why was dokken not one of the biggest selling bands of the 80's?

mdmatt4ever · April 20th, 2008, 07:09 AM

i was listening to all of dokken's albums gearing up for the new one and i was wondering how come these guys were never huge. yes they were popular and all of their 80's stuff is gold or platinum but what stopped them from selling 3 or 4 million copies of an album? i have a few ideas but i'll see what others post.

also i don't want a "dokken sucks" answer

wdiv · April 20th, 2008, 10:12 AM

It's all marketing & luck. Compared to most bands, Dokken's done pretty damn good with over 10 million records sold overall

Platinum Maze · April 20th, 2008, 10:33 AM

That's a really good question. One thing I can think of - and it's similar to Ratt - is that they never really had that "smash" single, like Crue's Home Sweet Home, or Bon Jovi's Wanted.... and because of that, they (and Ratt) never really got that shot at headlining arenas. Sure, they had hit videos and got plenty of airplay, but they were still playing arenas as opening acts as late as Back for the Attack when they toured with Aerosmith. Crue and Bon Jovi were already headlining arenas in '85.

I also think that they were overshadowed by some of their labelmates. Crue and Metallica were obviously selling tons of records, and even though BFTA had potential "smash hits", I'm sure it didn't receive quite the push that the others did.

My other argument, and it's kind of shallow, is that musically, they were probably the most talented of any of the L.A. bands, and that doesn't always translate well to the mainstream fan, unfortunately....

mdmatt4ever · April 20th, 2008, 11:23 AM

platinum maze you about hit my thought exactly. hey were probably the most talented "hair metal" band and i think a lot of people just didn't "get it". they were too technical and closer to actual metal for the general pop metal crowd and not metal enough for the headbangers. also if you read the lyrics a lot of them are depressing which is why i thought dokken made the best transition into the 90's than any other 80's hair band.

RATT still had 2 multi platinum albums while i don't think any dokken album has been certified multi platinum yet

ramses · April 20th, 2008, 11:50 AM

My girl cousins, their friends, and my sister somewhat liked them. But, I remember most of them talking about how "nobody in the band is cute." Laugh all you want, I did then. It's a shame, but the 80's were definitely about image, and it was glam metal. I looked at Dokken like you guys did, good songwriting, and strong musicianship. No, they weren't "huge" if compared to Ratt, Crue, Poison..etc., but they did very well. And girls then were more than half the reason glam did so well. They're the ones that bought the albums, and posters.

Marco Spain · April 20th, 2008, 01:40 PM

I consider them too the most talented band from L.A. but I think they´re not a "hair band" at all, in spite of their image. They played and play melodic metal (more metal in the beginning of their career).

Dokken most radio friendly album is "Back for the attack" (2 or 3 songs on "Under lock and key" too) but they failed in their first single. In my opinion "Burning like a flame" wasn´t the best election. Besides, at that time, the band members fought every day (specially Don and George) and it meant the end.

"Under lock and key", "Tooth and nail" and (I guess) "Back for the attack" made platinum in the US. Not 5 millions like Mötley Crue but it´s OK for a band like them. Fortunately for us (the fans) they weren´t Poison or Warrant.

sixxswine · April 20th, 2008, 04:32 PM

They had some great opening slots on major tours...
Great albums until Dysfuntional...

muzmaze · April 20th, 2008, 05:23 PM

They had thier share of success but never found thier niche and became huge.

I think it was due to not having that "smash hit" single or two, as previously mentioned. I also think the persona of the band sucked, its as if they were too serious. They were very talented but not the "good time" rock party band, at the same time they weren't the mean heavy metal band , though I would not hold that against them-the critics probably did.

Lynch is/was an amazing player and could hold his own against any guitarist, just think (like many) he was never going to get out of the shadows of the great Eddie Van Halen.

razoredge · April 20th, 2008, 05:27 PM

For some reason Im thinking they were very popular early on but new bnads got more attention later in the 80's. I had one tape I did not like at all, cant remember the title though. Everyone sang along to his acoustic set opening for Queesnryche, I was beginning to think they were there to see Don Dokken.

Psychonaut · April 21st, 2008, 10:16 AM

They should have been way more popular. They were starting to get great video rotation from "It's Not Love" but, as mentioned before, they gor overshadowed for one reason or another. I was never too much into glam but I loved Dokken and Ratt.

Assault_Attack · April 24th, 2008, 06:35 PM

Dokken & Y&T both should have been bigger selling acts Imho.