Songoftheday 12/18/14 - Are you ready for the new sensation? Well here's the shot heard 'round the world, all you back room boys salute when her flag unfurls...

David Lee Roth - "Yankee Rose"
from the album Eat 'Em and Smile (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #16 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 8

Today's Song of the Day is by the flamboyant hard rock singer David Lee Roth, who left Van Halen in 1984 over conflicts over their musical direction, with Eddie Van Halen's growing use of synthesizers a stick in Roth's craw. Oddly, his first solo venture went to retro land, with two hit covers of "California Girls" and "Just A Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" straying far from his metal roots. But by the time his first full-length album would be released, he would be back in the hard rock fold, as evidenced by its first single, "Yankee Rose". Written by Roth with his band guitarist Steve Vai, the sassy rocker came equipped with an over-the-top mix of racist humor and concert swagger with his buns in view...

"Yankee Rose" became Roth's third pop top-20 hit in August of 1986, while scaling to #10 on the Mainstream Rock radio chart in Billboard magazine. The single also made the top-20 in Canada and Australia.

Up tomorrow: an Indiana rocker gets in the back of the car.