Posted on 02/13/2010 11:40:59 AM PST by SamAdams76
I drive trucks for a living. Big trucks. My routes often take me coast to coast. So I have a lot of time to listen to music on my truck stereo.
Well after over 30 years of dismissing the rock band Journey as an insufferably lame musical group, I must say that all of a sudden, I am actually starting to like some of their songs. Where I used to have stations like "Outlaw Country" and "Willie's Place" as my Sirius radio presets, I now find that I have stations like "Classic Rewind" and "70s on 7" dialed in to try to catch a Journey tune.
Now I came of age during the late 1970s/early 1980s when Journey was at their commercial peak, and I always took pride in the fact that I utterly rejected the "stadium rock" genre that was so fashionable at the time.
Whether it was Poco, Kansas, Foreigner, Loverboy, Supertramp, and even Foghat, they were all pretenders to me. I didn't even allow myself to get caught up in all the hype surrounding The Knack ("My Sharona") back in the summer of '79.
Back in the day, my taste in music was very discriminating indeed. Back in the late 1970s, you'd find me listening to Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Neil Young, Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds. Maybe even a little Elvis Costello or Joe Jackson for when I wanted something "New Wave." But as for "corporate New Wave" like The Cars, The Police and U2, forget about it.
Certainly you wouldn't catch me dead listening to anything by Journey. For me, Journey personified the era of lame corporate rock and I wasn't having any of their syrupy power ballads and cookie cutter rock anthems.
So what the hell has changed? Why I am, now well into my middle age, now a sucker for songs by Journey?
I think I turned the corner a couple of years ago when I tuned in for the finale of "The Sopranos." As most of you know, the popular HBO series ended not with a bang but with the haunting piano intro and whimpering vocals of Steve Perry:
Just a small town girl
Livin' in a lonely world
She took the midnight train goin' anywhere
Well unless you happened to be just born, I think you know the rest of that song...
Since then, that song ("Don't Stop Believin') has been played to death on all radio stations. But I just can't get it out of my head and as a result, on a hot sweltering night last summer, with a six pack of Coors Lite in my belly, I went over to iTunes and downloaded the damn thing for 99 cents.
Now I got that song on my iPod sharing space with the likes of legends such as The Allman Brothers, Molly Hatchet and Warren Zevon. I'm sure there is a special place in hell for people like me.
But unfortunately, my flirtation with Journey did not end there. Before the summer was out, I had added "Wheel In The Sky", "Stone In Love" and "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'" to compound further my original sin.
Now I got a reputation to uphold here so I started taking steps to ensure that nobody found out that I had Journey songs in my music collection. So I dumped the Journey songs into a playlist called "My sister's favorite music" so that if anybody called me on it, I'd be able to say that I sometimes let my sister borrow my iPod and so I setup a playlist special for her. I even threw some stuff like REO Speedwagon and Donna Summer in there to make it look good. "Yeah, that really is my sister's playlist", I could easily say, "After all, you think a big burly man like me could actually listen to such sissy stuff!"
But I gotta tell ya, after I went ahead and downloaded "Lights" and "Open Arms" by Journey, I really started questioning my sexuality. I was starting to get a little nervous and the only cure was to throw on the TV and watch some NASCAR or "Monster Truck Madness" or something manly like that.
But now I guess I have finally come to terms with my fondness for Journey music. After all, it is possible to listen to Journey and still be a man. I'm living proof of that, I might be a newly minted Journey fan but I'm still a truck driving man and if you want to question my manhood about it, I will drive my 18-wheeler over to your house and kick your butt.
Agreed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0RFpXrPv2g
My favorite song of theirs. Rollie has a pretty cool voice.
Very cool.
Much of the blame can be laid at the feet of radio stations and their formulaic playlists. I even badgered our local "classic" rock station to play some real classic rock (i.e. early Journey), but to no avail.
People always love the early stuff when they hear it, though, and not many people have heard it..
Some of the Perry stuff is ok, but it's just been played to death.
Air Supply was my favorite in high school. Whenever I feel old I go listen to my 80s pop, preferably in a fast car with the window down. :p
I love his Gibson SG model with the Tiki man....but I’m not left-handed.
I was prepared to write off Creedence Clearwater Revisted and the New Cars but as long as Easton is involved they have credibility with me.
I think its a middle age thing. I always loved metal bands and the cars but disliked the slow stuff. Now I prefer the slower and less noisy rock and even country.
This vid will take you back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K38xNqZvBJI
Van Halen made journey look like a garage band.
That’s a great song.
Music is music, it shouldn’t be taken so seriously. Religion and politics should be taken seriously but songs on the radio should just be for fun. How many times have we heard of whole albums being written in a day. They’re just songs.
On Valentines's Day, what could be better than
Steve Perry has a helluva voice. I don’t see how he can put Foghat in with his corporate rock complaint, they were anything but.
i am a hard core rocker (and always have been) leaning to metal. I have a soft spot for Journey, can’t explain it and No I do not have gay tendencies.
i am a hard core rocker (and always have been) leaning to metal. I have a soft spot for Journey, can’t explain it and No I do not have gay tendencies.
"Rudy's Train" is one of my favorite tunes from them.
That boy could sing. Loved his stuff. "Waiting for Columbus" is an all time favorite.
Careful, that could get your butt kicked........LOL!
"Old folks Boogie"...? :)
I think it captured a mood of the time, and a mood we are sensing today, that’s why it still resonates. It is just that. You don’t get your political beliefs from a song, but sometimes a song says something, and you read something into it that rings true.
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