Journey (band)

Journey
Journey live in Minneapolis, Minnesota on September 16, 2008. Photo by Matt Becker
Background information
Origin	San Francisco, California, USA
Genre(s)	Rock, hard rock, progressive rock
Years active	1973 – 1987, 1995 – present
Label(s)	Columbia, Sony BMG, Sanctuary
Associated acts	Santana, The Babys, Steve Perry, Bad English, The Storm, Vital Information, The Zoo
Website	JourneyMusic.com
Members
Neal Schon Ross Valory Jonathan Cain Deen Castronovo Arnel Pineda
Former members
See: Journey former members section

Journey is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1973. The band has gone through several phases since its inception by former members of Santana. The band's greatest commercial success came in the late 1970s through the early 1980s with a series of power ballads and songs such as "Don't Stop Believin'", "Any Way You Want It", "Faithfully", "Open Arms", "Separate Ways", and "Wheel in the Sky".

Journey has been eligible for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame since 2000, but Gregg Rolie is the only current or former member of Journey who has been inducted — as a member of parent band Santana. In 2009, Steve Perry, the band's best-known lead vocalist, will be eligible for induction as a solo artist.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Formation, 1973–1976 1.2 New musical direction, 1977–1980 1.3 Height of popularity, 1981–1983 1.4 Break-up, 1984–1994 1.5 Reunion, 1995–1997 1.6 Lead singer replaced, 1998–2006 1.7 Lead singer replaced again, 2006–present 2 Band members 2.1 Current members 2.2 Former members 3 References in popular culture 3.1 Film 3.2 Television 3.2.1 Programs 3.2.2 Advertisements 3.3 Literature 3.4 Sports 3.5 Music 3.6 Video games 4 Discography 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

History

Formation, 1973–1976

The original members of Journey came together in San Francisco in 1973 under the auspices of former Santana manager Herbie Herbert. Originally called the Golden Gate Rhythm Section and intended to serve as a backup group for established Bay Area artists, the band included recent Santana alumni Neal Schon on lead guitar and Gregg Rolie on keyboards and lead vocals. Bassist Ross Valory and rhythm guitarist George Tickner, both of Frumious Bandersnatch, and drummer Prairie Prince of The Tubes rounded out the group. The band quickly abandoned the original "backup group" concept and developed a distinctive jazz-fusion style. After an unsuccessful radio contest to name the group, roadie John Villaneuva^[1] suggested the name "Journey."^[2] The band's first public appearance came at the Winterland Ballroom on New Year’s Eve, 1973. Prairie Prince rejoined The Tubes shortly thereafter, and the band hired British drummer Aynsley Dunbar, who had recently worked with John Lennon and Frank Zappa. On February 5, 1974, the new line-up made their debut at the Great American Music Hall and secured a recording contract with Columbia Records.

Journey released their eponymous first album in 1975, and rhythm guitarist Tickner left the band before they cut their second album, Look into the Future (1976). Neither album achieved significant sales,^[3] so Schon, Valory, and Dunbar took singing lessons in an attempt to add vocal harmonies to Rolie's lead. The following year's Next contained shorter tracks with more vocals and featured Schon as lead singer on several of the songs.

New musical direction, 1977–1980

Journey's album sales did not improve and Columbia Records requested that they change their musical style and add a frontman, with whom keyboardist Gregg Rolie could share lead vocal duties. The band hired Robert Fleischman and transitioned to a more popular style, akin to that of Foreigner and Boston. Journey went on tour with Fleischman in 1977 and together the new incarnation of the band wrote the hit "Wheel in the Sky." But fans were lukewarm to the change, and personality differences resulted in Fleischman being fired within the year.^[4]

In the fall of 1977, Journey hired Steve Perry as their new lead singer. Perry added a clean, tenor sound and the band became a true pop act. Their fourth album, Infinity (1978), reached No. 21 on the album charts and gave the band their first RIAA-certified platinum album plus hit singles out of "Lights" and "Wheel In the Sky"."^[5]

Drummer Aynsley Dunbar did not get along with singer Steve Perry and did not approve of the new musical direction.^[6] He was fired in 1978 and replaced by Berklee-trained jazz drummer Steve Smith.^[7] Perry, Schon, Rolie, Smith, and bass player Ross Valory recorded 1979's Evolution, which gave the band their first Billboard Hot 100 Top 20 single, "Lovin,' Touchin,' Squeezin;'" and 1980's Departure, which reached No. 8 on the album charts and included the top-25 hit "Any Way You Want It."^[8]

Journey's newfound success brought the band an almost entirely new fan base. During the 1980 Departure world tour, the band recorded a live album, Captured. They also recorded the soundtrack to the film Dream After Dream while in Japan.

