COCAINE DIARIES … Don Dokken talks about Various Musician’s Alleged Addictions re: Baton Rouge's Kelly Keeling

[MetalSludgeCEO]

COCAINE DIARIES …
Don Dokken talks about Various Musician’s Alleged Addictions including Baton Rouge singer Kelly Keeling along with former Dokken classic era band-mates
#dondokken #dokken #theclassicmetalshow #cms #chrisakin #wendellneeley #kellykeeling #batonrouge #georgelynch #jeffpilson #mickbrown #tomzutaut #sludge #metalsludge
https://metalsludge.tv/cocaine-diaries- ... and-mates/

$ludge

[TeslaFan]

I listen to the CMS every week. Neeley and Akin are simply the best. At first I thought Don was kinda drunk doing this interview but as it went on, he seemed ok. These stories of cocaine debauchery are really nothing new. If Don finds a good lawyer to represent him in a malpractice case, he will make millions. Having said that, I wish he would quit talking about it. He’s a very negative person these days. His life isn’t bad. Still doing what he loves( though not as well), has a hot girlfriend, and financially secure. What the f&@kk more could you want ?

[RaceFan3]

I listen to the CMS every week. Neeley and Akin are simply the best. At first I thought Don was kinda drunk doing this interview but as it went on, he seemed ok. These stories of cocaine debauchery are really nothing new. If Don finds a good lawyer to represent him in a malpractice case, he will make millions. Having said that, I wish he would quit talking about it. He’s a very negative person these days. His life isn’t bad. Still doing what he loves( though not as well), has a hot girlfriend, and financially secure. What the f&@kk more could you want ?

This.

I understand he's had plenty of shit happen to him...health problems, a basically dead right hand, destroyed voice, etc. But some of it believe it not he can control. The dude still smokes like a chimney for whatever fucking reason, and he had a chance to rectify some stuff from the past and maybe even get a 3rd life with the classic band, but he screwed that up in 2016. Nevertheless, for the reasons you listed...plus a promising new album coming out, and people still going to his shows...hes doing rather well for a 70 year old dude who definitely doesn't have to anymore. It just always seems like he has an axe to grind.

[skinni]

I did not know much about Tom Zutaut prior to this interview.

Overall I enjoyed the stories.

It's surprising that DD still smokes....

[dmbrocker]

I did not know much about Tom Zutaut prior to this interview.

Overall I enjoyed the stories.

It's surprising that DD still smokes....

It’s not really that surprising, but it definitely explains why his voice has gone to pot for so much of the 21st century.

[Tommy2Tone84]

Don needs to go douche off

Dokken sucked. They were a shitty band who made Ratt look like Def Leppard.

F*cking Poison were a better band than Dokken was. Dokken weren’t fun. Going to a Dokken show in the 80s was like watching that old fossil Clint Eastwood driving around in a Gran Torino and a bitter old scowl on his face.

Don was always the weakest link too. He sucks. F*ck him and f*ck his band.

[DemonFilth2001]

Don needs to go douche off

Dokken sucked. They were a shitty band who made Ratt look like Def Leppard.

F*cking Poison were a better band than Dokken was. Dokken weren’t fun. Going to a Dokken show in the 80s was like watching that old fossil Clint Eastwood driving around in a Gran Torino and a bitter old scowl on his face.

Don was always the weakest link too. He sucks. F*ck him and f*ck his band.

EASILY the most talented and consistent of the LA butt rock bands. No one else was even close.

[Tommy2Tone84]

Don needs to go douche off

Dokken sucked. They were a shitty band who made Ratt look like Def Leppard.

F*cking Poison were a better band than Dokken was. Dokken weren’t fun. Going to a Dokken show in the 80s was like watching that old fossil Clint Eastwood driving around in a Gran Torino and a bitter old scowl on his face.

Don was always the weakest link too. He sucks. F*ck him and f*ck his band.

EASILY the most talented and consistent of the LA butt rock bands. No one else was even close.

You’ve got to be kidding. Plenty of talent in that pool, many of them never reaching the heights Dokken did. It doesn’t mean those bands weren’t good enough. Luck and timing just didn’t go their way.

Dokken had a nice run off that triple play T&N-BFTA but Don was a lame frontman and was not a good singer live. He wasn’t even cool. Pearcy was equally as lame but he atleast looked cool doing it.

