Dokken and the Sound Barrier

SANTA ANA —  “We’re Dokken, not a nostalgia band,” vocalist Don Dokken insisted at his band’s Galaxy theater concert Thursday night.

It was a rather bold proclamation considering the Los Angeles-bred quartet was last deemed fashionable about 10 years ago. Since then, the billowy, pop-oriented heavy-metal in which Dokken specializes has been all but relegated to the scrap heap. In its place has come grunge and industrial, among other new developments.

When Dokken first hit the stage, it seemed the group might be trying to reinvent itself; its first salvo, an uncharacteristically brooding song, brought to mind grunge exponents Alice in Chains. And Dokken also presented a different visual image: Don Dokken and guitarist George Lynch have ditched the androgynous shaghead look of ‘80s pop-metal. With his shortly cropped hair, the muscular and tanned Lynch of today looks more like Jean-Claude Van Damme than some decadent Hollywood glam rocker.

But the changes surrounding the band--which played the Galaxy again Friday--proved mostly cosmetic. The bulk of songs Dokken played from its new “Shadowlife” CD sounded a lot like its older material. The emphasis is still on rousing pop choruses, Don Dokken’s siren-like vocals and Lynch’s flashy fret work.

Such reliance on well-tested formulas apparently didn’t bother the crowd one iota. When the band launched into its old power ballad, “Alone Again,” many fans in the packed house sang passionately along. Other blasts from the past, like the mid-tempo “It’s Not Love,” got a boisterous response. Unfortunately, the group did not play two of its better songs Thursday, “Dream Warriors” and “Unchain the Night.”

Dokken deserves praise for its taut and passionate musicianship. Technically speaking, it was among the better bands to emerge from the Sunset Strip metal scene of the early- to mid-’80s that also included Motley Crue, Ratt and Poison.

But it’s also easy to see why Dokken never achieved true star status. It not only lacks the magnetic charisma that propelled others in that era but is also missing a canon of high-quality material. It’s hard to think of a Dokken song that would be worth taking to that proverbial desert island.