Exhausted from extensive touring, keyboardist Gregg Rolie now left a successful band for the second time in his career. Keyboardist Stevie "Keys" Roseman was brought in to record the lone studio track for Captured, "The Party's Over (Hopelessly in Love),"^[9] but Rolie recommended pianist Jonathan Cain of The Babys as the permanent replacement. With Cain's replacement of Rolie's Hammond B-3 organ with his own synthesizers, the band was poised to redefine rock music for a new decade in which they would achieve their greatest musical success.^[10]

Height of popularity, 1981–1983

Journey released their eighth and biggest-selling studio album, Escape, in 1981. The album, which has thus far sold nine times platinum, went to number one on the album charts that year, and included three top-ten hits: "Who's Crying Now," "Don't Stop Believin'," and "Open Arms."^[11]

Capitalizing on their success, the band recorded radio commercials for Budweiser and sold rights to their likenesses and music for use in two video games: the Journey arcade game by Bally/Midway and Journey Escape by Data Age for the Atari 2600.

This success was met with piqued criticism. The 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide gave each of the band's albums only one star, with Dave Marsh writing that "Journey was a dead end for San Francisco area rock." Marsh later would anoint Escape as one of the worst number-one albums of all time.

Journey's next album, 1983's Frontiers, continued their commercial success, reaching No. 2 on the album charts. Four hit singles included "Separate Ways," which reached #8, and "Faithfully," which reached #12.^[12] During the subsequent tour, the band contracted with NFL Films to record a video documentary of their life on the road, Frontiers and Beyond.

Break-up, 1984–1994

Lead singer Steve Perry and guitarist Neal Schon both pursued solo projects between 1982 and 1985, and when they returned to Journey to record their 1986 album Raised on Radio, bass player Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith were fired from the band for musical and professional differences.^[13][14] Studio musicians handled the two vacant slots, including future American Idol judge Randy Jackson and established session player Larrie Londin. The album sold two million copies. A truncated tour followed, which featured Jackson on bass and Mike Baird on drums. Steve Perry left Journey in 1987.

Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain teamed up with Cain's ex-Babys bandmates John Waite and Ricky Phillips, forming Bad English with drummer Deen Castronovo in 1988. Steve Smith started a jazz band, Vital Information, and teamed up with Ross Valory and Gregg Rolie to create The Storm with singer Kevin Chalfant and guitarist Josh Ramos.

Reunion, 1995–1997

Between 1987 and 1995, Journey's record label released three compilations. In October 1993, Kevin Chalfant (of The Storm) performed with Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain at a roast for manager Herbie Herbert for the Thunder Road benefit (http://www.melodicrock.com/interviews/herbieherbert.html). After that, Schon, Cain, Valory, Smith and Rolie briefly considered reuniting the band with Chalfant as lead singer. But in 1995 Steve Perry agreed to rejoin the band on the condition that they seek new management. Herbie Herbert was fired and The Eagles Manager Irving Azoff retained.

In 1995, Perry, Schon, Cain, Valory, and Smith reunited to record Trial by Fire. Released in 1996, the album included the hit single "When You Love a Woman," which reached #12 on the Billboard charts^[3] and was nominated in 1997 for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.^[15]

Plans for a subsequent tour ended when Perry injured his hip hiking in Hawaii in the summer of 1997 and could not perform without hip replacement surgery — which he refused to undergo.^[16] In 1998, Schon and Cain decided to seek a new lead singer, at which point drummer Steve Smith left the band as well.^[17]

Lead singer replaced, 1998–2006

In 1998, Journey hired drummer Deen Castronovo, Schon's and Cain's Bad English bandmate, and drummer for Hardline, to replace Steve Smith. The lead vocalist position was filled by Steve Augeri, formerly of Tyketto and Tall Stories.

That same year, Journey with Steve Augeri and Deen Castronovo recorded a track for the soundtrack to the movie Armageddon called "Remember Me." The band released their next studio album, Arrival, in Japan in late 2000 and in the United States in 2001. "All the Way" became a minor adult contemporary hit from the album. In 2002, the band released a four-track CD titled "Red 13," with an album cover design chosen through a fan contest. In 2005 the band was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, embarked on their 30th anniversary tour, and released their twelfth full-length studio album, Generations, in which each band member performed lead vocals on at least one song.

