Thursday
Jan292015
Help Y&T Make A Documentary!
Thursday, January 29, 2015 at 12:01AM
The guys in Y&T have launched a Kickstarter campaign to pay for a documentary about the band's career. The film will be narrated by Eddie Trunk. The band is trying to raise $26,000. Help celebrate 40 years of rock n' roll! Details are below.
Reader Comments (30)
And, of course, Priest makes Menniketti look like Halford's valet, except Halford wouldn't hire him for that or any other position, hahaha!!!
As for Priest, I actually love "Parental Guidance", but you'll never convince me that it has anything in commin with, "Beyond The Realms of death."
Now on to Whitesnake. I agree with you that they didn't veer as far off the track as some other bands, but they came close. Again, I enjoy their late 80s output, but Coverdale's attempt to move Whitesnake in a hair metal direction is incredibly obvious. It started with the version of the "Slide It In" album that was released in America. Nearly all of Jon Lord's organ parts were removed for the American version, a majority of the guitar parts were re-recorded to eliminate any of the bluesy feel on the original version, and even the drum tracks were layered in reverb to minimize any human feel that Cozy Powell had dared to inject into the original version. By 1987, the transformation was complete. I can't stand what they did to "Here I Go again", first on the 1987 album, and then even worse on the radio single. I like the rest of their stuff from the late 80s, but I don't see any rooted connection between "Kitten's got Claws" and "wine, women and Song."
Finally, to bring this back full circle, Yesterday and Today was even trying to find their sound before they shortened their name. Metalboy!, I invite you to put the needle in the groove of their first album which came out in 1976. With the exception of the slow groove in "My Heart Plays too", and the odd time signature in "Fast Ladies and Very Slow Gin", their first album is mainly a straight-ahead hard rock affair. It was on their second album, "Struck Down" that they temporarily moved in a slightly more progressive direction. You can almost tell that they saw the error of their ways because their first album under the Y&T name was called "Earthshaker" which is the name of one of the songs on their first album as Yesterday and Today. If you take the "Struck Down" album out of the equation, I think you'd find that "L.A. Rocks" has more in common with "Animal women" than "I Can't wait Anymore" has in common with "Heavy Metal Thunder."
And, of course, "Parental Guidance" doesn't have much in common with "Beyond The Realms Of Death", but I would still argue, played back to back than, have more in common than the before and after of anything from Y&T. I would do a song by song comparison, but I would just fall asleep before finishing listening to even one Yesterday & Today / Y&T song save for "Contagious". However, I would NOT fall asleep to ANYTHING by the other bands we are discussing.
Granted, "Parental Guidance" does bear some resemblance to "Livin' After Midnight", perhaps Priest's first foray into Pop Metal. FYI, just so you know why you can keep calling me Metalboy! even when I'm professing a kind of guilty pleasure fondness for the poppier side of Metal, "Exciter" is my favorite Priest song.
I stand by my proclamation regarding Y&T, I am a completist when it comes to Hard Rock & Metal and therefore, for better or worse, own ALL of Yesterday & Today's and Y&T's catalog.
I equate Saxon's foray into Hair Metal as gradual. They were never Prog, ALWAYS Metal and slowly evolved into an entity that would create one of THE Greatest Metal Albums of All Time, the unfairly maligned "Destiny".
The genius of their remake of Christopher Cross' "Ride Like The Wind" is both hilarious AND killer at the same time, along with the rest of the album, but to say "Calm Before The Storm" is kindred to Survivor is stretching it as the guitars of the former are so much heavier (no matter how buried in the mix) than those in the latter. FYI, my favorite Saxon songs are "Princess Of The Night" and "Where The Lightning Strikes" (the latter from "Destiny").
So I stand by my contention... The evolution of all those bands into Hair Metal is far less extreme than Y&T's, who's transformation is more akin to that of Bruce Jenner.
p.s. As far as Whitesnake goes, excellent analysis, Bob. But I'll take "Children Of The Night" over any of that earlier sh*t. That song is b*lls out 100% BADA*SS C*CK ROCK and FRICKIN' ROLL, I don't care how stupid it is!
And fantastic discussion with Bob (speaking of which, I wish you would post more and more often . . . you bring some balance to the discussion and show a great appreciation of the music). I tend towards his way of thinking on most of the points you two raised.
I suppose I said what I thought when I decided not to say anything else. Besides, I have said it all before.
In my best Pacino voice: "Just when I thought I was out . . . Metalboy! pulls me back in."
My problem (and perhaps I'm wrong about Mb) is that she tended to listen to mostly popular music of the '80's which was almost entirely rumored-filled (who am I to get in the way of a good rumor? -dlr) and didn't realize and fully understand the output of the other music at the time...as did so many others in her peer group. this is my opinion, based on facts.
and as a final caveat, I am not trying to start another war with Mb. Been there/done that/over it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikFU0rkzneg
And as far as I'm concerned, I totally appreciate your posts. The "subsidized" comment was a cheap shot. Can't wait to read your next one!
p.s. Meniketti and Y&T are The Epitome of Metal Mediocrity. If I had control of this movie, I would produce one THE most hilarious Rock Documentaries ever made, simply because their transformation was so shameless!
The thought of you behind the camera, making a movie about Y&T (or Tesla), is fabulous. Both bands would probably need a Spinal Tap after watching them.
Yes, there is a mild curiosity regarding Jeff What's-his-name's previous life as a former garbage man and the band possessing such a loyal blue collar following.
But what's WAY more interesting than that is Yesterday & Today's transformation into Y&T. THAT would be as funny as Spinal Tap!