Anyone who’s ever watched a rockumentary on hair metal in the mid 80’s probably has a pretty good idea of what the night life was like up on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles… the spandex and leather… the drunken debauchery… But let’s back up a few years to a time when the hair was not quite so high, and the eyeliner was not quite so thick.

To start at the beginning would be to tell the tale of so many other 16-year-old kids with a rock n’ roll dream — rehearsing in their parent’s garage and playing the Hollywood High Battle of The Bands. Singer David Anthony and guitarist Alan Santalesa were getting frustrated after spending a year looking for a perfect rhythm section, and soon settled on some kids from the South Bay… and so Shire was born.

That’s right, this week we are rockin’ with Dokken. Fronted by namesake Don Dokken, this band of L.A. metal stalwarts has been around in various incarnations since 1978. Their most famous lineup of Don Dokken, George Lynch, Mick Brown, and Jeff Pilson made a series of multi-platinum, high octane records throughout the 80s.

Here from their amazing second record, 1984’s Tooth & Nail, is Dokken with the anthem “Into the Fire.”