Friday, October 27, 2017

Rocktober Hair Band Song #20: "Dream Warriors" by Dokken

I would be remiss if I had Halloween week during a Hair Band Rocktober without "Dream Warriors" by Dokken.  You see, kids, back in the 1980s, there was this movie franchise called Nightmare On Elm Street.  The villain was Freddy Krueger, and that motherfucker could enter your dreams and kill you.  Even kids who had never seen any of the movies were terrified of falling asleep.

The third installment of the Nightmare On Elm Street series was released in 1987 and subtitled Dream Warriors.  Dokken was asked to write a song for the movie, and they did.  It's called -- quite appropriately -- "Dream Warriors," and it rose to #22 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart (and was also included on the band's Back For The Attack album).  

The video is great.  It features Patricia Arquette, who starred in the movie, making a little dollhouse covered with Dokken cutouts.  This was pretty standard behavior for '80s teenagers.  But she makes the mistake of falling asleep.  "One two, Freddy's coming for you."  In her dream -- or should I say in my dreams? (that's a Dokken reference, folks) -- she sees a creepy blond toddler riding a tricycle.  "Three four, better lock your door."  Doing what anyone would do, she follows the kid into the basement of a deserted Victorian house.  "Five six, get your crucifix."  She grabs the little girl before the girl burns herself in the boiler, only to realize the kid is now a skeleton.  "Seven eight, gonna stay up late."  And then Freddy shows up and steals George Lynch right after he plays a wicked solo.  "Nine ten, never sleep again."  In the end, though, everything turns out all right because we learn that Freddy Krueger's nightmare is rock and roll.

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