Dokken was one of the few bands from the hair metal era I really liked. I had seen articles on them in Circus magazine and a few tracks here and there after Tooth and Nail but I hadn't really payed much attention to them until I saw them open up for Judas Priest on my first ever concert. So many good songs that didn't delve into the let's go get crazy and laid lyrics of their contemporaries. Don Dokken actually could sing and George Lynch was always one of my favorite guitarists because he was self taught. Not one of these neo classical junkies like so many others of the time.
After the first break up I pretty much lost track of what they were doing though I did check out the reunion album many years later. It was ok but nothing like the stretch of 80's classics. I've seen them a total of three times live over the years, the last being just Don and Mick of the original band members.And always because they happened to be opening for someone else I was there to see. Regardless I dig them and it's too bad more bands didn't follow suit with what these guys had going on. Who knows, the L.A. scene might have lasted a bit longer if they had.
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1 comment:
Glad to see some love for Dokken. I took quite a bit of abuse for loving on them so much back in 87-88, but truthfully, "Kiss Of Death" is as good as pretty much anything by Priest. Their music hasn't aged well, but at least they're embarrassing in different ways than all of the other hair bands from the 80s!
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