Artist Y&T

Legendary among hair-metal holdouts as much for its near misses with rock stardom as for its sheer, butt-rock intensity, Y&T might have finally seemed down for the count following its original disbanding in 1991. But the group rose up and released this year's Facemelter, a slightly outdated yet admirable attempt by a serious group of musicians to wink at the genre that's mistreated them for so long. The group's only real hit came in the form of the David Lee Roth-mocking—and insanely catchy—"Summertime Girls," which traded in head-exploding riffs (mostly) for twinkling synths and boob jokes. New songs like "I'm Coming Home" completely snuff out the sleazy stuff—which is a bit of bummer, until Y&T uncorks some truly nasty guitar solos.

Updated 07/21/2010