Jeff Pilson partly relieved but felt it was a mistake when Dokken’s classic line-up split up in 1988

Jeff Pilson partly relieved but felt it was a mistake when Dokken’s classic line-up split up in 1988

Black Swan, Foreigner, The End Machine and occasional Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson was recently interviewed by Vintage Rock Pod.

In terms of how he felt when Dokken‘s classic line-up of himself, Don Dokken on lead vocals, George Lynch on guitar and “Wild” Mick Brown on drums split up in 1988, Pilson indicated (as provided by Vintage Rock Pod):

“Uh, I felt it was the wrong thing to do, and I voiced my opinion at the time. Um, it was really, you know, it was Don leaving is what happened. And, you know, I had a problem with that. I didn’t think it was the right thing to do.

I mean, I understood why. I mean, I got his frustrations. I also think there was ambition in there on his part that I thought was not going to serve him well. But I was a bit distraught.

I was also partly relieved though, I gotta say, because the tension was heavy. That was five intense years of, kind of a dark feeling. More days than not, you’d walk onto the bus and there was that “eurgh” feeling between everybody and that ages you quick and I was relieved to be away from that.

But overall I felt it was a mistake and you know, certainly financially it was a mistake, career-wise it was a mistake. I think maybe had we not done that, maybe we would have burned out in a different way that would not have given us life later on down the line. So that could be one positive of us breaking up, then.

And it certainly gave me an opportunity where I had to deal with my personal demons and addictions. Um, so that was good about breaking up, but overall I was not happy about it.”