As most of you know if you have been around here for some time Kevin, our fearless leader (although there are rumors that Ozkar scared him just a little), loves him some 80's music, especially that from the band Journey.
Journey was formed in 1973 originally under the name The Golden Gate Rhythm Section made up of former members of Santana, Frumious Bandersnatch and The Tubes. The band was originally assembled as a backing band for other big name San Francisco acts of the time. This was not a concept that worked for the band very well and they shortly developed a jazz fusion style and changed their name to Journey. This basic original lineup played together for a few years and released three albums with limited success.
After pressure from their record company to refine their sound to something more pop based, due mostly to the rising popularity of bands like Boston and Foreigner at the time, they hired Steve Perry to be their new lead singer. Perry gave the band a cleaner more pop like sound that they were looking for. Perry, just before joining Journey, had nearly retired from music after the death of his band mate and good friend Richard Michaels. At the urging of his mother he took the call from Journeys manager, later joining the band in late 1977.
After the addition of Perry the band experienced it's greatest success with their fourth album "Infinity" reaching number 21 on the album charts. They continued to have success following the release of Infinity with the release of "Evolution" which game them their first Billboard top 20 single "Lovin, Touchin, Squeezin". They continued releasing successful albums, including a live album "Captured". Their height of success came in the early 80's with the release of "Escape" (their biggest selling album of all time) in 1981 and "Frontiers" in 1983. Both albums gave the band a string of hits during that time.
From the mid 80's to the late 90's the band saw several hiatus' and changes as band members either left the band, worked on solo projects or performed with other bands. During this period they managed to reunite to record two more albums. Neither one reaching the level of success of the early 80's endeavors. The band replaced Perry in 98 and for many die-hard fans this was the end of Journey. They have since worked their way through various lead singers but have never again come close to the height of popularity under Perry.
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So do you have a favorite Journey song or memory tied to the band or one of its songs?
NOTE-I did not add a video to tonight's post due to most all of Journey's songs being locked and only playable directly from Youtube. Please link you favorites below in the body of the post.