Don Dokken

by Greg Prato



Don Dokken can't move his right hand. "I had spinal surgery on my neck, and they goofed up," he explains. "That's the bottom line."

He can still sing though, which is what he'll be doing when Dokken takes the stage at a couple of socially distanced shows this summer. He's worried about COVID-19, but mostly because of the travel - his son is a commercial pilot, so he knows you're only protected on a plane if you bring your own air.

Dokken, the band, peaked in 1988 when they played the Monsters of Rock tour with Metallica, Scorpions and Van Halen, but they were torn and frayed from years on the road, and what it took to get through that tour became their downfall. "We were tired, the drugs got worse, and people were doing coke to keep going," he says.

In 1989, with three Platinum albums on their wall, in the midst of a Metallica-fueled rush on metal, Dokken broke up. They were big, but they coulda been huge.

In this interview, Don speaks candidly about the breakup and the dynamic tension between him and Dokken's guitar god, George Lynch. The band has been intermittently active since regrouping in 1994; in 2020, they dug into the archives to release The Lost Songs: 1978-1981, which as its title advertises, is comprised of tunes demoed by Don prior to the release of Dokken's debut album, Breaking The Chains.
Greg Prato (Songfacts): Let's discuss how The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 came about.

Don Dokken: When you make a record, you put out 10 or 11 songs, but you always write another 10 or 15. So, early on in my career, I had this huge amount of material and it just went by the wayside. Then it disappeared for 30 years. I thought the tapes were all gone. I was just moving shit out of my garage six months ago, and I found all these old masters.

I talked with Silver Lining, and I said, "It might be fun to put out a retrospective of the early days. But I can't promise that it will be high quality – the shit's 40 years old." So, I did the best I could and mastered it. There were a couple of songs that weren't even done – it was just guitar, bass, and some vocals, and there were no solos and no overdubs. So, we decided to finish them up. I thought it would be a fun project.

We were supposed to be on tour this summer, like 25-30 shows, and we needed a product out there, so I said, "Let's do this." But with the COVID thing, everything went to hell in a handbasket. I have two shows next month [July 17 in Roanoke, Virginia and July 18 in Hot Springs, Arkansas] – I don't know how. Everyone says, "No one's playing this year," but we have two shows coming up in July. Like, 5,000 people.

Don is on the rightDon is on the right
Songfacts: Is there a plan for social distancing at those shows?

Dokken: We were talking about that. How in the fuck do you take 2,500 people and put them six feet apart? It's not reality. You're going to make everybody stand six feet apart at a concert? It's not going to happen.

But then again, with all these protests and tens of thousands of people ass to elbow next to each other and not wearing masks, nobody is paying attention, and you see what's happening: COVID is going up.

I just came in the house from my car - I was at the doctor's. I wear my mask, gloves, and I have my disinfectant hand spray. I've got no desire to catch it. But a lot of people are catching it. Memorial Day weekend, you see these pictures of 3,000 people in a swimming pool with no mask on. What do you think is going to happen?

For some reason, Arkansas and Virginia have low COVIDs, and the governors decided to open up the economy because they're going bankrupt. So, that's why we're doing the Dr. Pepper Amusement Park. It'll be like a free concert: You buy a ticket, you go on the roller coasters and the rides, and you get to see Dokken for free.

I'm just going to be really careful. I'm not really worried about the concert at all. I'd be more concerned about the airplane.

Songfacts: How do you find you write your best songs?

Dokken: Find inspiration. I know that sounds trite, but that's the truth.

Look, I've gone for months and not written anything. I'll sit down in my studio when I'm at home, pick up my guitar, I'll play... nothing happens. Nothing comes to me. I'm just playing. And that's why I hate it when record companies say, "OK, you've got six weeks to write a new record." It doesn't work that way. Especially since in Dokken it wasn't like another "band thing" where everybody was writing songs. It was mostly me. George, Jeff [Pilson, bass], and Mick [Brown, drums] weren't really that much of contributors. They just weren't. They said they were, but that's their story. [Laughs]

So, as far as how I write my songs, I write a guitar riff, if I dig it, I put it on tape. When I hear a lyric, I start putting a melody on it. It's a process. Sometimes, it's the other way around. A lot of these songs written in the past I wrote all the lyrics down in 40 minutes. I had the melody in my head and then put the music down. So, it just depends.

