Journey: The Band I Hate to Love

How does one even begin to write about a band that they pretty much spent their entire life grimacing at every time he heard them? How does one write about a band like this without sounding like a complete dipshit tetter totter? Before you go and start calling me names and hating on me let me just go ahead a say three words that I never thought I would ever hear come flying out of my fucking piehole: I fucking LOVE Journey. Ok, that was four words but whatever.

Yeah, that’s right. I love Journey but this is a brand new thing for me. Journey for me was always just that band that was… man… you know… OPEN ARMS… FAITHFULLY. Yeah, they were that fucking band that sang those fucking sappy ass ballads. They were also that band that had that absolutely ridiculously hilarious video for “Separate Ways” that was so fucking unwatchable that the minute I heard that asstastic keyboard intro I went running out of the room screaming. Journey was also that band that my friend’s mom (who was actually pretty hot by the way) loved. She used to wear this Journey t-shirt that totally accentuated her… ok I’m getting off track now but you get the idea. There was just nothing cool about Journey. They were the soundtrack for soap operas, they were cheese songs that kids skated to at the local skating rink, and they sure as hell didn’t rock. Well, little did I know then right?

Journey was one of those bands that I just never thought much or even cared about. If I heard a song of theirs on the radio, I changed it and voila. No Journey. I didn’t even know anyone who really fucking cared about Journey. Even as eclectic as most of my friends are in their musical tastes (ranging from Slayer and death metal to the Grateful Dead and Waylon Jennings) I never really knew anyone who expressed their fandom for Journey. I just pretty much assumed that if you were a Journey fan you wore acid washed jeans with button up shirts tucked into them or you were someone’s hot mom. All that changed when I met my best friend, James.

So James fucking loves Journey. LOVES Journey. Matter of fact, he told me once, and I quote, “I tell ya man. It took the greatness of Iron Maiden to unseat Journey as my favorite band.” Dude. Those are big fucking words right there and this dude is as awesome as they come so I figured that this had to carry some weight. James slowly broke my wall down regarding Journey by basically just saying, “Dude. Just give them a listen.” I slowly opened myself and started to check out things. Hell, I even watched their full set from the Download Festival a few years ago with new singer Arnel Pineda and I was so impressed. They really rocked and that is where I very slowly started to open up to the idea of giving Journey a full on listen. Hell, I even interviewed legendary Exodus drummer Tom Hunting where he told me how he “fucking loves Journey.” Maybe there was something to this band that I was missing.

I gradually over time discovered that there was a lot more to this band that just the sappy ballads. I started out by going back to the beginning since what I did know about Journey was that Neal Schon and Greg Rolie were both in Santana so they had to have some cool shit. Sure enough, my thoughts were just confirmed. “Mystery Mountain”, “In My Lonely Feeling”, “Midnight Dreamer.” Holy fuck! This was some epic facemelting shit. Is this really Journey? Yup. I couldn’t believe just how fantastic this shit was. Really? Journey? Yup. It sure is but this was just the beginning. So where did things change? This is where my homework needed to be done and I found that things changed with the release of their 4th album Infinity in 1978 by adding Steve Perry as their lead vocalist.

So Steve Perry! This is the guy that sang all those fucking sappy ballads. Oh no. Was this what I was going to be subject to? I was so shocked to hear songs like “Opened the Door”, “Can Do”, and even “Wheel in the Sky” just kick so much ass. I mean, there really is a lot more to this band. As I progressed through their career I could hear a band who was managing to alter their scope just enough to maintain some relevance in the changing times. Very few bands survived the transition from the 70’s to the 80’s and beyond but Journey managed to do it and do it surprisingly well while never really compromising their sound.

With each passing album I could hear Journey progressing but what blows my mind more than anything is the fact that I missed out on some seriously amazing music just because of the crappy songs I hated by them. Yeah, I still fucking hate “Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin” but man, on that same album you get “Lady Luck” and “City of the Angels.” On the same album as “Open Arms” you get “Mother, Father”, Who’s Crying Now”, and “Lay it Down.” The song “Frontiers” from the album of the same title absolutely melted my face and just may be one of the greatest hard prog rock songs of all time.  Holy fuck those songs right there are just fucking epic and guess what? I also learned that the song “Separate Ways” is actually a fucking kick ass song as long as you can turn off the visual of that horrendous video. Even at their cheesiest with the Raised on Radio album I still found a place in my corroded little metal heart for songs like “Raised on Radio”, “Girl Can’t Help It”, and “I’ll Be Alright Without You.”

I fucking love Journey. There you have it. I said it and you know what? I’m totally fucking ok with it. Journey is a band with such a vast history behind them and I have had an absolute blast discovering such great, timeless songs. They are songs that give me goose bumps, they’re songs that make me smile, they’re songs that blow my fucking face off, and they’re songs that make me say, “oh what the fuck is this crap?” Regardless, they are all songs that make me feel something. Journey is a band that I am so fucking psyched to be a fan of right now and I cannot wait to just dive deeper into these albums and really pick them apart. It’s really exciting to discover a band like this so thanks James. You were right. Oh, and by the way. I still fucking hate “Open Arms”, “Faithfully”, and “Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’.”

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