These days I’ll take Armored Saint, Racer X, Keel, Lizzy Borden and even those cheeseheads in Stryper over Dokken. The Saint and Racer X shoulda bin huge.

[DemonFilth2001]

Don needs to go douche off

Dokken sucked. They were a shitty band who made Ratt look like Def Leppard.

F*cking Poison were a better band than Dokken was. Dokken weren’t fun. Going to a Dokken show in the 80s was like watching that old fossil Clint Eastwood driving around in a Gran Torino and a bitter old scowl on his face.

Don was always the weakest link too. He sucks. F*ck him and f*ck his band.

EASILY the most talented and consistent of the LA butt rock bands. No one else was even close.

You’ve got to be kidding. Plenty of talent in that pool, many of them never reaching the heights Dokken did. It doesn’t mean those bands weren’t good enough. Luck and timing just didn’t go their way.

Dokken had a nice run off that triple play T&N-BFTA but Don was a lame frontman and was not a good singer live. He wasn’t even cool. Pearcy was equally as lame but he atleast looked cool doing it.

These days I’ll take Armored Saint, Racer X, Keel, Lizzy Borden and even those cheeseheads in Stryper over Dokken. The Saint and Racer X shoulda bin huge.

Armored Saint was GREAT. Different genre.

Racer X had GREAT musicians. Weren’t capable of writing a memorable song. And…different genre.

[Tommy2Tone84]

EASILY the most talented and consistent of the LA butt rock bands. No one else was even close.

You’ve got to be kidding. Plenty of talent in that pool, many of them never reaching the heights Dokken did. It doesn’t mean those bands weren’t good enough. Luck and timing just didn’t go their way.

Dokken had a nice run off that triple play T&N-BFTA but Don was a lame frontman and was not a good singer live. He wasn’t even cool. Pearcy was equally as lame but he atleast looked cool doing it.

These days I’ll take Armored Saint, Racer X, Keel, Lizzy Borden and even those cheeseheads in Stryper over Dokken. The Saint and Racer X shoulda bin huge.

Armored Saint was GREAT. Different genre.

Racer X had GREAT musicians. Weren’t capable of writing a memorable song. And…different genre.

I’ll concede on the Saint but not Racer X.

You don’t find Street Lethal, Hammer Away, Poison Eyes and Sunlit Nights memorable?

Demon, be honest. You laughed out loud in the car the day you bought Dokken’s One Night Live.

[gtrjay]

I agree that Dokken has more chops musically. But songs weren’t there like other bands.

Plus Don is and always has been a cunt.

[DrumminAway]

COCAINE DIARIES …
Don Dokken talks about Various Musician’s Alleged Addictions including Baton Rouge singer Kelly Keeling along with former Dokken classic era band-mates
#dondokken #dokken #theclassicmetalshow #cms #chrisakin #wendellneeley #kellykeeling #batonrouge #georgelynch #jeffpilson #mickbrown #tomzutaut #sludge #metalsludge
https://metalsludge.tv/cocaine-diaries- ... and-mates/

$ludge

All I get is a 404 “Page Not Found” error. Link must be broken.

[DemonFilth2001]

I agree that Dokken has more chops musically. But songs weren’t there like other bands.

Plus Don is and always has been a cunt.

Back for the Attack and Under Lock and Key are probably the 2 most consistent albums of the genre. Both are fucking killer. No/to little filler.

The songs were there. They just didn’t have the “dirty piece of shit” image their peers had.

[WCiezak]

I agree that Dokken has more chops musically. But songs weren’t there like other bands.

Plus Don is and always has been a cunt.

Back for the Attack and Under Lock and Key are probably the 2 most consistent albums of the genre. Both are fucking killer. No/to little filler.

The songs were there. They just didn’t have the “dirty piece of shit” image their peers had.