Songfacts: Could you give an example of a song that came to you fast?

Dokken: "In My Dreams." I was in Mexico on vacation and I took my acoustic guitar with me. I was sitting down at the beach, just looking at the ocean. The sun was going down, and I came up with the guitar riff. I had a magazine and a pen, and I started scribbling the lyrics on a magazine. In 40 minutes, the song was done.

Songfacts: Which songs do you feel define Dokken?

Dokken: Boy, that's more of a question to ask a fan, not me. We're a very unusual band compared to typical '80s rock bands because there was glam metal, hard rock – it was diversified. Some people think of us as a glam metal band, but we're not, obviously. We have songs like "Kiss of Death," "Tooth and Nail," "Lightning Strikes Again," "Paris Is Burning," "When Heaven Comes Down" – a very heavy side to us. Some of our songs are borderline Metallica.

But all our videos and all our singles were geared for pop radio. So, of course, the songs that were most commercial came out and MTV put those on. So, that kind of signified our sound as a very commercial rock band. I have people say, "I don't like your commercial stuff," and I have other people say, "I don't like the heavy stuff." You can't make everybody happy, man.

Songfacts: What was the inspiration behind the song "Breaking the Chains"?

Dokken: It's kind of inspired by the Accept song "Balls To The Wall." Accept was in the studio, and I remember Udo doing that thing, "We're going to break the chaaains!" And I thought, "That's cool." He kept doing it over and over again trying to get the right vibe, and I thought, "What a great phrase, 'break the chains.'"

I wrote it in Germany. The Scorpions were in there recording, Accept was in there recording, and I was in there recording. The title "Breaking The Chains" was my way of esoterically saying, "It's now or never. This is my shot. I've got a record deal. It could be over in a month." How many bands have put out a record and thought they were going to be big rock stars and you never see them again?

"Breaking The Chains" is a classic song now, but it didn't sell anything in the beginning. It only sold 100,000 copies. That album [of the same name] tanked. But we did an arena tour with Blue Öyster Cult to back it up.

Songfacts: And what about the song "Alone Again"?

Dokken: Oh God, I wrote that when I was 22. I wrote it in '75/'76. I wrote it on a 4-track studio, it ended up on a cassette, and it stayed in a closet for 10 years. We did Tooth And Nail and all these bands were doing ballads, so the record company said, "You need a ballad." I said, "We don't have one."

So, I was just digging through my cassettes and I found an old demo of "Alone Again." I played it for Jeff, so Pilson and I went into a studio and reworked it and revamped it, and that's how it came out in '85-ish.

It's an old song. I was really 23 when I wrote that. People ask me all the time, "Who did you write it about?" I don't know. "Was it about a girlfriend?" I don't know! I just wrote it. My memory's not that good.

Songfacts: "Just Got Lucky."

Dokken: I can't really speak for that – that was more of a song that Jeff and Mick wrote. That was kind of their baby. I just wrote some of the lyrics. I think it was George's music, and Jeff and Mick wrote most of the lyrics, so I can't really tell you what the inspiration was.

We never wrote together in Dokken. The three of them wrote, and I wrote by myself. Unfortunately, it wasn't a band effort. It was dynamics of the band, with all the tension of George and I competing. When you've got two alpha males in the band, you've got trouble.

Songfacts: "Dream Warriors."

Dokken: The movie company wanted us to write a song that they had already decided would be called "Dream Warriors" [for the 1987 film A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors]. So, it wasn't like we came up with it. They said, "Can you write a song with the title 'Dream Warriors'?" And again, Jeff, Mick, and George wrote a version, and I wrote a version by myself. Mine was more uptempo, more of a rock song. They had given me a rough cut of the movie so I could know what the movie was about. So, I wrote the lyrics:

I lie awake and dread the lonely nights
I'm not alone
I wonder if these heavy eyes
Can face the unknown


So, I wrote a version, they wrote a version. It's kind of funny. They said, "We actually like your version better Don, but we're going to use our part." [Laughs] It was just ego – there was a lot of ego in my band in the '80s.

