Share

 
Legendary Rock Interviews: (Producer) Michael (Wagener) told us that the tension between you and George was very real but he also felt some of it contributed to the great performances. Do you think that some of the strife had anything at all to do with the fact that you had a friendship with Michael dating way back to before George or Jeff even joined the band?
 
Don Dokken: I don’t know. Every album I fought for Michael to do the record and the band definitely thought that we were in cahoots. George was always worried that Michael would make my vocals too loud, childish things like that. I said “The vocals shouldn’t be too loud or too low, they should be right where they’re supposed to be”, him saying that didn’t make any sense to me. The problem was, as Michael well knew, George and I never got along from the very beginning. Even in Germany when Micheal was working with us on “Breaking The Chains” every day was a struggle just trying to get something on tape with George. I liked using Michael because he was just about the only person I knew that could deal with all the madness and pretension. Having said that, I think a lot of it had to do with drugs and alcohol and stuff like that you know….I never got into that whole 80s cocaine thing, it just wasn’t my thing but as we got popular they all really developed pretty bad drug problems and Jeff and George were really writing a lot of songs for the Dokken albums at their drug dealer’s houses and I was kind of the odd man out writing my songs at my house alone. I never wrote a song with George, not one. People always thought it was like a Motley or Van Halen situation where I was the frontman like Vince or Dave but they forget that I was the guitar player in Dokken. I play guitar and I played guitar on the first tour. I would go home alone with my guitar and write songs like “In My Dreams” or “Alone Again” or “Into The Fire” or songs like that and they would go off together and write their songs. A lot of times they couldn’t come up with lyrics for their songs so I would help with that or help with re-writing lyrics to make them better. It was all just about the best songs making it, it always has been, but George and I never wrote a song together.

80s Metal Trending

King played guitar for Megadeth’s first five shows in 1984 – but the partnership was never going to last [...]

Classy covers from late guitarist Bernie Marsden on Icons, the fourth album in a series of five [...]

San Francisco Bay Area thrashers TESTAMENT played at The Machine Shop in Flint, Michigan on May 7 as part of their "An Evening With Testament" tour. The trek celebrates the [...]

In a new interview with Talking With Cars, legendary guitarist George Lynch spoke about his upcoming touring activities following the completion of LYNCH MOB's "The Final Ride" farewell tour celebrating [...]

EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt celebrated his 61st birthday onstage with his bandmates during their May 4 concert at Deluxe at Old National Centre in Indianapolis, Indiana. After one of the [...]

The Black Dahlia Murder will look a little different when they play Sonic Temple this weekend. The band announced a new guitarist and a special guest fill-in. Continue reading… [...]

Professionally filmed video of METALLICA performing the song "One" during the band's April 19 concert at at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse, New York can be seen below. Syracuse [...]

JUDAS PRIEST's Rob Halford says that he is "absolutely gutted" to have to miss the last BLACK SABBATH concert this summer. Noting that PRIEST is scheduled to play the 60th-anniversary [...]

The newly formed SATCHVAI band, the electrifying collaboration between legendary guitarists Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, returns with their second studio single "I Wanna Play My Guitar", out now. Featuring [...]

If you know college football tradition, you likely know why fans in Blacksburg, Va. were setting off the seismograph at Metallica's Wednesday show. Continue reading… [...]

Judas Priest are one of the only veteran metal bands to not be playing Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne’s farewell concert this summer. Rob Halford explains why. [...]

Matt Pinfield shares an item he received from Ozzy Osbourne during his recovery from a stroke earlier this year that left him 'absolutely floored.' Continue reading… [...]

Rivers Of Nihil might be modern prog metal masters, but that doesn't mean they sign from the same hymn sheet as everyone else [...]

In a new interview with Mexico's Loud! Metal Radio, bassist David Vincent spoke about the future plans for the reactivated TERRORIZER, in which he is joined by Pete "Commando" Sandoval [...]

Professionally filmed video of METALLICA performing the song "Creeping Death" during the band's April 19 concert at at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse, New York can be seen below. [...]

In a new interview with Rob Rush, the evening host on Long Island, New York's 94.3 The Shark radio station, Gene Simmons spoke about KISS's upcoming appearance without makeup at [...]

Classic Rock presents the first in an exclusive series of excerpts from former Guns N' Roses manager Alan Niven’s forthcoming book Sound N’ Fury [...]

Hear "I Wanna Play My Guitar," the debut single from the SatchVai Band. Continue reading… [...]

Warrant’s . The post Warrant’s 1995 album ‘Ultraphobic’ remastered and to be released on vinyl for the first time first appeared on Sleaze Roxx. [...]

"It's time," the Prince of Darkness explains, admitting he's become a "homebody." Continue reading… [...]

From post-punk icon and award-winning female solo artist to becoming regarded as just the prog mastermind’s wife, her rebellious creative energy is fired by Roxy Music, Devo, The Tubes and [...]

Diamond Dave returned to the stage at the weekend and now he's booked a dozen more shows [...]

David . The post David Lee Roth announces US tour dates after his first show in five years first appeared on Sleaze Roxx. [...]

The new additions included two songs from Ratt's underrated 1986 album 'Dancing Undercover.' Continue reading… [...]