Rip Rokken wrote:I don't know how popular Dokken was in the U.K., but they never really received their due here -- they were one of the big 80's hard rock (what we still called "metal" back then) bands, but just kinda got lumped in with the hair bands like Poison, when their music was much, much better. But Don's been around for quite a while, and I've sure they've toured the U.K. Heck, back when we had the Boston Tea Party, I think Don went over personally and tea-bagged the King of England, which really got the balls rolling toward independence!
And of course, Don was also one of the founding members of the Beatles...

Rip - my perception of Dokken here in the UK in the 1980s was that they were popular on the specialist/metal scene without ever crossing over into the mainstream....except perhaps for Dream Warriors, the theme from Nightmare On Elm Street 3.
Kerrang! certainly supported them though - and all in all they were in a similar league to Ratt, I'd say.
Interesting interview with Dokken in that clip. I'm not sue he meant to put his band second in the list of the most influential metal bands ever - he puts Van Halen first - but that's how it sounded. Also - strange how he forgets to mention the acts which came before Van Halen...Sabbath, Led Zep, Rainbow with Dio, UFO, etc, etc. Maybe he was just talking about the LA scene though....
Anyway - he seems like such a good bloke in the clips you've been posting, Rip. Very different from most of his contemporaries...that's for sure