Songfacts: What about memories of filming the video for that song?

Dokken: Fun. I think Patricia Arquette was 18, and it was her first movie. She was just a little girl, but she already had these huge breasts. [Laughs] And it was cold on the soundstage. I had to tell the director, "You have to put some Band-Aids over her nipples," because they kept poking through her T-shirt. But she was a nice girl, very sweet. And of course, Freddy – Robert Englund - is a super-cool guy. We had a lot of fun making it.

Songfacts: What was your favorite Dokken video?

Dokken: That's a hard one. Maybe "In My Dreams." The whole rain thing and all that. It was just a very colorful, cool video.

Songfacts: What was the inspiration behind the song "Kiss Of Death"?

Dokken: I wrote that right after I heard about AIDS. And my uncle actually came down with AIDS – he died of AIDS. People were talking about AIDS, and when it first came out, it was more of a gay thing. So, we were like, "We're not going to get it. We're not gay. It's a homosexual disease." And it took a few years for people to realize that anybody could get it.

Mick made a comment one night. I said, "You should be more careful about what you're doing. Use a condom." And he said something to the effect of, "I'm not going to get AIDS. I only sleep with good-looking chicks." And I said, "I don't think the disease cares what the person looks like, Mick." I thought it was a stupid thing for him to say.

So, it was about being on the road and one-night stands:

A brief encounter, like wind through the trees
It came so suddenly, but then she was gone
Like it had never been, how could I have ever seen?


It's like, having a one-night stand, and what happens? You get the kiss of death: You get AIDS.

Songfacts: "Burning Like A Flame."

Dokken: I really don't remember where the inspiration came from. It was just a song we wrote that I thought was catchy. That was kind of a band effort song – I think we all wrote it together.

Songfacts: Can you give any other examples of Dokken songs that were more band effort songs?

Dokken: "Slipping Away," "It's Not Love." Most of the collaboration happened at the end before we broke up in '88. The last album, Back For The Attack, was more of a band effort.

Don Dokken performing on the German show Beat-Club in 1982. Based on their name, many thought Dokken was a German band; it's actually Norwegian, and Don is from Los Angeles.

Songfacts: Do you ever wonder what would have happened if Dokken didn't break up at that point and continued on?

Dokken: I already know what would have happened. We would have been a huge band playing sold-out arenas. We were totally prepped. Our manager said, "Look, you've done Monsters of Rock. You've played stadiums. The next record, you're going to do a world tour headlining – no more supporting. Give me one hit, and it's going to be over. You're going to be on."

And... we broke up. Our management started shifting all their attention to their other band, which was Metallica, and then they did The Black Album. We probably would have had a Black Album if we would have stayed together and put our heads together. We were right there on the precipice. We were already playing arenas and selling out 10,000 seaters, and then we were playing stadiums. We were right on the precipice of next album, world tour, done deal.

And we didn't make it because I couldn't take it anymore. The drug abuse was so rampant. I'm not putting the finger on them, but I never did coke – it wasn't my thing. And those guys were coked-up out of their minds, as was everybody – you can't just say Dokken. Dokken was known for infighting because they publicized it. I can name you five bands that have the same problem. I don't know why they publicized the feud between George and I so much, but there's a lot of bands out there that have the same problem with the singer and the guitar player. It's always the "Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth" kind of thing. Van Halen had the same problem.

If we would have survived the Monsters of Rock tour, I think we probably would have been a huge headliner, but it was bad timing. When we did Monsters of Rock, we had already been on the road for over a year. Van Halen hadn't toured in two years, Metallica hadn't toured, the Scorpions hadn't toured – they were all fresh. We had just finished a world tour with like, five other bands, playing all over the world twice. We were pretty burned out.

They said, "Hey! You've got the Monsters of Rock tour!" And I said, "You've got to be kidding me, man. I need a break." We were tired. And hence, because we were tired, the drugs got worse, and people were doing coke to keep going. And I was drinking my wine.

We were pretty burned out, so when you're irritable and the tensions are high, we just were fighting every day and it wasn't fun. I was like, "Hey, my dream came true. I fought and fought for this, and here we are, playing stadiums." A million people in six weeks.

