Monday, July 04, 2005
Fortunately, no indoor pyrotechnics at this show
I've been accused of many things but being narrow minded...OK, I've probably been accused of that too, but I disproved that a couple days ago by tagging along with a co-worker to an '80s butt-metal show.
Some background: the late, great Dokken was (apparently) a pretty big deal in the '80s, filling up medium-sized arenas and opening for Bon Jovi at bigger venues. There were, no doubt, plenty of big-haired, biker-slut groupies before the bottom fell out of butt-metal and heavy bands with actual musical ability (see Soundgarden) emerged.
Fast-forward to a couple days ago and my friend tells me very excitedly, "Hey did you see that George Lynch is playing downtown tonight?" to which I responded, "Uh..."
"The guitarist from Dokken," he said.
"Oh, right," I said, only a little closer to knowing what he was talking about.
While Dokken was named for moody frontman Don Dokken, the driving force and talent behind the band was allegedly Lynch (I'm trusting my friend, who is an unabashed fan of such bands and has a truly impressive knowledge of a dark period in music history).
So, I agreed to go with him. What the fuck? I figured the people watching alone would be worth it. I met him at the bar, which was filled with the aforementioned groupies (plus 15 years and 30 pounds, but still dressed the same) and dudes who were clearly reluctant when their girlfriends demanded they cut their mullets.
And boy were they into it. There was one guy in the front who was making the devil sign with his fingers and pumping his first THE ENTIRE FUCKING TWO HOUR SHOW. That's the kind of dude who killed the great Dimebag Darrell. As for Lynch, he had traded in his leather for a wife-beater, mesh hat and cigarette, though his new frontman apparently didn't get the memo 15 years ago about big hair.
And you know what? Embarrassed as I am to admit it, I enjoyed the show. Most of the songs were little more than an excuse for a George Lynch guitar solo but the guy shreds and was clearly still stoked to play, even if he had to trade in arena glory for a half-full bar in Boise.
Not that I'm going to be blasting Dokken or Great White out of my car any time soon, but I do highly recommend hopping on the Monsters of Rock revival while it lasts.
Some background: the late, great Dokken was (apparently) a pretty big deal in the '80s, filling up medium-sized arenas and opening for Bon Jovi at bigger venues. There were, no doubt, plenty of big-haired, biker-slut groupies before the bottom fell out of butt-metal and heavy bands with actual musical ability (see Soundgarden) emerged.
Fast-forward to a couple days ago and my friend tells me very excitedly, "Hey did you see that George Lynch is playing downtown tonight?" to which I responded, "Uh..."
"The guitarist from Dokken," he said.
"Oh, right," I said, only a little closer to knowing what he was talking about.
While Dokken was named for moody frontman Don Dokken, the driving force and talent behind the band was allegedly Lynch (I'm trusting my friend, who is an unabashed fan of such bands and has a truly impressive knowledge of a dark period in music history).
So, I agreed to go with him. What the fuck? I figured the people watching alone would be worth it. I met him at the bar, which was filled with the aforementioned groupies (plus 15 years and 30 pounds, but still dressed the same) and dudes who were clearly reluctant when their girlfriends demanded they cut their mullets.
And boy were they into it. There was one guy in the front who was making the devil sign with his fingers and pumping his first THE ENTIRE FUCKING TWO HOUR SHOW. That's the kind of dude who killed the great Dimebag Darrell. As for Lynch, he had traded in his leather for a wife-beater, mesh hat and cigarette, though his new frontman apparently didn't get the memo 15 years ago about big hair.
And you know what? Embarrassed as I am to admit it, I enjoyed the show. Most of the songs were little more than an excuse for a George Lynch guitar solo but the guy shreds and was clearly still stoked to play, even if he had to trade in arena glory for a half-full bar in Boise.
Not that I'm going to be blasting Dokken or Great White out of my car any time soon, but I do highly recommend hopping on the Monsters of Rock revival while it lasts.
# posted by Druz @ 4:01 PM 
