David Halbe 
I never decided where I thought this quartet truly belonged. In my mind, Dokken were too hard to be considered part of the glam metal movement and not heavy/speedy enough to be lumped in with the thrash crew.
I’ve always considered Dokken a powerful metal act whose solid song writing has largely gone un-noticed. This notion came to me recently as I began revisiting albums I once treasured in my youth.
The idea of relationships, bad or good, hasn’t really changed much over the years. It’s true we might dress it up with social media and technology but hooking up will always be hooking up. The pitfalls of love, jealousy and satisfaction are always the same.
Established back in 1978 Dokken is a true metal anomaly. I never decided where I thought this quartet truly belonged. In my mind, Dokken were too hard to be considered part of the glam metal movement and not heavy/speedy enough to be lumped in with the thrash crew. A traditional heavy metal band that sold a lot of records but never enough to sell out stadiums like Judas Priest or Ozzy Osbourne.
I remember seeing A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 at the movie theater. I had a video store standee of Freddy Krueger and we drove to the theater with it in the backseat!
One of the reasons I wanted to see the film badly was because Dokken contributed to the soundtrack. In my mind Dokken unified the relationship between metal and horror when they released a track and music video for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.
I remember watching the video on MTV and picking up a cassette single of the song from my local record store.
Following up on the history of horror and metal, Gibson has unveiled a new show on their online video channel, Gibson TV. A new series entitled Metal And Monsters will take viewers through the unfathomable history of heavy metal and horror in hour-long video instalments. Featuring Don Dokken and Robert Englund, the debut is a celebration of the 35th Anniversary of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.
Strife within the band ended a musical marriage in 1989 that we are still lamenting to this day. The ending was so abrupt, so unexpected, it makes me wonder. How big could Dokken have gotten had they not broken the momentum?
We all know Dokken reunited back in 1993 but the tensions between Don Dokken and George Lynch turned out to be insurmountable. Regardless of what the icons of metal decide to do, they still left behind some great music. \m/
Dokken (1987)
- Don Dokken – Vocals
- George Lynch – Guitars
- Jeff Pilson – Bass,
- Wild Mick – Drums
