| Formed in 1973
in San Francisco, Journey began as a meandering jazz-rock
outfit featuring two former members of Santana, guitarist
Neal Schon and keyboardist Gregg Rolie. The group floundered
through three largely ignored albums, prompting a change of
direction signaled by the introduction of vocalist Steve Perry.
In 1978, the new-look Journey debuted with Infinity, which
went platinum on the strength of two hit singles that served
as a blueprint for their two-pronged attack. "Wheel In
The Sky" was a thumping anthem that showcased Perry's
soaring tenor and Schon's driving riffs, while the San Francisco
ode "Lights" was the first in a long series of sentimental
senior prom ballads that helped make cigarette lighters a
necessity at Journey's concerts.
Journey cranked out hit after hit over the next several
years, playing packed arenas around the world. Their commercial
peak came with 1981's Escape, which featured "Don't
Stop Believin'," "Open Arms," and "Stone
In Love" and sold a whopping 9 million copies. Perry
took time off to record a successful solo album, Street
Talk, in 1983, but when he returned, the band was overcome
by power struggles and infighting. Things began to disintegrate,
and by the time they recorded Raised On Radio in 1986, all
that remained of Journey were Perry, Schon, and keyboardist
Jonathan Cain, formerly of the Babys, who replaced Rolie
in 1980. Journey disbanded until 1996, when they mounted
a comeback with Trial By Fire, which stuck to virtually
the same sound of a decade earlier and, mercifully, featured
no techno remixes of their '80s hits. In recent years, Journey
has sustained itself mostly as a highly lucrative classic-rock
oldies road show, and while Perry is no longer in the fold,
soundalike vocalist Steve Augeri, fulfilling what seems
to have been a lifelong ambition, keeps Journey's hard-pop
aesthetic alive and well.
While Escape
was Journey's biggest seller, the albums leading up to it,
with their lingering traces of the Santana connection, better
stand the test of time, particularly Infinity and Evolution.
Their 1988 Greatest Hits package has sold over 10 million
copies and should be placed in a time capsule with a Pac-Man
machine and Ronald Reagan so that future generations will
better understand that strange time in our history.
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