Those two as well as UFTA are tremendous and really consistent. There was a lot of inconsistency from others at the time. Ratt being a prime example. They really were all about hit singles and then the quality would drop off bigtime. That also happened with Motley on Theater, GGG, and Feelgood. Poison was a little more consistent than Motley and Ratt. Bon Jovi dropped the consistency a lot after 7800. Slaughter, Cinderella, and Warrant weren't even at the level of Ratt and Poison for the most part. ULAK, BFTA, Shout, Night of the Crime, Too Fast, Bon Jovi S/T, 7800, Wasp S/T, UFTA, those are some of the most consistent albums. I'm not sure if we would include Lick It Up or Creatures as part of the genre. Or other stuff like Annica/Badly Dreaming, Alien S/T, Fate/A Matter of Attitude, Europe/Final Countdown or Wings of Tomorrow, Arcangel S/T, Great White S/T, or Hysteria, but I'd rank those up there with ULAK and BFTA. Once bands went really commercial, they seemed to just focus on putting out 2-4 hit singles and slack off on the rest. Unfortunately an album with 8 bland songs and two hits would sell a lot better than something like ULAK. Dokken were a lot more versatile than the bands with the bigger hits. Alone Again is the only song they have that really got up their with the genre's biggest songs. If I hadn't seen Nightmare 3, it would be the only Dokken song I ever heard of until I bought the albums. Dokken isn't really a glam band akin to Motley and Ratt. They're more like Accept or Lion. Maybe similar to some Warlord songs. They had less of a Pop influence.

[SikkiNixx]

Don was always the weakest link too. He sucks. F*ck him and f*ck his band.

Don is the weakest link? Didn't he write all the songs?? I personally have never handled a dokken album.. saw them open for Cinderella and then poison headlined, and those 2 bands are great live..

Don never caught my attention once. Even live they were just background noise.. but someone must love them

[Bono Nettencourt]

They never had that bust-out track to put them over the top. In My Dreams was about as close as they got.

[jens]

They're more like Accept or Lion. Maybe similar to some Warlord songs. They had less of a Pop influence.

I'd love to hear more about the similarities between those two bands!

[cowpins]

They never had that bust-out track to put them over the top. In My Dreams was about as close as they got.

Over the top in comparison to who? Motley? GNR? The top tier bands of the era were the MTV darling bands with the a sing along chorus that attracted women, and the men went where the women were. Motley had their image w/ the beach blond front man singing Home Sweet Home, and GNR were in category of their own. My point being, were bands like Dokken and RATT at top of their tier with bands such as KEEL, WASP, Baton Rouge, Savatage, etc...? Bands that did NOT have the MTV friendly front man?

[Bono Nettencourt]

RATT were well ahead of Dokken. They actually headlined.

[cowpins]

Most def. Dokken never got out of second gear, which is why they exploded. Older dude wearing a black glove playing air guitar held them back.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Yeah he did, and their songs kinda all sounded the same... not heavy, not poppy... somewhere in the middle.

[cowpins]

I was like, "why?"

[RaceFan3]

Don was always the weakest link too. He sucks. F*ck him and f*ck his band.

Don is the weakest link? Didn't he write all the songs?? I personally have never handled a dokken album.. saw them open for Cinderella and then poison headlined, and those 2 bands are great live..

Don never caught my attention once. Even live they were just background noise.. but someone must love them

Don was the primary songwriter but everyone in the band wrote. The songwriting was spread out. Usually Don wrote the lyrics and Pilson/Lunch and sometimes Mick Brown wrote the music. What you said about Don never catching your attention was one of the reasons they never got huge. They were a successful, platinum-selling band but not at the level they could've gotten. They didn't have the pretty boy, or badboy image that MTV wanted. They were kind of in the middle. Really good songs and albums but not that one big hit bands get known for. They never had their "Round & Round" or "Home Sweet Home." But they were a good live pairing for everyone from Dio to Twisted Sister to Aerosmith so that's why they were always the opening band, and were pretty successful at it, really. It got to the point where nobody was ever surprised that Dokken was opening for whoever, but they weren't mad about it either.

[DemonFilth2001]

I’ll take Tooth and Nail, ULAK, and Back for the Attack over any album released by an LA hair band. Did they have the big hits that some of the others had? No. But their albums were fucking great front to back. Poison, Crue, RATT (after Out of the Cellar), etc…were primarily filler/shit plus a couple of “hits.” Crue was the worst. Handful of good tunes…PILES of shit. Pure image band.

[Michael Hotts Ghost]

I would say Mick Brown was a weaker link.. not by much though.

