Y&T: Американдық хард-рок тобының тарихы

American hard rock band

Y&T (originally known as Yesterday & Today) is an American hard rock/heavy metal band formed as a cover band in 1972 in Oakland, California, with the lineup that would record the first album being cemented in 1974. The band released two studio albums on London Records as Yesterday & Today in the 1970s before shortening their name to Y&T, after which they released several albums on A&M Records beginning in 1981, and later on Geffen Records, Avex Records, and more. The band was originally co managed by Herbie Herbert and Louis "Lou" Bramy. The band has sold over 4 million albums worldwide to date, output summarized as 18 albums, three greatest hits collections, and a boxed set.

Leonard Haze, Bob Gardner, and Wayne Stitzer formed an unnamed band in Oakland, California that jammed only cover tunes. Dave Meniketti joined as guitar player in 1972. Soon after, the band received a call for their first gig, but they needed a name. According to Meniketti and Haze, Haze chose the name of the album that was playing on his turntable at that moment – Yesterday and Today – a studio album by the Beatles. The first lineup – which only played covers of songs by other artists – consisted of Haze on drums, Stitzer on piano, Gardner on bass, and Meniketti on lead vocals and lead guitar. After Stitzer quit the group, Gardner switched from bass to rhythm guitar and piano, and Phil Kennemore was brought in to play bass. In 1973, Gardner left the group and was replaced by Joey Alves in January 1974. With this 1974 lineup change, the band began writing original material. The band continued to tour extensively, building up to headliners while they opened for bands such as Wild Cherry, Kiss, AC/DC, and more. As Meniketti has said in numerous radio, television, and magazine interviews over the past four decades, it was the new record deal ("which took forever" [to secure]) in 1980 with A&M Records that prompted the band to shorten their name to simply Y&T, which was influenced by their encores where fans would chant "Y&T, Y&T, Y&T." The classic Y&T logo made its first appearance on the cover of this album. Part way through recording Black Tiger, the band did their first shows outside the US—Netherlands followed by the UK. By 1983, in spite of their lack of notable success, Y&T were starting to play at larger venues such as arenas, stadiums and amphitheaters across America and Europe, with a variety of acts including AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Blackfoot, Dio, Iron Maiden, Marillion, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne, Twisted Sister, and ZZ Top, garnering far more mainstream recognition in Europe and Japan than they did in their native America.

