in America off the Damn Yankees' debut album. The song only reached Number 60 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the U.S., but was a Number One hit on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in America.

In some ways, the subject matter of young love mainly, the song always reminded me of "(You Can) Still Rock in America" a song Jack wrote and sang with Night Ranger.

10. Damn Yankees guitarist Ted Nugent is involved in liberal Democratic politics and is an avid supporter of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

Answer: False

"Terrible Ted" as he is sometimes called is most definitely NOT a fan of liberals. As for PETA? Well Ted loves animals too, just long enough to kill'em and grill'em! Always an outspoken advocate of hunters' rights, Nugent has even had many death threats from animal rights activists.

Source: Author JimHadar

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Oh Those Damn Yankees! (music group) Quiz

Combine four extremely talented musicians with a dose of unabashed patriotism and what do you get? Damn Yankees! How much do you know about this American rock band?

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