Music is a magical thing as a teenager. It doesn’t become less powerful or enjoyable as you get older, but the music of your teenage years tends to take you back to a certain time and place. It’s extremely evocative, which is why bands like Journey, Styx and REO Speedwagon are able to tour successfully every year.
The genre that defines my teenage years is hair metal, the misunderstood red headed stepchild of rock n’ roll. If a band looked remotely androgynous, I bought their record. I liked my guitars pointy and my leather pants tight. Explosions and jumps off the drum riser were essential parts of a concert experience. Fake Satanism wasn’t required, but appreciated. Double entendres and songs about good hearted strippers were required though, and a band got extra points if they did it in their old man’s Ford. The genre took me out of the suburbs and into the sleazy glamour of the Sunset Strip. No other genre embraced the rock god mythology quite like hair metal did, which is why I felt such a connection to it.
So it is with a great deal of warmth and nostalgia that I launch my newest feature, The Hair Metal Files.
DOKKEN
Personnel:
Don Dokken- vocals
George Lynch- guitar
Jeff Pilson- bass, backup vocals
“Wild” Mick Brown- drums
Dokken may seem like an odd choice as my inaugural band. I thought about starting with Motley Crue or Poison, but I never felt like Dokken got enough credit. They sold four million albums between 1984 and 1988, but they were never able to make it beyond an opening slot. There are plenty of reasons for this, but let’s look at the positives.
Dokken had the best musicianship of all the mainstream hair bands. “Wild” Mick Brown and Jeff Pilson were a rock solid rhythm section. Jeff Pilson’s backup vocals often covered for the limited singing ability of Don Dokken. Then there was guitarist George Lynch, who was the true star of the band. There were so many shredders in the ’80s that Lynch gets caught in the shuffle. It’s unfortunate because Lynch is miles ahead of the typical two-hand tapping Eddie Van Halen clone. George Lynch was 30 when Dokken released their breakthrough second album, Tooth and Nail. Instead of growing up in the shadow of Van Halen, Ace Frehley and Michael Schenker, Lynch came from the blues-based styles of Clapton, Hendrix and Page. His playing was truly unique, because he superimposed the two-hand tapping on his blues background. The combination gave Lynch’s playing a monster tone. He tapped the fretboard frequently, but the hallmark of his solos is the vibrato. Lynch always knew the exact note to bend, and it always made his solos memorable. If Lynch was the leader of Dokken, they would have been huge.
Unfortunately Lynch was a hired gun of the band’s namesake, Don Dokken. Don Dokken is the reason his band never made it past mid-level status. A hair metal frontman doesn’t need to be blessed with a fantastic voice, but he does need charisma. Dokken possessed neither. His stage moves consisted of air-drumming and putting his foot on the monitor. He was never particularly androgynous or flashy, and his outfit on the cover of Under Lock and Key looks like a Layne Bryant formal ensemble. Compared to ultra-charismatic frontmen like Bret Michaels or Vince Neil, Don Dokken is an unconfident nerd.
Don’s lack of confidence comes through in his lyrics. While other frontmen bragged about banging strippers in situations that defy the laws of basic human decency, Don mournfully sang about his broken heart. Even though his love burned like a flame, he always seemed to be alone again. He was the Elvis Costello of the hair metal set, except without the clever wordplay. This is what held Dokken back. Every hair band needs a power ballad, but for every “Every Rose Has It’s Thorn,” you need a “Talk Dirty to Me.” Before you appeal to the ladies, you need to win the hearts of the dudes. Nothing appeals to male testosterone quite like a guitar god, which Dokken had. However, because of his own ego, Don never capitalized. So instead of having a showcase for George Lynch’s face-melting guitar pyrotechnics, there were a dozen mid-tempo songs about Don’s terminally broken heart. He would flourish in today’s emo scene.
Dokken can be a tremendously cheesy band at times, but I still listen to them on a fairly regular basis. I’ve always loved Lynch’s guitar playing, and it elevates Dokken’s music to a higher level. If it wasn’t for Lynch’s playing, Dokken would be just another banal strip band. But I can’t say no to a dude with a skeleton guitar….even if he did dress up like a fireman for the “Burning Like a Flame” video.
Recommended Listening: Tooth and Nail is Dokken’s best studio record, but I’d go with 1988′s live album, Beast From the East. You get all the hits, plus George Lynch in a live setting.