Dave Meniketti shoots his mouth off.
That is the title of the segment by Bob Grossweiner. And boy doesn’t he just do that. It’s very hard to find anyone these days that is so honest in their views of other contemporary musicians. You see everyone wants to be loved, so in order to be loved people pretend. Not Dave Meniketti.
Who is Dave Meniketti I hear people asking?
Basically Dave Meniketti is the lead singer/lead guitarist of Y&T. Y&T started out as Yesterday and Today in the late seventies where they released two albums that did nothing and then changed their name to Y&T where they started getting some traction with albums like Earthshaker, Black Tiger, Meanstreak, Down For The Count, In Rock We Trust, Contagious and Ten. My own personal favourites are Meanstreak, In Rock We Trust, Down for the Count and Contagious.
It was due to this article that got me started in seeking out the music by Y&T.
Anyway let’s get to his views;
Dave Murray and Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden): ‘I don’t like them. Both are poor to adequate guitarists”.
Iron Maiden is coming off the mega successful Powerslave World Tour which resulted in the also mega successful Live After Death release and you have DM offering his own true opinion on them. That’s ballsy.
Mick Mars (Motley Crue): “Not the greatest player but a great guy. He doesn’t play very well. He’s not inspired and he’s very sloppy. He sounds like he picked up a guitar two years ago.”
I think the Dirt sums up Mick Mars and where he was at with his life during this period. DM got it spot on, with Mick not being inspired. Mick likes the blues and along his path to Blues stardom he ended up in Motley Crue. To be honest I saw the Crue live and when Mick Mars started doing his guitar solo, I felt like walking up on stage and pulling his guitar lead out.
Chris Holmes (WASP): “I don’t like him. It’s bullshit guitar playing.”
I totally agree with DM on this one. Holmes was rubbish; Blackie was the brains and the talent behind that outfit. When he got rid of him, he created The Crimson Idol. Enough said.
Matthias Jabs and Rudolph Schenker (Scorpions), K.K Downing and Glen Tipton (Judas Priest): “Guitarists to fill holes where solos are. I don’t find them inspiring soloists.”
I think he is a bit harsh on the Scorpions and Judas Priest duo, especially when the Scorpions where coming off the success of Love at First Sting and Judas Priest where on a roll that started with British Steel in 1980. Nevertheless DM was asked on his views and he gave them.
George Lynch (Dokken): “He reminds me a lot of a lot of Los Angeles guitarists. Good and technical but relying a lot on the bar. He gets boring after a while.”
Do we get this kind of honesty in 2013? Hell no. We only get this kind of honesty if someone breaks up and wants to vent their laundry to the world. DM and his band Y&T were practically had traction on the West Coast of America, and it wasn’t until 1985 that they toured the Midwest of the U.S. 1976 was when the first Y&T album came out. In 1972 the band was formed. 13 years later, they finally started to get traction around America and not just the West Coast. How many musicians starting off these days, will put in this kind of effort?
DM also had kind words to say about other guitarists like Yngwie Malmsteen, Carlos Cavazo (Quiet Riot), Eric Clapton, Van Halen, Gary Moore, Angus Young, Neil Schon, Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend, Ted Nugent, Ronnie Montrose, John Sykes, Ritchie Blackmore and Billy Gibbons.
For Neal Schon he mention how he learned a lot from Neal, how Clapton is a master and not a clone, how Hendrix was his biggest influence, how Billy Gibbons is the ultimate in R&B influence in Rock N Roll and how Jeff Beck is an innovator.
Finally, Meniketti was respected by other musicians and he was even asked to join Whitesnake and Ozzy Osbourne’s new solo band before Randy Rhoads came on the scene.
