The metal band Metallica destroyed in 1988: “Can you please put ’em on after us?”
The rock and metal community have always been unnecessarily competitive, especially given that many legacy acts aren’t all that welcoming when it comes to new, fresh talent. Although it may not seem like it now, Metallica were once the new kids on the block who had to get others to believe that what they created was actually worth listening to.
Like many bands just starting out, Metallica had their work cut out for them in the early days. Back in 1983, while on their first major tour as the support act for British metal band Raven, some audience members didn’t really understand why they were chosen for the coveted spot, or why others were so into their music when it didn’t even seem to carry anything that special.
For the members of Raven, though it was clear that they were unique, one of them even called the band “a more refined Motörhead”. But out on the road, they didn’t quite prove they had the same magic we associate with them now, leaving others confused or worse, bored. As Raven’s Mark Gallagher recalled, “When we went out and played the shows, a lot of places didn’t like Metallica. They were like, ‘What the hell is this?’”
To their credit, much of this inability to understand what they were about came from the fact that this wasn’t a band that just followed the crowd. In fact, in the early days, even Lars Ulrich acknowledged that one of the reasons why they didn’t really make a splash in LA’s rock scene was because they were too “obnoxious”, and instead of trying to look the part like everyone else, they came out with their “Motorhead t-shirts” and “just played fast, energetic speed metal for an hour”.
In the same interview, he effectively summarised everything people love and hate about Metallica: “It’s an old cliche when people say ‘Give the people what they want,’” he said. “To us, that’s bullshit. Cause we’re not doing this for anybody else. We write about what we want to write about, and we don’t wonder whether some kids are gonna take it seriously or not.”
As such, if there is one band that knows what it’s like to be up against it in such a competitive arena, then it’s Metallica. But one thing they’ll never understand is what it’s like to exist in Metallica’s shadow, fighting for recognition and acknowledgement, but constantly being overlooked by a force you no longer could contend with.
This was the case for Dokken, who, along with Metallica, were on the bill for the Monsters of Rock tour of 1988. Playing 30 dates across the US, Dokken and Metallica joined the likes of Van Halen and Scorpions, with Dokken very much riding the high of their successful 1983 record, Back For The Attack. This was supposed to be their big moment, but following Metallica’s set proved to be a major challenge they didn’t know they could overcome.
The turning point came during a show at the LA Memorial Coliseum when the audience grew particularly rowdy during Metallica’s set, by which point the members of Dokken realised that it was pretty much over for them. “After Metallica went out and played ‘Master Of Puppets’, we sounded like the fucking Partridge Family!” Don Dokken told Classic Rock.
It was so serious, in fact, that Don even asked if they could swap places with Metallica so they didn’t have such a tough act to follow. As he put it: “I told Cliff [Burnstein, co-manager of both Dokken and Metallica]: ‘I know we’re making twice the money as Metallica, but can you please put ’em on after us, because they’re killing us?”
The icing on the cake came following a review from a major publication after the show, which gave all the other bands glowing reviews, but only included one line about Dokken. And what’s worse is that it wasn’t about their performance but about how many hotdogs were sold during their set. Ouch.