[cowpins]

I just had a flash back off sitting in my high school parking lot after school and off in the distance the band was practicing The Final Countdown over and over again. In one corner were the freaks in their army jackets listening to The Cure. Another corner had the farmers in their homemade 4x4's listening to some guy with friends on low places. In another corner were the jocks and the cheerleaders listening to Hysteria (looking back I wonder how much banging was going on that I wasn't privy too), and in the final corner were a small group of long haired dudes chain smoking cigs and listening to Dokken in the Olds Cutless. That was the missing link...DOKKEN

[Ryan81]

DemonFilth2001 is 4 for 4 in this one. He's spittin' facts and droppin' truth bombs all over this bitch. I got your back my friend.

People using popularity to gauge the quality of a band unfortunately doesn't favor Dokken, but fuck the masses. Dokken deserved the success that bands like Crue and Poison got. I also feel the same about W.A.S.P. They as well as Dokken beat Motley in pretty much every department other than popularity.

I do wonder if Dokken would've been bigger if they had actually gotten along? I would have to imagine when you have that serious of a division in a band it must affect a ton of stuff. For example, say Don comes up with a great idea or song, but Lynch shits all over it just because Don came up with it even though it might be the best thing for the band. I could see that happening with these guys.

[cowpins]

Dokken weren't bigger because they a) weren't MTV friendly with a panty wetting lead singer and b) didn't have any melodic hooks.

[Tommy2Tone84]

Don was always the weakest link too. He sucks. F*ck him and f*ck his band.

Don is the weakest link? Didn't he write all the songs?? I personally have never handled a dokken album.. saw them open for Cinderella and then poison headlined, and those 2 bands are great live..

Don never caught my attention once. Even live they were just background noise.. but someone must love them

No he didn’t. Take a gander at their discography and you will find that George and Jeff, and even Mick had a heavy hand in the writing.

Dokken, even though Don and George were in Blackie Lawless’ age bracket could have been a much bigger band had the two of them not come off like a couple of petty, old ladies always fighting and hitting each other over the head with their purses. They could’ve used their musicianship to their advantage but they didn’t. Don wouldn’t allow Jeff to sing more and therefore, George wouldn’t let Don play guitar. Although Don seemed to fancy himself as a regular Klaus Maine and David Lee Roth, he was neither. So what we got was a great group of musicians who wrote some memorable songs on some solid albums but were very, very mediocre live.

Poison, for what they lacked in musicianship more than made up for in energy, excitement and outlandish and outstanding live shows mixed with fun, memorable, celebratory songs.

Cinderella were all solid players with Tom being the standout talent and clear leader of the band. He had those guys humming like a well oiled machine. You could tell they took their jobs seriously and took pride in their band, and at least from the outside, looked and sounded like a unified group of team players. They held their own up against some of the best of the genre opening for David Lee Roth and Bon Jovi. As well as having Winger, Bulletboys and Extreme out as support acts at the dawn of the 90s.

Cinderella would have crushed Dokken had their shared a bill at any point in time between 1986 and 1988.

Poison may not have crushed Dokken musically but had them beat in spades in every other way.

[Tommy2Tone84]

Dokken weren't bigger because they a) weren't MTV friendly with a panty wetting lead singer and b) didn't have any melodic hooks.

A) Excuses, Excuses. Phil Collins looked like my uncle and the guy was a pop arena rock powerhouse.

The Scorpions, Klaus especially, weren’t known for their charming, youthful, boyish good looks and I remember a bevy of high school babes being massive fans in my youth. Many of them a tad older than me.

AC/DC, Brian Johnson especially, looked like the crew of auto mechanics that worked down at my neighborhood gas station. They were one of the biggest bands of the decade with an arm full of mediocre albums I might add.

ZZ Top all looked like my best friend’s dad’s biker and drinking buddies and they were massive.

Ozzy wasn’t a pretty boy. He was a chubby thirty year old man and was even called that by critics at the beginning of the decade. He ended the decade as one of the biggest acts of the genre., completely overshadowing his old band and leaving them in the dust.

Judas Priest, need I say more?


B) Dokken didn’t have melodic hooks? What parallel universe are you living in? You’re full of excuses. Dokken had it all, except a camaraderie and any kind of chemistry onstage. Don thought he could pull off the David Lee Roth meets Steven Tyler thing and he couldn’t. Don has always been his own worst enemy. He wasn’t a natural performer and he never took his singing or his voice all that seriously. He always had a cigarette in his hand and if you were paying attention, could hear it in his voice over the course of a decade or more.


Metallica lacked pretty boy looks and melodic hooks and they had steam rolled over everybody by 1991-92.