George Lynch

George Lynch is a big guitar influence. His story revolves around perseverance and grit.

He auditioned for Ozzy’s band on two occasions, losing out to Randy Rhoads (but getting Randy’s teaching gig in the process) and then to Jake E. Lee (this time around, Lynch actually got the job, but Ozzy or Sharon changed their mind).

His earlier band “The Boyz” showcased for Gene Simmons. Van Halen opened that show, so we all know how that panned out. Gene even said to him that he would need to change his name, as George Lynch is not a real rock star name. Gene would probably say he was right, as the Lynch name in 2019 doesn’t hold the same brand recognition as Gene’s name does.

Dokken was introduced to me in 1986 via a dubbed VHS copy of their “Unchain the Night” video and to be honest it was a great introduction. “Into the Fire”, “Alone Again” and “Just Got Lucky” from the “Tooth and Nail” album, “Breaking the Chains” from the album that carries its name and “The Hunter”, “In My Dreams” and “It’s Not Love” from the “Under Lock and Key” album all appeared on it. Basically pirated video tapes led me to Dokken fandom.

Then I heard “Dream Warriors”.

It made me enough of a fan to go and sink my teeth into “Under Lock and Key” and I was impressed, so “Tooth And Nail” was next.

But my first actual purchase was the “Back For The Attack” album.

Dokken didn’t get much traction in Australia so you rarely saw them on the music television shows but back in 1987, “Back for the Attack” was everywhere, and 32 years later its nowhere and it’s rarely part of the conversation.

Because, just when Dokken had the world in their hands, unresolved internal conflicts made the members part ways. George Lynch and Mick Brown got together with Lynch Mob and remained with Elektra Records. Jeff Pilson went to War and Peace and lead singer Don Dokken got wined and dined by Geffen Records and jumped ship along with Q Prime Management. A miscalculation by Cliff Burnstein, as the fire was with George Lynch.

And “Wicked Sensation” showed why Mr Scary is a guitar god but by 1990, hard rock music was killing itself as the market was saturated with so many bands, it was overkill.

And suddenly it’s 1992. Dokken (the band) is now close to four years dead and the great momentum built up by the Mark 1 version of Lynch Mob was taken back a few steps with the ousting of Oni Logan and the hiring of new singer Robert Mason.

And then I was surprised to see that “Sacred Groove” from George Lynch came out in 1993. It is a god damn solid album, combining instrumentals with hard rock songs and a plethora of singers.

The best instrumental track by far on the album is “Tierra Del Fuego”. A six minute tour de force in Flamenco Hard Rock music and the best vocal track is “We Don’t Own The World”, that has vocals by Matthew and Gunnar Nelson. Prior to hearing this track, I really had no idea who the Nelson brothers were, however after hearing the track, I sought them out and I came across their excellent “After The Rain” album.

And then George Lynch returned to the Dokken fold for the already written “Dysfunctional” album, but by 1995, Dokken was not an arena act and although the money from John Kalodner’s Columbia Records was fantastic, the band was miserable and he was out again after the nu-metal inspired “Shadowlife”.

And he changed it up again, when Lynch Mob was reformed into an industrial hip hop act. Which lost me but I was curious as to what Lynch would do next. And then he proceeded to do what the current music business required him to do.

Release frequently. Check out this list of releases.

2000 – George Lynch – Will Play for Food
2001 – George Lynch – Stone House
2002 – George Lynch – The Lynch That Stole Riffness!
2003 – Lynch Mob – REvolution
2004 – George Lynch – Furious George
2005 – George Lynch – The Lost Anthology
2007 – George Lynch – Guitar Slinger
2008 – George Lynch – Scorpion Tales
2008 – Souls Of We – Let The Truth Be Known
2009 – Lynch Mob – Smoke And Mirrors
2010 – Raven Quinn – self-titled debut
2010 – George Lynch – Orchestral Mayhem
2011 – George Lynch – Kill All Control
2012 – T & N – Slave To The Empire
2012 – George Lynch – Legacy (EP)
2012 – Lynch Mob – Sound Mountain Sessions (EP)
2013 – Lynch Mob – Unplugged – Live From Sugar Hill Studios
2014 – KXM – KXM
2014 – Lynch Mob – Sun Red Sun
2015 – Lynch Mob – Rebel
2015 – George Lynch – Shadow Train
2015 – Sweet and Lynch – Only To Rise
2017 – Lynch Mob – The Brotherhood
2017 – Dokken – Return To The East
2017 – KXM – Scatterbrain
2017 – Sweet and Lynch – Unified
2018 – Ultraphonix – Original Human Music
2019 – KXM – Circle of Dolls
2019 – The End Machine – The End Machine

In order to survive, you need to create.

And Lynch is a man of many projects.

In the early two thousands he also started an online guitar instructional course called “Guitar Dojo” that was way ahead of its time as Skype and YouTube were not even around.

He even builds guitars himself for people, which becomes another revenue stream.

And by doing these things, Lynch was finding different ways to connect with his fans which is another cog to survive in the current music business.