Top 10: Y&T Songs

There are two types of people in the world: Those who love Y&T and those who have never heard of them. If you fall into the former, I’m sure you’ll counter this list with 10 other equally excellent Y&T songs. If you fall into the latter, get ready for an old school hard and heavy history lesson. Y&T might be the single most important American metal band of all time, or at least neck and neck with Riot. They’ve influenced everyone from Metallica to Mötley Crüe, inspiring both the subsequent thrash and glam metal scenes. Their combination of hard rock swagger and heavy metal aggression should’ve made them a household name the world over. And while they fared better commercially than Riot thanks to a handful of moderate MTV hits, they still never made it past cult status among the denim and leather faithful. This week’s Top 10 pays tribute to the mighty Y&T and their unrelenting hunger for rock. “It’s time to get wild!”

10. “Hang ‘Em High”

Even at their heaviest, the word “dark” rarely comes to mind when discussing Y&T. There are some exceptions, one being our #10, “Hang ‘Em High”. This menacing rager off 1983’s Mean Streak practically foreshadows the youthful fury of Metallica and Slayer that would take the underground by storm a few months later. Granted, the production is rather polished and there’s still a healthy dose of melody, but it’s this type of American spin on the NWOBHM that opened the floodgates for thrashers from coast to coast. Whenever Meniketti and company dust this one off live, heads start banging and fists start flying.

9. “Hurricane”

After drifting through the 70s under the moniker Yesterday and Today, Y&T cut to the chase in 1981 with their third album, Earthshaker. They abbreviated their name and doubled down on the straightforward heavy metal sound, leaving AM balladry, Sabbathian pseudo-prog, and whatever other drastic experimentation in the past. This isn’t to say their first two albums, Yesterday and Today (1976) and Struck Down (1978), are bad. They’re anything but. However, one could argue it wasn’t until Earthshaker that the band really found their identity. “Hurricane” embodies this identity that would come to define them: hard driving riffs, blistering guitar solos, pounding rhythms, and soulfully soaring vocals.

8. “Midnight in Tokyo”

Revisiting this classic got me thinking of a new Top 10 idea: Top 10 Twin Guitar Jams Not By Thin Lizzy. Spoiler alert: “Midnight in Tokyo” would definitely crack this hypothetical list. The intro twin harmonies of Dave Meniketti and Joey Alves set the tone for the rest of the song, a magnificently melodic tribute to the “Land of the Rising Sun”. Similar to the UK, Japan was one of the first countries to fully embrace heavy metal. It only made sense that Y&T would become, as the old phrase goes, “big in Japan”. All these decades later and Y&T are still grateful for their early Japanese success, as it remains a setlist staple worldwide.

7. “Rescue Me”

Although by no means a blues rock band, I always felt there were underlying blues rock tinges that seeped their way into the Y&T oeuvre. More specifically, I’m referring to frontman Dave Meniketti’s vocals and lead guitar passages. One such example is “Rescue Me”. If Johnny Winter had penned a NWOBHM inspired ballad, similar to the many fellow bluesman Gary Moore released in the 80s, it would probably sound like this. This unorthodox amalgamation is exclusive to Meniketti, one of the most underrated singers and guitarists of all time. If you’re left doubting his prowess after this cut, you best get your ears checked.

6. “Contagious”

Disclaimer: The inclusion of “Contagious” on this list is half bias, half nostalgia. It was the song that introduced me to Y&T one fateful early 2010s weekend afternoon while sitting in the family room binge watching VH1 Classic’s Metal Mania. That night, I picked up a copy of its namesake album from an area store called Disc Replay. I was instantly hooked. A lot of people tend to slag this era of Y&T. By now (1987), they had fully abandoned their early heavy metal and hard rock roots, settling instead for a streamlined blend of AOR and pop metal. I know I’m in the minority when I argue that Contagious and its follow up album, Ten (1990), are pop metal masterpieces on par with Whitesnake’s 1987 self titled and Alice Cooper’s Trash (1989). Although the style had changed, the riffs are still hooky and memorable as ever, or as I like to call it, “Bon Jovi with balls”!

5. “Lonely Side of Town”

While many diehard headbangers had fully abandoned Y&T by the latter half of the 80s, should anyone have really been surprised by their musical evolution? The band had been hinting at AOR as far back as 1983 with our #5, “Lonely Side of Town”. The riffs and aura are metallic, but those melodies are the stuff of Jim Peterik penned Top 40 gold (or platinum). There’s only one problem: It was never released as a single. If any song on this list should’ve been a massive hit, it’s this one. “Lonely Side of Town” had all the makings of a heavy metal crossover hit, similar to Scorpions’ “No One Like You” and Judas Priest’s “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'” released a year earlier.

4. “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”

By the time Y&T released Ten in 1990, they were on their last leg. The album was less a band effort and more a collaborative studio project, featuring appearances by Journey drummer Steve Smith and keyboardist Jeff Burns. One would never sense the inner turmoil by the cohesion and strength of the songs within, none stronger than the sublime power ballad, “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”. I can’t help but wonder why this song didn’t dominate MTV and the airwaves. Grunge wouldn’t hit for another year. Similarly styled tracks like Giant’s “I’ll See You in My Dreams”, Slaughter’s “Fly to the Angels”, and Steelheart’s “I’ll Never Let You Go” were tearing up the charts. Why didn’t the far superior “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”? I’ll have to interview Meniketti one day and get his thoughts on this.

3. “Mean Streak”

If you asked me to describe “Mean Streak” in one word, it’d be “nasty”. The lyrics, a tragic tale of gold digging, are nasty. The rhythmic Bonzo-esque grooves, laid down precisely by the late Leonard Haze, are nasty. The venomous vocals of Meniketti, as lethal as that being shot out by the painted snake gracing the album cover, are nasty. And the lead riff is one of the nastiest ever laid on tape. One can’t help but cringe in approval the moment it kicks in. The moral of the story? “You’re never good enough in the eyes of a woman with a mean streak.” True then, true now. Be careful boys.

2. “I Believe in You“

Get out the lighters folks! Behold the glory of one of the most powerful power ballads ever recorded. Saving the best for last, “I Believe in You” closes out Y&T’s 1981 magnum opus, Earthshaker. What begins as a blues infused ballad metamorphoses into a six string clinic. Meniketti’s name deserves to be mentioned alongside the likes of Gary Moore, John Sykes, and Randy Rhoads. I’m tired of pretending otherwise. Those in the know have been doing so for the past four decades. It’s time we enlighten our unenlightened friends. What better way to do so than with this 7 minute display of musical passion?

1. “Forever”

Surprise! Not really. If you’ve been reading this site since the beginning of the year, you’ll remember our Top 10: Heavy Metal Love Songs, a list that was topped by this song here. By default, “Forever” is also the greatest Y&T song. It showcases the band firing on all cylinders, at the utmost peak of their songwriting and musical abilities. No band before or after has been capable of writing such an epic love song without stooping to some degree of sappiness or wimpery. For that alone, Y&T are deserving of your attention. Play this Top 10 and play it loud!