Welcome to another edition of From My Collection. This past Sunday (April 25), legendary producer Michael Wagener celebrated his 72nd birthday. He also announced via his personal Facebook his retirement after 50 years in the music business. If we listed every impactful hard rock and heavy metal record Wagener brought to life with his style and scene conscious production/engineering/mixing approach, we’d be here all day. However, here are but a few: Metallica’s Master of Puppets, Accept’s Restless and Wild, Skid Row’s self titled, Raven’s All for One, and the topic of today’s essay, Dokken’s Under Lock and Key. Though most regard Tooth and Nail as Dokken’s finest hour, it’s on Under Lock and Key where they cemented their status as melodic metal masters.
A decade of hard work was finally starting to pay off for Don Dokken and his namesake band. The release of their 1984 sophomore album, Tooth and Nail, transformed them into a household name overnight. The album spawned three hit singles (“Into the Fire”, “Just Got Lucky”, “Alone Again”), all of which received extensive airplay on rock radio and MTV. It also earned them a slot opening Dio’s The Last in Line Tour, as well as an appearance on the legendary television program, American Bandstand. So when it came time to record a follow up, the pressure was on.
They say “third time’s the charm”. This couldn’t ring more true than on Dokken’s third album, Under Lock and Key. Joining them behind the board was long time confidant Michael Wagener and genre defying svengali Neil Kernon. Together, it was a match made in production heaven. Wagener already knew how to get the best out of Dokken. Couple this with Kernon’s precise sonic vision that earned him over 100 gold and platinum albums (spoiler alert: Under Lock and Key is one of those 100+ albums) and voila.
Under Lock and Key opens with my personal all time favorite Dokken song, “Unchain the Night”. Despite the band appearing on the album cover as some sort of glam metal Power Rangers before Power Rangers, this dark, brooding opener is one of many examples throughout that separated Dokken from other glam metal bands of the time. In fact, you can’t blame Don Dokken for contesting the use of the “glam metal” tag altogether. Bands like Bon Jovi and the newly polished for public consumption Mötley Crüe lacked the menacing riffs, thundering rhythm section, eardrum shattering vocals, and metallic atmosphere of Dokken. Granted, the latter boasted all of these traits just two short years earlier, but I digress.
“The Hunter” follows in sly, seductive fashion. The nocturnal flavored track was originally written by George Lynch as an instrumental. Lucky for us, Don Dokken wrote a set of equally sultry lyrics to accompany the music. Though not as heavy as “Unchain the Night”, “The Hunter” is another song that’s far darker than what Dokken’s contemporaries were capable of. Their pop friendly sensibilities don’t appear until “In My Dreams”. One of the most melodic tracks on the album, “In My Dreams” is a textbook pop metal single. Lynch’s guitarwork tows the line between LA shred and Def Leppard laden radio rock, while the harmonious chorus recalls the glory days of 70s glam. It’s no wonder the song became one of Dokken’s biggest hits and is still a staple in their live sets to this day.
“Slippin’ Away” is the obligatory power ballad. Though lacking the memorability and outright “power” of Tooth and Nail‘s “Alone Again”, it serves its purpose and is more palatable than what was to come from glam metal in the latter half of the 80s. If nothing else, “Slippin’ Away” does a fine job setting the stage for side A’s closer, and one of the heaviest songs in the Dokken catalog, “Lightnin’ Strikes Again”. There are many things Dokken had going for them that the LA metal scene lacked. One of those things was an underlying euro influence. You could argue there are NWOBHM inspired riffs on Great White and Ratt’s debut EPs and full lengths. In fact, you’d be correct. But these elements were all but gone by the time these bands reached album #2. Not Dokken. Despite a more polished production with each subsequent album, they never abandoned the primal Diamond Head-isms that fueled their demos and debut full length, Breaking the Chains. The lightnin’ fast “Lightnin’ Strikes Again” is proof positive of such.
As we flip over and listen to side B, there’s the realization that most, if not all, of these songs can be paired up with songs on side A. It’s as if Dokken took the same cheeky approach as Cheap Trick did on their debut: There’s no “B material”. The opening “It’s Not Love” joins “In My Dreams” in the singles department. It unsurprisingly spawned a memorable music video, as well as a shout along chorus that’s likely earned it regular rotation in many a sport franchises’ game time playlist. “Jaded Heart” is a pseudo-power ballad of sorts. The lyrics are ballad-esque, but the riffs are almost too powerful, even for a power ballad. Feel free to leave your two cents in the comments on whether you think “Jaded Heart” is a ballad or not.
While “The Hunter”, “In My Dreams”, and “It’s Not Love” have found themselves onto every “essential Dokken” and “Dokken’s greatest hits” compilation, one song that I’m shocked hasn’t is “Don’t Lie to Me”. Perhaps the band thought it was “too poppy” to release as a single, that is if such a thing is possible. Personally, I’ve always loved this song. I love it so much that I’ve gone on car rides where I’ve cued it up 2, 3, even 4 times in a row because it’s THAT excellent. The melodies on this oft forgotten banger have much more in common with AOR than any metal band of the day, which would indeed explain my unhealthy infatuation for it.
“Will the Sun Rise” comes off as a Californian take on Screaming for Vengeance era Judas Priest. This might sound absurd at first, but revisit midtempo cuts like “Bloodstone” and “Fever”. Then listen to “Will the Sun Rise”. Maybe it’s just me, but I always imagined Rob Halford’s signature vocals soaring over the metallic breeze of this song. Hell, there’s such an underlying west coast vibe to “Will the Sun Rise”, I’d call it “yacht metal” if not for fear of creating an entire new subgenre. Finally, just as side A closes with the breakneck fury of “Lightnin’ Strikes Again”, side B closes in the same spirit with “Til the Livin’ End”. Now this is a heater and a half. It’s a 4 minute reminder that whenever Dokken pulled the speed metal card, no other band, speed metal or otherwise, came close to their virtuosity. If your face isn’t completely melted by the end of this one, you didn’t have the volume loud enough.
Despite mixed reviews from Martin Popoff and other metal reviewers/historians far more esteemed than yours truly, I maintain my position that Under Lock and Key is the greatest album Dokken ever made. While the production is not as raw and in your face as its predecessors, the songs themselves showcase the band at their musical and songwriting peak, capable of utilizing various facets of rock and metal to their advantage. It’s all the more reason why Dokken’s failure to fully achieve arena headliner status is nothing short of tragic. God knows they were far more talented and deserving than others of the era who reached such heights. The proof lies within Under Lock and Key.
Agreed! Well said.