Y&T's sixth studio album, In Rock We Trust, released in 1984, became the band's highest charting and selling album, reaching No. 46 on the Billboard 200. The album produced Y&T's first big radio hit "Don't Stop Runnin'". Dr Pepper acquired the rights to use "She's a Liar" in a radio ad campaign. To date, In Rock We Trust has sold over 450,000 copies. This album was the only Y&T album to chart in Canada, reaching No. 77 on the RPM chart. The label brought in writer Geoffrey Leib for the album, the first time an external writer had been used. The success of In Rock We Trust, which saw the band continuing to perform at arenas and stadiums (including opening for Rush and Dio on their tours for Grace Under Pressure and The Last in Line respectively, as well as shows with Whitesnake, Twisted Sister, Ratt, Dokken, and Night Ranger), and participating in the 1984 edition of Monsters of Rock at Donington Park in England, gave Y&T better exposure than they'd had previously. The band's 1985 hit "Summertime Girls", initially featured as the sole studio track on the band's first live album, Open Fire, and later also featured on their seventh (studio) album Down for the Count released later the same year, became the band's highest charting hit to date, reaching No. 55 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 16 on the Mainstream Rock songs chart. It received airplay worldwide, played frequently in the Baywatch television series, featured in several feature films (including Real Genius), received heavy rotation on MTV as well as MTV's top video playlists, and continues to get regular airplay today on classic rock radio stations throughout the United States. Down for the Count would be the band's last album for A&M, as the band grew increasingly frustrated with the lack of promotion from the label within the US. Despite successful tours with Mötley Crüe and Aerosmith, and the chart success of "Summertime Girls", the label declined to release a follow up single. On his recollection of Down for the Count, Meniketti said in an interview for Metal Express Radio: ". . it ended up being a sort of wasted record . it was out right when the record company didn't care about us." The band still play tracks from the album in their live shows. In 1986, the band changed record labels to Geffen, and in that same year, Haze was fired for drug abuse issues (as Haze, band, and management discuss in the documentary "Y&T: On With the Show"), and was replaced by Jimmy DeGrasso; decades later when interviewed for the documentary Y&T: On With the Show, Haze said, "I would've fired me too." In 1987, the eighth album Contagious was released. In 1989, Alves was fired for drug abuse and was replaced by Stef Burns. (DeGrasso and Burns later played together with Alice Cooper in the 1990s.) Y&T's next studio album Ten was released in 1990. The album features ballads such as "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" (the first and only single from the album), "Ten Lovers", and "Come in from the Rain", together with a few straightforward hard rock songs, including "Hard Times", "City", "Surrender", and the fastest track Y&T ever recorded, "Goin' Off the Deep End". According to Meniketti, the video for "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" was probably the best video they ever made, but with the onset of grunge he never once saw it on MTV. Titled Facemelter, it was their first studio album in thirteen years (since 1997's Endangered Species). In June 2010, Y&T toured the world in support of Facemelter, performing the big European summer festivals, such as Sweden Rock, Download Festival at Donington Park, UK, and Hellfest in Clisson, France. During this world tour, bassist Kennemore experienced health issues. While on the US leg of the 2010 world tour, he was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. Upon receiving doctor's orders to leave the tour and begin treatment, Kennemore urged Meniketti to find a replacement and continue touring. In July 2010, the group enlisted Brad Lang, bass player from the band Jet Red, to step in and finish Y&T's tour promoting Facemelter, as Kennemore wanted the tour to carry on during his fight with cancer. On January 7, 2011, bassist Kennemore died at the age of 57 after a short battle with lung cancer. Kennemore and Meniketti had been the only constant members of the band since 1974. After Kennemore's untimely passing, Lang filled the bass position permanently. On October 19, 2013, in Bellagio, Italy, Stef Burns joined the band onstage for four songs (Black Tiger, Dirty Girl, Midnight In Tokyo, and Hurricane) in a reunion of sorts since Burns had been busy touring with Huey Lewis and the News and Vasco Rossi. This one time reunion was well received by the fans, as one would expect. In April 2016, Lang left the band to address his alcohol dependency; his last show with the band was on April 2, 2016, at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Lang's friend Aaron Leigh (Frank Hannon Band) stepped in that year, with his first show on April 14 at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, CA. On June 29, 2016, Y&T and Lang announced separately on their own Facebook feeds that they had mutually and amicably parted ways, confirming that Leigh would remain as the band's bassist. Songwriter and original drummer Haze died on September 11, 2016, at the age of 61 after a long battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Original guitarist Alves died on March 12, 2017, at the age of 63 from ulcerative colitis and inflammatory bowel disease. Alves' death left Meniketti as the last surviving member from the band's original, classic 1974 1986 lineup. In January 2018, Y&T released their first ever acoustic EP titled Acoustic Classix Vol. 1. In June 2018, Meniketti said that the band might release more acoustic EPs in the future. On November 26, 2019, the long awaited, fan backed (on Kickstarter) documentary Y&T: On With the Show was released.

"Summertime Girls" has been the band's most widely recognized song, along with fan favorites such as "Mean Streak", "Contagious", "Rescue Me", "Forever". "Summertime Girls" appeared on the soundtrack to the 1985 film Real Genius as well as an episode of Season 1 of HBO's Peacemaker (TV series). Music videos for songs such as "Summertime Girls", "Mean Streak", "Lipstick & Leather", "Don't Stop Runnin'", "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark", and "Contagious" are still featured on VH1 Classic. Y&T's 2010 music video for "I'm Coming Home" marks the band's most viewed video on YouTube with over 2 million views. In the movie Anvil! The Story of Anvil, in the bonus feature interview Lars Ulrich of Metallica talks at length about seeing one of his favorite bands Y&T for the first time at a club in Hollywood in December 1980. Ulrich credits Y&T as the reason he decided to become a musician, saying: "That was the turning point for me wanting to play music. . You could tell that they loved what they were doing."

Acoustic Classix Vol. 1 (2018)

Year Single Peak chart positions Album US US Main. Rock 1977 "Earthshaker" — — Yesterday and Today (Yesterday and Today album) 1977 "Alcohol" — — Yesterday and Today (Yesterday and Today album) 1981 "I Believe in You" — — Earthshaker (album) 1981 "Rescue Me" — — Earthshaker (album) 1981 "Dirty Girl" — — Earthshaker (album) 1982 "I Don't Wanna Lose" — — Earthshaker (album) 1982 "Forever" — — Black Tiger (album) 1983 "Mean Streak" — 25 Mean Streak 1984 "Don't Stop Running" — 33 In Rock We Trust 1985 "Open Fire" — — Open Fire 1985 "Summertime Girls" 55 16 Open Fire 1985 "All American Boy" — 48 Down for the Count 1985 "Face Like An Angel" — — Down for the Count 1987 "Contagious" — 41 Contagious 1990 "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" — 31 Ten 1991 "Hurricane" — — Yesterday & Today Live 1991 "Don't Stop Runnin" — — Yesterday & Today Live