Album of the Day

Dokken's debut was not a big commercial hit, and label Elektra was ready to give the quartet the heave-ho, but the band fought TOOTH AND NAIL for a second chance and made the most of it. The 1984 collection of that name has a more commercial glam metal sound than its predecessor, and as such originals as “Into the Fire,” “Just Got Lucky” and power ballad “Alone Again” (which reached the Billboard Hot 100) make clear, the songwriting had taken a leap forward. Frontman Don Dokken and axeman George Lynch clashed during the recording - to the point that they worked separate shifts in the studio – but that individual focus may be why the vocals and endlessly inventive guitar riffs are so strong. Dokken was a band on the rise, and the platinum-certified TOOTH AND NAIL showed them ready for their close-up.