I was so happy to have gotten that far. We were on the bill above Metallica. I thought, "This is it, boys. One more great record and we're home free." But the band was unraveling. I was happy to be out there on that stadium tour, but I was totally depressed. I was just miserable. To see your guitar player on stage in front of 100,000 people walk behind his amplifier in the middle of the solo and snort coke, I mean, fuck, man. It drove me crazy. So, that just broke us up. That's the way it goes. Shit happens.

And then of course, my name is Dokken. It's not made up like "Mick Mars" or "Nikki Sixx." It's my real name. And when they took my name away from me and said I couldn't use my name anymore, I was absolutely dumbfounded. The judge said, "You can't use the name Dokken anymore." I said, "But I've been Dokken since 1977." And he goes, "You can't use it anymore. You can call your album Don Dokken." I said, "That's not the same."

The Stones are "The Stones." Mick Jagger puts out a solo record, you can't give it away. People don't buy solo records. Bon Jovi is "Bon Jovi," not "Jon Bon Jovi." Van Halen is "Van Halen," not "Eddie Van Halen." There is something about putting your surname in a band name. So, I told the judge, "If you take my name away from me, you're going to kill my career." And he did.

But it was a great record [Don's 1990 solo album Up from the Ashes]. I love my Don Dokken album on Geffen. I had these amazing musicians: Mikkey Dee on drums, Peter Baltes from Accept, John Norum from Europe. It was an all-star band. It was a great record, but people just don't gravitate as much to the perceived "solo albums." It was a band album, but I couldn't call it Dokken. It sold half a million, maybe 600,000. But I guarantee you, if it was called Dokken, it would have gone Platinum. But I got fucked.

And that's when I retired. After that, I broke the band up and I just kicked back for a couple of years. I had two young kids. I was working on my house, riding my Harley, and just chilling out. Then Mick called me and said he wanted a gig after Lynch Mob, and then Jeff called me, and then George called me. They were all kind of like, "We're broke. We want to get back in the band." Because they spent all their money on the typical rock star thing – divorces, child support, alimony - it's just the old story.

So, I said, "If you guys want to come back, I want my name back." That was the deal: "If you guys want to play with me again, I want my fucking name back."

Because we were a corporation, everybody had an equal 25% ownership of my name. That's why I couldn't use my name. So, we got back together and we did a really cool album, Dysfunctional, on Columbia [in 1995]. We moved forward after that, and then of course, things unraveled again. It's kind of like getting divorced from your wife that you don't get along with, and then five years later, you try to get back together. It's just not possible.

Jon Levin has been in the band as my guitar player for 20 years. We get along great. All the guys in my band have been in there a long, long time now, and we have fun on the road. We hang out, we go to dinner, we barbeque, we bowl – we hang out as a band. Dokken was never like that. They were in the back of the bus doing coke, and I was in the front of the bus.

I'm very grateful to be where I am now. I have these two shows coming up with George – it should be fun. George will open up as Lynch Mob, then he's going to come on stage for the last four songs and do the encores, and I've got one of my old Dokken guitar players doing the shows: Reb Beach, from Winger and Whitesnake. Reb is coming to fill in because Jon can't go on the road right now – he doesn't feel comfortable with the COVID because his father is 90 years old and he's the primary caregiver. He said, "Man, if I get COVID and give it to my dad, he'll die." And I said, "I get it, Jon. I respect you and your father."

So, I got Reb coming in to fill in for these two shows, and I just told Jon, "Let's hope for the best. Let's hope the COVID thing gets better and they come out with a vaccine. Until then, if you don't feel comfortable getting on a plane, then don't."

I talked to Mikkey Dee from the Scorpions the other night, and he and his wife got COVID in Australia. They were in the middle of nowhere and got it. He called me up and he said, "I'll tell you Don, you don't want to get it. I was on the floor." He lost 35 pounds. He was sick as a dog - he was in a hospital. He was really in bad shape. He said, "I don't know how I got it." Because they had social distancing big-time in Australia.

So, I'm taking a risk doing these shows. I know that. But what are you going to do? My girlfriend makes me put the gloves on, the mask on, the spray – we constantly spray our hands. I try not to wipe my mouth. I'll go to Home Depot and buy supplies for the house, but mostly I'm just staying home. So, she's not happy about me going on a plane. I have five or six plane flights in two days, so that's pretty high chances.

