It’s time today to look at one of the pioneering acts of the 1980’s sound, and also one of the more overlooked acts of the 1980’s sound.

Y&T – In Rock We Trust

Released July 1984 via A&M Records

By 1984, Y&T were on to their sixth album. They had formed in the ’70’s and got their ball rolling in earnest just before the ’80’s hit. The band were making some buzz for themselves alongside the emerging Sunset Strip scene. Y&T were both opening for a who’s who of rock and metal acts like Kiss, AC/DC and Iron Maiden, while also serving as the headliner for fresh new acts like Mötley Crüe.

The band’s lineup was Dave Meniketti on guitar and vocals, Joey Alves on guitar, Phil Kennemore on bass and Leonard Haze on drums. Y&T also brought in outside help for this record – Geoffrey Leib, who is more popularly known as Jeff Paris, was in as a co-writer. The album was produced by Tom Allom, most known for his long tenure with Judas Priest.

Pretty standard issue album today – 10 tracks at 43:20. There is at least one version of a re-issue out there with a bonus track but I’ll be handling the original copy today. Also – this isn’t on streaming services that I know of, at least not on Spotify or Amazon. I have it on record but I had to use an unofficial YouTube source to review it, stopping and starting a record all the time to collect a thought isn’t a lot of fun. That’s probably why old school music critics were often full of shit.

Rock & Roll’s Gonna Save The World

We open with a nice, big track that brings nice riffs and a huge chorus that handles just what the song’s title says. Fitting that this came out just as a newer version of rock was taking over the airwaves, a version that Y&T were quite responsible for. Grade: A+

Life, Life, Life

This one is pretty melodic and bright rock-wise, though it’s a really dark topic on hand. This is a lament against what was the modern war machine, which in the 1980’s was a machine-filled monster. We were in the final years of the Soviet Union and Cold War then, though we didn’t totally know it was about to end. But we kept rocking and railing against it, and eventually it all fell apart. Grade: A

Masters And Slaves

Another bit of a social and political commentary here, wrapped up again in a prototypical 1980’s hard rock shell. This one’s about how a few have the power and everyone else is left out, something that didn’t get much better 40 years on. Grade: B+

I’ll Keep On Believin’ (Do You Know)

It’s on to a bit of a ballad now, though like many other 1984 ballads, this one packs quite the punch. It’s kind of funny to track the progression of ’80’s power ballads from ’84 to, say, ’89, when they were loaded with saccharine and sap. But these guys in ’84 were doing them right, having at the melody and softer edge while still rocking out. This song wasn’t a “hit” for Y&T per se but did get them a bit of traction in airplay. Grade: A-

Break Out Tonight!

This is a strong and powerful rock track that is just the perfect example of the ’80’s rock scene. The quiet build into the loud chorus works just great and we’re left with another fantastic song. Grade: A

Lipstick And Leather

Another uptempo rocker here, as a badass woman takes over the thoughts of the narrator. Nothing out of place here, it’s another straight and simple rock song that keeps the head banging. Grade: B+

Don’t Stop Runnin’

Nothing deviates from the formula here. It’s another solid rock song that’s both powerful and melodic. Y&T did a great job of blending the heavier edge of things with the more bright sounds that would please people not necessarily into all-out heavy metal. This is also one you can really hear the ’80’s creeping into the song, not that the rest of the album doesn’t totally scream 1984. Grade: B+

(Your Love Is) Driving Me Crazy

Not to be confused with the Sammy Hagar song of the same name (note taken for a future post), Y&T are again hard and heavy in this “on the prowl” song. This one does step over the edge a bit and retain a heavy metal feel throughout. Grade: A-

She’s A Liar

This one brings the heavy and plenty of boogie, with the band belting this one out at a breakneck pace. Very nicely done song, again combining the heavy with the melodic. This one got picked up for use in a Dr. Pepper commercial, too, so a bit more cash for the band. Grade: A-

This Time

The album ends with another ballad, and this one is a more stereotypical ’80’s ballad. The song is fine for what it is, though it honestly never won me over. I’ve heard far worse, but Y&T has also done far better. Grade: C

In Rock We Trust would not be a massive, multi-platinum release for Y&T, but just the same it did become the band’s biggest record. It charted at number 46 on the Billboard 200 and has sold around 450,000 copies. The band would be on a huge series of tours through this time, including Rush, Dio, Ratt, Dokken and Night Ranger, among others. Y&T saw their profile go from the regional Los Angeles scene to a national and international hard rock act. And while the band never “got their due” in a way, they have remained a staple of rock and metal for the 40 years since, even with Dave Meniketti being the lone surviving member from this album.

Grading this album is pretty easy – it’s a bunch of high quality hard rock. It’s done “in the vein” of the 1980’s scene at the time, but that’s primarily because Y&T were a band who helped shape that scene. This was the case of a band meeting their time more than anything, even if they didn’t benefit as much as others did from the new strain of rock going around.

Album Grade: A-

1984 contained a handful of the most essential albums in 1980’s rock – Out Of The Cellar, Tooth And Nail, W.A.S.P. And Slide It In just to name a few, much less 1984 itself. But just under the surface of the new movement in rock was Y&T, now six album veterans who offered up their own slab of high quality rock and metal. This album and band aren’t just “another good, somewhat out of the way” thing that also happened in the ’80’s, these guys were just as essential to the sound of that era as the other bands and albums mentioned in this post.