Lead singer replaced again, 2006–present

In July 2006, Steve Augeri was dropped from the band while they toured with Def Leppard, with the official statement citing a 'chronic throat infection' as the problem. Augeri had been suffering from vocal attrition problems since 2003 and Journey had been using pre-recorded lead vocals.^[18] The band hired singer Jeff Scott Soto from Talisman to fill in, and Soto officially replaced Augeri as Journey's lead singer in December 2006.^[19] On June 12, 2007, Journey announced that Soto was no longer the lead singer, and said that they were looking to move in a new direction.^[20]

In December 2007, after briefly considering Jeremey Hunsicker, the lead singer of the tribute band Frontiers, Journey hired Filipino singer Arnel Pineda of the cover band The Zoo after Neal Schon saw him on YouTube singing covers of Journey songs. Journey debuted their new lead singer in February 2008 in Chile,^[21][22] released the album Revelation, and announced a summer tour with Heart and Cheap Trick.^[23][24] Revelation debuted at #5 on the Billboard charts, selling more than 196,000 units in its first two weeks. Arnel Pineda confirmed the album had gone platinum in Oct. 2008 (making it the band's best selling album since Trial by Fire ^[25]), although it should be clarified that as a Multi-Disc set (2CD) each unit within that set counts as one sale ^[26].

Although Pineda was not the first foreign national to become a member of Journey (former drummer Aynsley Dunbar is British) nor even the first non-white (former bass player Randy Jackson is Black), the transition was difficult for a number of fans who expressed what Marin Independent Journal writer Paul Liberatore called "an undercurrent of racism." Keyboardist Jonathan Cain responded to such sentiments: "We've become a world band. We're international now. We're not about one color."^[27]

Band members

Current members

• Neal Schon - lead & rhythm guitars, vocals (1973-1987, 1995-present)
• Ross Valory - bass, keyboards, recorder, vocals (1973-1985, 1995-present)
• Jonathan Cain - keyboards, harmonica, guitar, vocals (1980-1987, 1995-present)
• Deen Castronovo - drums, percussion, vocals (1998-present)
• Arnel Pineda - lead vocals (2007-present)

Former members

• Gregg Rolie - keyboards, lead vocals, backing vocals (1973-1980)
• George Tickner - rhythm guitar (1973-1975)
• Prairie Prince - drums, percussion (1973-1974) (touring only)
• Aynsley Dunbar - drums, percussion (1974-1978)
• Robert Fleischman - lead vocals (1977)
• Steve Perry - lead vocals (1977-1998)
• Steve Smith - drums, percussion, backing vocals (1978-1985, 1995-1998)
• Stevie Roseman - keyboards (1980) (studio only)
• Randy Jackson - bass, backing vocals (1985-1987)
• Larrie Londin - drums, percussion (1985-1986) (studio only)
• Mike Baird - drums, percussion (1986-1987) (touring only)
• Bob Glaub - bass (1986) (studio only)
• Steve Augeri - lead vocals, occasional rhythm guitar on tour (1998-2006)
• Jeff Scott Soto - lead vocals (2006-2007) (touring only)

References in popular culture

Film

• In the 1980 movie Caddyshack, the Rodney Dangerfield character's golf bag has a stereo that plays "Any Way You Want It" at an inopportune moment.

• In the 1981 movie Heavy Metal, the song "Open Arms" is featured in both the movie and soundtrack.

• In the 1982 movie "The Last American Virgin" the track "Open Arms" is played as the end credits are rolling.

• In the 1982 movie TRON the track "Only Solutions" is played in the background of the arcade. The instrumental "1990s Theme" (originally titled "1980s Theme") is played during the end credits.

• In the 1985 movie Vision Quest the song "Only The Young" is played during the end credits and appears on the film's soundtrack.

• In the 1987 movie White Water Summer the song "Be Good to Yourself" is played during the end credits.

• In the 1987 movie The North Shore the song "Happy to Give" is a recurring romantic theme, and played during the ending credits.
• In the 1998 movie Armageddon , the song "Remember Me" could be heard playing through the radio of a cab.
• In the 1998 movie BASEketball, a Parker and Stone movie, one of the competitors in the game of baseketball, in an attempt to "psyche out" his opponent, is heard singing "And I should've been gone", a line from the Steve Perry song, "Oh Sherrie." Upon his opponent missing his shot, he declares, "Dude, I thought we said no more Journey psyche-outs" (though technically "Oh Sherrie" is a song from Steve Perry's solo career and is not a Journey song). Earlier in the movie, Parker tries to psyche out Stone by saying Steve Perry's name over and over again.