My son is a pilot, and I talked to him – he flies for JetBlue. My son flies an A300. He's young to be a captain – he's only 33. I said, "What's going on with the flying?" And he said, "They're just going to try and space people out." But it's kind of a joke, because he told me all the air in an airplane is just recirculated. They just send it to the scrubbers – to the engine filters – and they send it right back to the cockpit. So, all this "20 feet away, 10 feet away," it's all kind of bullshit.

But I've got to go out and work. I want to play. We're right in the middle of making a new record – that's what my focus is. The Lost Tapes was kind of a Band-Aid to hold us over because of the COVID so we could take our time with the new record.

We wrote the record via the internet, which is a pain in the ass. And the worst thing is I can't play the guitar anymore, so I can't write songs on it, because my right arm is paralyzed.

Songfacts: How did that happen?

Dokken: I had spinal surgery on my neck, and they goofed up – that's the bottom line. So, my right arm, my right hand, my fingers don't move. And I'm a right-handed guy. Trust me, you don't realize how much you need your right hand until you don't have it. I can't open up a door, I can't wipe my ass, I can't drive the car hardly. It's been six months since the surgery. Everybody says it might come back, the nerves might grow back together, but it's been almost seven months and my fingers just barely move, so that's a bit depressing. How do I write songs now? I can't play piano, I can't play guitar. I'm fucked.

When I first came out of surgery, both my hands were paralyzed and I couldn't walk. I was basically paralyzed. I said, "What the hell happened?" They put 13 plates and 13 screws in my spinal cord. They really went for it. They cut me from my neck all the way down the middle of my back. Huge scar on my back – like Frankenstein. So, it paralyzed me. My left hand now works – it's what I'm holding the phone with right now – and all my fingers move, my thumb moves, but my hand is very weak. My right hand, I've got nothing.

Everybody keeps saying, "Give it a year." What can I do? Can I sue the doctor? Yeah. Will I get a bunch of money from him? Yeah. Is that going to make my hand work? No. The money is not going to help.

It was bad timing. I went in in December thinking I would have the surgery, get out, have three months recovery, and make a new record. That was the plan. And I come out of the hospital and my hand is paralyzed.

But I've got Jon. Jon's a great guitar player, so we get on the internet and I just sing the melodies to him and he plays them on the guitar. But is it depressing? Yeah.

Songfacts: I hope that you heal up and start feeling better soon.

Dokken: Yeah, I'm getting there. I'm walking every day. I live on 13 acres with no neighbors, so I'm trying to hike every day and get my leg strength back. I'm not in real good physical shape right now, but I can sing! [Laughs]

Just got to stay positive and hoping for the best. And if this is the future for me... I mean, trust me, when I can't take a hammer to put a nail in the wall to hang a picture, that's frustrating. So, what can I do? I've got a good partner that takes care of me.

July 3, 2020
For updated concert dates, go to dokken.net

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Comments: 5

  • Dsavala from CaliforniaNot really a fan but damn this was a great interview, very enlightening. Thank you.
  • Jmac from Cape Breton Best interview I've read in a long time
  • Darcy Zimmer from Toledo, Ohio I'm a couple years younger than Don. I have Music in my Blood. I have so many Cassettes & Albums you'd think I'd $ell some. Never... I want to listen to them over & over. I was in my High School's Band. I wanted to play the Drums but my Dad said no. My Brother was allowed to play the Guitar which then a Electric. My Mom can sing & play piano. We could of had our own Band. I ended up playing the Clarinet. I would write down the words to the songs. Play the song over & over. I really Love Dokken. Just watching him makes me wish that I was there. It breaks my heart to hear of his back issues. I had to have my #4 lower disc removed. It Ruptured from jumping out of my 1979 Chevy Blazer & pushing it before The 2 Lanes of traffic hit us. That was a Miracle all by itself. I wish you the Very Best Dokken & I hope to hear more from you. ♡♡
  • Mari from CroatiaGreat interview! Dokken is my favorite band.
  • AnonymousGood interview.
see more comments

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