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.
Ha—so that was his, eh?
You know you’re getting old when you hear your favorite songs in the nursing home.
LOL
Last year, I had to spend some time in a combination nursing home/rehab center (physical rehab that is — not drugs or alcohol). You would be surprised at the music those older folks were listening to. Sure you still hear Frank Sinatra and others from that era, but some of these seniors are actually big fans of more contemporary music.
Journey - pre-Steve Perry. Wheel in the sky my butt.
HEAR, HEAR!
Maybe, he'll reach the point some day that he can talk about his music without going into a Roy D. Mercer routine.
I think the reason Thomas is compared to great songwriters because he comes up with a neat turn of phrase now and then. The lyrics to “Smooth,” for instance, are very evocative and stand out in a sea of manufactured pop lyrics.
Great minds etc.
Covers albums usually leave me a bit cold but Dave outdoes the original on every track.
“Stone in Love” is great, but try “Feelin’ That Way”/”Anytime” from before that.
don’t feel bad about journey. some of their stuff is pretty good. wheel in the sky is one of my faves.
now if you find yourself becoming addicted to the music of....say maybe kc and the sunshine band, or perhaps the bay city rollers, then you should seek therapy.
I don't care who you are, that is one of the most hilarious stories ever! At least you did not have to endure it all the way to NJ.
Zamfir is big in Europe, according to his old TV advertisements.
Any thing by Little Feat. When Lowell George was alive.
Ping
Any way you want, that’s the way you need it.
There’s P’oco song off of Poco 7 called Drivin’ Wheel that I’ve been tryin.g to find a sample of from anywhere on the net. Can’t find it. It was a rocking song for that band.
Their first 3 albums were great and never got the attention they deserved. I love their Perry albums, too, though.
Don’t forget “Mother, Father”, possibly my favorite Journey song.
Elliot Easton and yes he was/is fantastic.
Easton is alive and well and posts frequently over at the Les Paul Forum where he's just a regular dude who was famous once a long time ago.
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