Y&T had, in the less streamlined guise of Yesterday & Today, made ripples in the 70s with two studio albums and their exciting live performances. But they would make major tremors with their first album of the next decade: 1981’s Earthshaker. The Bay Area band hardened their cock rock with a bold, metallic edge that positioned them (along with bands like Riot) as the Stateside answer to the new wave of heavy bands appearing in Europe.
With their powerful rhythm section, blocky riffs and Dave Meniketti’s Hagar-esque vocals, Y&T stick so close to the Montrose blueprint that they don’t score many points for originality. But these road-hardened rockers know how to show you a good time. Hungry For Rock and Dirty Girl are all pocket and swagger. Meniketti cuts loose with wild Nuge-esque guitar on Shake It Loose and Squeeze and Rescue Me cunningly reworks Zep’s Babe I’m Gonna Leave You into a stomping dancefloor anthem.
Earthshaker‘s musical one-track mind starts to wear a little thin on side two. But the rousing Hurricane, blazing Knock You Out and moody closer I Believe In You more than make up for weaker tracks like Young And Tough. And ensure that Earthshaker is a hearty, hefty serving of meat and potatoes that will satisfy anyone hungry for rock.
HEAVY METAL OVERLOAD 
I never realised that is what it stood for. Just assumed it was surnames.
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Makes sense. It’s not the best band name I’ve ever heard… kinda meaningless.
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I don’t know this one. Not sure I will check it out, but maybe some day.
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I like listening to I Believe In You because of its reassuring nature and its sincere tone.
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Great stuff. Like that description.
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I like this one. Quite good. I’ll have to keep an eye out for it.
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Nice. I don’t think you’d regret picking it up.
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HMO content makes KMA content!I didn’t know of this one, so today I learned new things because of you! \m/ \m/
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I don’t own any Y&T at all, that’s wrong of me. My mate used to have them all and we used to listen to this one and Black Tiger quite a lot.
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Worth having for the artwork too. Mean Streak and Black Tiger look ace.
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First heard Meanstreak back in 1983 as a school pal had it and I was blown away by and than he pulled out Black Tiger and I was like ‘Why aren’t these guys huge?’
Than In Rock We Trust Came out and I told my pal as I bought IRWT and liked it but my pal who had gotten me into them a year earlier had checked out by 84 as he said they sold out lol
Only in Thunder Bay man!
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Did you ever hear the earlier stuff, before the name change? I’ve heard tracks on YouTube but it’s hard to find those albums.
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I think Earthshaker was far back as I went. Good band though and have a decent catalog really.
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Hurricane can compete with the best of the NWOBHM any day. Great song and the riffage is fast with some nice shred.
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Absolutely, it’s the real deal. Great song.
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They were one of those bands that I used to read about (and I knew how their name came about!) but they always passed me by musically until I finally got around to buying a second-hand compilation CD of theirs. I play it a lot now. Was very pleasantly surprised by the songs and the riffs – heavier and rockier than I expected. Somehow I was expecting them to be far more AORish and a bit bland.
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Yes that’s a great point. I always suspected they were more AOR too. I saw them live though and was really impressed so that got my attention.
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