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Somehow, as a child of the 80’s, I missed the boat on Dokken. I had Quiet Riot and Def Leppard blasting on my Kmart Sounddesign one-speaker boombox, and my brother had a new LP/dual-cassette combo console that we could use to transfer our Thompson Twins and Culture Club records onto mix tapes. I remember my step-brother giving me a Judas Priest button that I wore on a free golf hat I got from Bennigan’s. It was a confusing time for a kid trying to find himself (especially fashion-wise), caught between the rise of hip hop, heavy metal, and Huey Lewis and the News. Somehow I managed to breakdance and bang my head while keeping my heart of rock n’ roll beating, and fortunately there aren’t many pictures of me during this time.

While I was just a confused kid, the band Dokken was coming into their own. Dokken hit it big in 1984, a very good year for pop rock, with their second album “Tooth and Nail” and found continued success with 1985’s “Under Lock and Key.” Following the success of these two albums Elektra released a compilation of Dokken music videos and tour footage on a glorious VHS tape entitled Dokken: Unchain the Night.

Some twenty years later, Jay Dedman found a copy of this tape at the local Goodwill and sent it to me as a gift, as I’ve become known as a connoisseur of bad VHS. As entertaining as all of the overly dramatic rock videos are, it’s the filler footage of Dokken on their European tour that’s the most fun to watch. A small portion consists of Super 8 sound film which we’ve compiled here for your viewing pleasure.

By the way, Unchain the Night has recently been re-released on DVD and I encourage you to pick up a copy. The DVD version includes more music videos and interviews, including this awesome (mashup-like) music video from Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. Rock on!