The Metal Files

Look! No ellipses!

Straight to the toooooooooooop! Tooth and Nail!

Hell yeah, that’s some quality headbanging when that song is on.

Wow, has it really been 24 years since this came out? That’s insane. This CD came on when I was driving home from work today. As you’ll notice from a lot of my reviews, I have a tendency to flashback. I wish I could blame it on drugs but I can’t. I remember buying the cassette of this at Roses department store in Suffolk, VA when I was 14. I think I heard the song Just Got Lucky on the radio and thought it was rokken. The title track comes in and just gets you all pumped up for some spandex jammin!

Now, if you’re a metal fan, and old school metal fan, you already know this album. I don’t need to break down its awesomeness. This was another of the great albums from 1984. What a year!

There are some funny stories to share about this one. I was over at Kelz’ house and we were jamming to this tape down in his den and his mom came in. Now, let me preface all this by saying both of us grew up in homes where our parents (or probably just our moms) thought that heavy metal was of the devil. They were probably right, but whatever. So anyway, she hears the chorus to “Bullets To Spare” and asks to see the tape cover so that she could read the lyrics. If I am not mistaken, the cover was this one, aka the alternate cover (weak):

I think his mom said they were devil hands or something. She was probably right. So…Bullets to Spare…she’s reading the lyrics and just saying a few of them out loud. She looks at me and asks if I know what the song is about. Of course I did. I was 14. I was no Casanova but I knew enough about sexual euphemisms. But, I told her it was about a guy and his gun that ran out of bullets but had some extra ones in his pocket. Ha! I am sure she knew I was full of shit but she let it slide. I think it was a few weeks after that when she called my mom and told her that Chris and I shouldn’t hang out any more ‘cuz I was a bad influence on him. Actually, I think she made that call a few years later. “Not my kid” was that woman’s mantra. If she only knew, eh Chris?

“My barrel’s ready
My hand is steady
Tonight I’m ready for fun
I got my finger
It’s on the trigger
Another night on the run”

Hell yeah! Tell ’em, Don! The bad thing is that Dokken got tagged with the “hair band” label. yeah, they used a lot of hairspray and spandex, but they were a few cuts above the rest of the bands like Poison, Britny Fox and all that other bullshit. Dokken (band) had talent. George Lynch was a badass and not too many guys in the metal scene could touch him on guitar.

Good times. Fun album. I met Don on his solo tour back in 90 or 91. I was on the tour bus before the show and he came on, shook hands, signed a few things then sat down in front of everyone and shot up. Classy.

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