80s Glam/Metal Vocal Showdown #25: Dokken vs Johnson

[jingle.boy]

Let's see if we can get participation back up with a couple of true 80s glam and metal voices.  Although AC/DC by today's standards wouldn't be considered either, they were (at least in the early 80s) right on that edge of Metal and Rock.  Easily one of the most commercially successful 'heavy' bands, their comeback with Johnson was not only improbably, but incredible.  Was a big fan of both AC/DC era's, and they have certainly stood the test of time, although their output weaned considerably over the last 20 years, their 80s output was magnificent.

Dokken... for some reason, I associated them as being one of the thrashy metal bands.  No idea why, but I (unfortunately) dismissed them back in the 80s.  While Coz tried to get me into them via my roulette, I liked it plenty, but never spent a lot of time with them.  And from how Coz tells it, Don's voice is gone to shit even more than Tate.

And with the initials of BJ, how could you not vote for him?

Johnson for me.

[BlobVanDam]

I enjoy the older material by both, but I'm going with Brian Johnson too.

Don Dokken's voice used to be pretty good, but it was always a bit weak, and he can't sing for shit now, even in the studio.
Brian Johnson's voice has been shot for a while too, but he started from a higher level, and has toured hard for longer, I think. Plus he's still not bad in the studio for an old guy.

And the vocals on Back in Black are killer rock vocals. Very few people can pull them off without ending up sounding like Cinderella.

[ZirconBlue]

Don Dokken may not be able to sing well now, but Brian Johnson was never able to sing well.  And Don was pretty awesome back in his heyday.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Johnson.

[bosk1]

Don Dokken may not be able to sing well now, but Brian Johnson was never able to sing well.  And Don was pretty awesome back in his heyday.

This.  And the thing about Don is, his voice always sounded so smooth that it was very deceptive how high he was actually singing and how difficult his vocal lines were.  I can't count the number of times I tried a Dokken song thinking it was going to be easy, and found myself struggling mightily with it.

[Lowdz]

Dokken by a long way.

I really liked his voice back in the day. true, it's gone now but I only ever tolerated BJ as a singer. I remember hearing him for the first time after Highway To Hell and If You Want Blood being my two of my favourite albums and thinking wtf have they done. BiB was ok, FTATR was ok but it's been diminishing returns since then. In fact FTATR was the last AC/DC album I bought.

Dokken's run of albums from Tooth & Nail up to Back For the Attack is awesome. His Don Dokken album was decent too but like Lynch with Lynch Mob, nneither was as good apart as they were together. Shame he and Lynch hated each other though. And the grunge-y 90s albums do not exist in my world.

[jjrock88]

Dokken big time. The first 4 Dokken albums along with their first live album are the standard bearer for me for hair metal

[TAC]

I thought that Dokken  had a great voice but was an asshole live. Johnson was the opposite. Going with the good guy...Johnson.

[King Postwhore]

Dokken gets my vote.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Don Dokken may not be able to sing well now, but Brian Johnson was never able to sing well.  And Don was pretty awesome back in his heyday.

This.  And the thing about Don is, his voice always sounded so smooth that it was very deceptive how high he was actually singing and how difficult his vocal lines were.  I can't count the number of times I tried a Dokken song thinking it was going to be easy, and found myself struggling mightily with it.

All of this.  Not taking into account his current vocal shortcomings (more like "Done Dokken"), DD has always been one of my favorites.  Bosk is right, some of his lines were deceptively difficult to nail.  Probably why he can't nail them now.    But seriously, they did 8 songs at M3 last year and though singing isn't my strong suit, I can guarantee you, I could have sang that set better than he did.

None of that matters though, T&N, UL&K, and BFTA cement him as a near deity in my book.

[NunoTenniscourt]

Wow, what an odd showdown. I think it will come down to a matter of which vocal style one prefers. Clean or gritty.

Me personally, I prefer clean, but that's not to discredit Brian Johnson. His style works with AC/DC's music. His vocals would sound ridiculous with Dokken's music, just as Don's would probably sound silly with AC/DC's music.

Don's darker timbre (as opposed to someone brighter like Axl Rose) is probably what makes Dokken's songs sound easier than they are vocally, but the fact of the matter is many of his melody lines lie in the passaggio area, which takes a lot of work to gain full control of.

But sadly, as it's been pointed out, Don is just not what he used to be. Speaking of singing and Dokken, former bass player, Jeff Pilson made Don look like a complete amateur on the "One Live Night" DVD with his vocals for "Just Got Lucky".

[wolfking]

Dokken.  As Jason said, those first four albums are insane.

[jjrock88]

Dons first solo album, Up from the Ashes, is fantastic too; goes perfect with the first 4 Dokken discs

[Mister Gold]

I'm going with the guy who was able to scare Freddie Krueger.

In other words, Don Dokken.

[kirksnosehair]

Don Dokken may not be able to sing well now, but Brian Johnson was never able to sing well.  And Don was pretty awesome back in his heyday.

This