Journey (band)

Journey is an American rock band formed in 1973 in San Francisco.

Massive commercial success

In 1981 Journey's seventh studio album, Escape, went to #1 on the album charts and would go on to become their most popular (9-times platinum). The hits "Who's Crying Now", "Don't Stop Believin'", and "Open Arms" all reached the top 10 as singles, and the band's polished sound, fronted by Perry's distinctive and soon to be widely imitated voice, became a popular radio presence.

Related Topics:
1981 - Escape

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In particular, "Don't Stop Believin'" showcased how well Perry's soaring tenor could interlace with Cain's full piano chords and Schon's dynamic guitar work, while "Open Arms" ? which spent six weeks at #2 on the charts ? helped establish Perry as the standard for 1980s arena rock power ballad vocals.

Related Topics:
Arena rock - Power ballad

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Such success did not help Journey that much with rock critics, who for the most part had not liked any edition of the band. The 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide gave all their albums only one star, saying that "Journey was a dead end for San Francisco area rock ... utter triviality ... banality ... reek of exploitative cynicism." Fairly or not, critics often lumped Journey together with other one-word-named "corporate rock" bands such as Boston, Foreigner, Asia, and so forth.

Related Topics:
Rock critics - Corporate rock - Boston - Foreigner - Asia

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In 1982, the band contributed two tracks ("Only Solutions" and "1990's Theme") to the Disney film Tron. Somewhat ironically, later that year the group became the first rock band to inspire a video game, with Journey and Journey Escape.

Related Topics:
Tron - Video game - Journey - Journey Escape

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Journey's follow-up, 1983's Frontiers, kept up the commercial success. It reached #2 on the album charts and scored four hit singles, with "Faithfully" and "Separate Ways" reaching the highest at #12 and #8. Jonathan Cain's presence was more felt on this album, both in his songwriting (he was the sole writer of "Faithfully") and in the greater use of keyboards in the sound.

Related Topics:
1983 - Frontiers

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It was now the MTV era, and Journey's popularity was boosted by a documentary-like music video for "Faithfully", which showed various band members and their families on tour and which helped place the song up with Bob Seger's "Turn the Page" and Jackson Browne's "Load Out" as a life-on-the-road favorite.

Related Topics:
MTV - Music video - Bob Seger - Jackson Browne

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