DOKKEN – ALONE AGAIN

Happy Wednesday Metalheads! Today we’re continuing our trip back in time to the metal power ballads that either we loved or hated. Let me know what some of yours are and I’ll feature them in a future post.

L to R: Jeff Pilson, Don Dokken, George Lynch and Mick Brown

Pictures courtesy of wallpaperup.com 

Featured image courtesy of jerrygonzalezart.com

For today’s power ballad, we take a trip back to 1985 to a track off Dokken’s second album “Tooth and Nail” called “Alone Again.” The song chronicles the hurt and depression after a romantic breakup. When asked about the song, singer Don Dokken said that he had written the song when he was 25 but had put it in a box and forgot about it. When the band were working on the “Tooth and Nail” album, their record label had mentioned that power ballads were the next big thing at that time, so Don brought the tape to the studio and along with bassist Jeff Pilson “Alone Again” was born.

The song became the band’s biggest hit and the video was played in heavy rotation on MTV. Shot mostly in black and white, the video shows the band in concert and cuts to Don in his hotel room alone after their shows dealing with the pain of the breakup. See the classic video below:

 

 

 

 

 

STRYPER – HONESTLY

Happy Wednesday Metalheads! Hope you enjoyed the spooky posts from last month. This month we’re gonna go back in time to the metal power ballads that either we loved or hated. I’ll share some of my favorites and let me know what some of yours are and I’ll feature them in an upcoming post.

L to R: Tim Gaines, Michael Sweet, Oz Fox and Robert Sweet

Band and album photos courtesy of Pinterest

Featured image courtesy of jerrygonzalezart.com

Today we take a trip back to 1986 to the third album by the band Stryper called “To Hell With The Devil” for the track “Honestly.” The song which was their biggest hit from the album was the most requested video on MTV and peaked at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart.

Stryper, who hail from Orange County, California are a Christian Metal Band who threw out bibles to their fans during their shows in the 80’s. They constantly came under fire for their religious beliefs and were criticized for opening for such bands Ratt and Bon Jovi in their early days, with critics citing that they were not a true Christian band.

As the 90’s hit, Stryper started to veer their image and message into a different direction, eventually going their separate ways in 1993. While various members of the band have reunited at different points since then, their latest album “God Damn Evil” was released earlier this year with 3 of the 4 original members of the band.

I absolutely love “Honestly” and while the song is about not just loving others, but God as well, it’s a song that definitely stands the test of time over 30 years later. Check out the video below: