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<\/p>\nHard rock and heavy metal has gone through many phases. It has gone in and out of fashion, and endured the so-called \u201chair metal\u201d era of the \u201880s. But for true believers, the style has never lost its appeal. Launched in Oakland in 1974 and still going strong more than a half century later, Y&T carried the banner of hard rock and heavy metal. Lead guitarist and vocalist Dave Meniketti has been with Y&T since its start, and today he leads a lineup that has been together for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n
When Y&T first got together, Meniketti and his band mates already had a sense of the collective musical character upon which they wanted to build. The group quickly landed high-profile gigs opening for major acts like Queen. \u201cAll four of us had different musical backgrounds,\u201d Meniketti says, \u201cbut we had a similar feeling of what we wanted to do, the kind of material we wanted to write.\u201d He says that even then, Y&T\u2019s style was varied: \u201cvery fast and heavy rock to mid-tempo to ballads, and everything in between.\u201d<\/p>\n
The band signed with London Records, but its executives didn\u2019t seem to know what to do with a hard rock band like Y&T (then known as Yesterday & Today). As a result, the group\u2019s first two albums weren\u2019t promoted effectively; despite good reviews, they didn\u2019t sell. London soon made the decision to get out of the rock business, leaving the band without a label.<\/p>\n
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But on the strength of Y&T\u2019s heavy touring and growing fan base, the band soon landed at A&M Records. During an era when record labels allowed artists time to cultivate a following, the group continued to release well-regarded albums. Things truly took off with the success of 1984\u2019s In Rock We Trust<\/i>; the record reached a respectable #45 on the U.S. album chart, leading to touring spots in support of Rush and Dio.<\/p>\n
Yet due in part to the success of MTV, rock tastes had changed. So as creatively successful as Y&T\u2019s mid \u201880s output was, compromises were made. The group included a studio track on its 1985 live album Open Fire<\/i>; \u201cSummertime Girls\u201d was a Top 40 hit. But the sound might have confused fans of the band\u2019s earlier sound: uncharacteristically, keyboards would be very prominent in the mix. \u201cThat was a \u2018producer thing,\u2019\u201d Meniketti says. \u201cI can guarantee you that the band wasn\u2019t interested in putting keyboards [on our recordings].\u201d<\/p>\n
But Meniketti was (and remains) good-natured and philosophical about the decision. \u201cFor what it\u2019s worth, our producer did a really good job; it worked out well.\u201d Still, Meniketti emphasizes that when listeners hear \u201cSummertime Girls\u201d in the band\u2019s set \u2013 \u201cevery freaking time we play a show for the last for the last 40-plus years\u201d \u2013 they\u2019ll hear it the way the band originally played it: heavy guitars, bass, drums, vocals\u2026 but no keyboards.<\/p>\n
Another \u201880s trend was the widespread use of \u201csong doctors.\u201d Always in search of the next mega-hit, record companies foisted collaborative writers upon established acts. Aerosmith, Cheap Trick and many others were forced to co-write with pop songwriters; the same thing happened to Y&T. Meniketti says that when A&M brought in an outside co-writer, the band was wary. \u201cAs far as we were concerned, we were an all-encompassing band; we could write good \u2013 and great \u2013 songs.\u201d But the writer assigned to the band proved his worth, and won over the trust of Y&T. \u201cIt was weird at first, having this fifth guy,\u201d Meniketti recalls. \u201cBut it was a good thing for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meniketti says that he learned a lot about songwriting thanks to that experience. One important thing he learned was how to write songs that made the best use of his voice. \u201cOn previous records, I was just a singer,\u201d he says. \u201cIn Rock We Trust<\/i> is when I started to become a really good singer.\u201d<\/p>\n
In those days, Y&T was swept up in the hair-metal movement as well. Meniketti says that from the beginning, he and his band mates had taken a casual approach to how they dressed onstage. \u201cWe would just buy our clothes locally and then just figure something out,\u201d he says. \u201cBut then when MTV came along, the record company was onto us, saying, \u2018Hey, we need to get you a stylist and wardrobe person.\u2019\u201d And, he admits, \u201ceven bigger hair came out of all that.\u201d Meniketti looks back on that era as a time when everybody had to do it. \u201cBut we were still a band that really only cared about having [musical] chops and kicking ass live,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Along the way, the band has placed six of its singles on the charts, selling in excess of 4 million records. And in the years since their A&M era, Y&T got back to their core values: the glam hairdos, the flashy outfits and the co-writers have all faded away into the mists of time. What remains is what was there from the start: a hard-rocking foursome cranking out dazzling lead guitar fireworks and memorable songs in a powerful, no-frills heavy metal style.<\/p>\n
Y&T\u2019s last studio release of new material was 2010\u2019s aptly-named Facemelter<\/i>. In acknowledgment of industry trends, these days the band focuses more on live shows than record releases. Meniketti says that he and his band mates know what their live audiences want. \u201cNo matter how many new records we might come up with, they\u2019re still going to want to hear the classics,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are only so many minutes in a set\u2026 and we have a lot<\/i> of classics.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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