11. Y&T Earthshaker 1981 (A&M)
Heavy Metal
A maelstrom of commercial metal for the 1980s.
Album
Y&T real name actually being Yesterday & Tomorrow (named after a Beatles compilation album) were a band out of Oakland California and had formed way back in 1974. Y&T were a prime example of a band, that were only really in their element in a live setting and over the years they had built up a pretty blistering live show! But unlike say their far more famous ZZ Top contemporaries (another great live first band as well) Y&T were unable to take ZZ Top’s cue and dish out studio material to match their live shows. On their first two albums the band were unable to recapture their live prowess in the studio and the eponymous debut
Yesterday and Tomorrow released back in 1976 and their sophomore
Struck Down in 1978 really proved how they struggled in the studio, a claim of course that could often be thrown at a number of late 1960s and early 1970s blues rock bands as well, of whom they shared a strong spiritual bond with! So by the time of 1981’s
Earthshaker their label A&M were pushing for the band to capture their live ability in the studio and release something more contemporary to the then burgeoning commercial metal market in the US, largely thanks of course to the popularity of Van Halen (Van Halen had opened for Y&T in the past) A&M also pushed for the band to shorten their emblematic 1960s/1970s name to the much shorter Y&T. The band were fronted by guitarist and vocalist David Meniketti who was a prime example of a blues rock guitarist that had been influenced by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Leslie West amongst numerous others and as a band Y&T always kept their Led Zeppelin and Who influences close as well. The other band members were equally gifted and included the rhythm guitar of Joey Alves, the bass of Phil Kennemore and the powerful drumming of Leonard Haze. Y&T were also the highlights of the the legendary Starwood Club in LA, which would prove to be the early breeding ground for the future hair metal brigade and it’s where members from bands such as Motley Crue, Ratt and W.A.S.P cut their teeth on the likes of both Y&T and Van Halen who also played there.
Earthshaker is a prime example of a stadium metal album where the singing and instrumentation are loud along with its production. Its mid-paced pounders “Hungry for Rock” “Young and Tough” and the Journey sounding quartet of “Dirty Girl” “Rescue Me” “Let Me Go” and “I Believe in You” are all designed for the big stage and on the manic “Hurricane” and “Squeeze” where on the latter Phil Kennemore takes over on vocals the band are adept at faster speeds as well. Glam metal would soon become a US west coast institution and a band like Y&T at the Starwood Club both musically and physically (they had the glam image) must have been prime motivators for the hair metal brigade (even though their sound was far more stadium rock orientated) sadly though the band are somewhat forgotten and never quite got the the recognition they deserved and in hindsight their pumping stage show was an inspiration on metal in the 1980s and on
Earthshaker the band actually put out an album to match their electric live show.