After Damn Yankees, Bad Company's Good

Damn Yankees and Bad Company, last night at the Seattle Coliseum.

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It's the songs that make the band.

Last night the time-tested English rock band Bad Company had hit songs in spades. Damn Yankees did not.

What the upstart openers did have was persistence, energy and impudence, but little else. Formed just over two years ago by the Motor City motor mouth Ted Nugent, one of rock's rudest guitarists and a true Neanderthal, bassist Jack Blades of Night Ranger and guitarist Tommy Shaw of Styx along with drummer Michael Cartellone, the band, at first, couldn't get a call taken let alone a deal. They were regarded as just another dinosaur in the tarp pit. But somehow they muscled their way into a contract, a self-titled debut album and two hit singles, ``Coming Of Age'' and ``High Enough.''

But if last night was any indication, Damn Yankees is on its way back to extinction. The only other songs that got as strong, if not stronger, response than the band's originals was Blades' old Night Ranger anthem ``(You Can Still) Rock In America'' and Nugent's ``Catscratch Fever.'' Everything else from the new album ranged from pedestrian to stillborn.

The band seemed to try and make up for its brevity of material by putting on a chaotic, over-the-top-rock-and-roll extravaganza. But what the audience got was breathless bad posturing and patriotic pandering. While Blades and Shaw bounced around the stage like a couple of Keebler Elves, old Uncle Ted spewed a steady stream of his maniacal, high velocity, red, white and blue speed raps, including opinions on global conditions, ``The whole world sucks, but America sucks a whole lot less,'' and new music. ``Tommy and Jack got a lot more soul than those rap a . . . . . . s.'' He also saluted. A lot.

The band even unfurled a ratty American flag during ``Rock In America,'' culminating with Nugent shooting an arrow into a bigger-than-life-size cutout of Saddam Hussein. It was just too easy a target. The response from the young house was loud bordering on Pavlovian.

Bad Company, on the other hand, garnered sing-a-longs without even asking. Singer Brian Howe may be something of a laconic lounge singer at times, but with crowd pleasers like ``Rock Steady,'' ``Shooting Star'' and the new ``Holy Water,'' he could have phoned the show in.

Even after 18 years, Bad Company is still turning out viable songs. And this time next year, those Damn Yankees will probably be gone with the wind.