In a recent chat with Guitar Player, George Lynch revealed how Dokken came up with their song titles.
“What is kind of interesting is how I came up with the titles for a lot of the songs back then,” the guitarist said while talking about Dokken’s ‘Paris Is Burning.’ “I’d read the ‘TV Guide’ and flip through the titles of old movies.”
He added, “Probably way more than half of the Dokken song titles came from movie titles that I found in ‘TV Guide,’ and that was where ‘Paris Is Burning’ came from. What does it even mean? [laughs] I’ve never even seen the movie.”
“Most of the lyric writing in Dokken was a collaboration between me and Jeff [Pilson, bassist], but Don did pitch in on a few,” Lynch revealed. “I’d literally say, ‘This song is called ‘Paris Is Burning,” for example, and then we’d come up with the words to fit the title.”
The rocker also shared, “I always concentrated on coming up with a hook and a melody first, and then we tried to fill in the gaps between us. Sadly, ‘TV Guide’ doesn’t exist anymore, so I’ve no longer got that songwriting resource.”
Last year, Lynch also talked about how he writes guitar solos and keeps them sounding new in his career. He said, “Well, sometimes I’ll intentionally do… Not copy, but I’ll do something in the style of something I’ve done in the past, just keep… That’s my style, and everybody does that.”
Lynch continued, “And sometimes I have to intentionally do that, actually, because I’ll, a lot of times, just want to go off and do something strange or completely different because it’s fun for me. But then sometimes I gotta pull myself back and go, ‘You still got to be true to the brand and your legacy…’”
Earlier this year, the guitarist discussed a possible Dokken reunion. He said he would return only if everyone got an equal share. He mentioned that the band has received good offers for tours and recordings. However, these offers often fall apart because one person wants more than the others.