• In the 1998 movie The Wedding Singer, the scene in which Adam Sandler's character, Robbie, is left at the altar features a string ensemble at the wedding playing "Don't Stop Believin'."

• In the 2003 film Monster, starring Charlize Theron, who won an Academy Award for her performance, "Don't Stop Believin'" was featured.

• In the 2003 movie Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, the song "Any Way You Want It" is played at the end before the credits.

• In the 2003 movie View from the Top starring Mike Myers and Gwenyth Paltrow, "Don't Stop Believin'" is played during the intro and the final scene.

• In the 2006 movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, "Faithfully" is played in the bar when Susan (actress Amy Adams) convinces Ricky Bobby (actor Will Ferrell) in an impassioned speech to resume his NASCAR stock car racing career. His former assistant, Susan then professes her love for Ricky, and they start to kiss, with Ricky warning the other customers not to watch, "because we're gonna start making animal noises".

• In the 2006 movie A guide To Recognizing Your Saints Dito Montiel says that Puerto Ricans in Astoria, Queens listen to Journey in the 80's.

• In the 2007 movie The Comebacks the characters sing "don't stop believin'" after the quarterback and wide receiver have a fist fight and the coach locks the team in the locker room.

• In the 2007 movie I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, 'open arms' can be heard playing in the background when Adam Sandler's character is slow dancing with actor Kevin James at the costume party.
• In the movie Mr.Woodcock, Sean William Scott's character, John Farley, is wearing a Journey t-shirt while on a jog.

Television

Programs

• "Any Way You Want It" is played when Grampa Simpson is being car-jacked by ladies on The Simpsons Episode Viva Ned Flanders. This is the episode when Homer and Ned go to Las Vegas.
• "Wheel in the Sky" was played on a recap segment of the sci-fi show Supernatural

• "Any Way You Want It" is played over the end credits of Simpsons episode Burns Baby Burns which features Dangerfield as special guest voice.

• Matt Stone and Trey Parker, have used references to the band Journey, Steve Perry, and their music as jokes in animated comedy South Park. Episode 909, "Erection Day," a little girl playing piano in the talent competition begins to sing the opening to "Open Arms," beginning "Lying beside you, here in the dark...," before the show cuts onto another aspect of the plot.

• In the fourth season episode of Family Guy entitled "Don't Make Me Over," Peter, Quagmire, Cleveland, and Joe sing "Don't stop Believin' " with a karaoke machine. This lead to a very memorable scene where it shows the song being heard throughout the town. Adam West then said, "I love this song....and I love when amateurs sing it." This caused people from all around the city to flock to the bar they were playing at, as well as inspiring the quartet to form a rock band, "Fat, Horny, Black, and Joe." Incidentally, the airing of the episode coincided with a spike in iTunes online music sales for the song, placing it in the Top 10 most downloaded tracks for that week and the Top 25 for that month (August 2005). Since then it has remained highly downloaded and is still in the Top 5 most-bought for "Rock Music." The popularity and its resultant newsmaking further served to renew interest in the band and its recordings.

• MTV's Laguna Beach aired a segment featuring the teens singing to "Don't Stop Believin'" in 2005.

• In "The Shield" season three episode "Safe", Detective Ronnie Gardocki comments that he was planning to go see Journey in concert when asked by one character as to his evening plans.

• In a third season episode of Scrubs entitled "My Journey," JD mentions to Carla that he knows a great Journey cover band called "The Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin's" and that she should book them to play at her and Turk's wedding reception. He then begins to sing the first verse of "Don't Stop Believin'." The episode concluded with the song played in full.

• In the FOX television series The O.C., one of the characters, Ryan Atwood, claims that Journey is his favorite band. "Open Arms" and "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" are used in a couple of episodes on the show. A Journey poster can be seen on the wall of the character's "pool house" living space.

• On the "Tsst" episode of South Park, Cartman sings a part from "Don't Stop Believin'."

• On an episode of Saturday Night Live, "Don't Stop Believin'" is played by the studio band. The skit was about a man who loved himself so much, he re-recorded all of his favorite music with his own voice.

• The song "Wheel in the Sky" is played at the end of the second season episode "Bust Out" of the popular HBO drama The Sopranos.

• On an episode of the TV series Yes, Dear, "Don't Stop Believin'" is sang by actor Mike O'Malley when his little kid manages to use the toilet instead of diapers.

• Randy Pearson, a fictional character from the 8th season of That '70s Show enjoys listening to Journey. He represented the change between 70s rock music (other characters from the show listened to Led Zeppelin, Ted Nugent, etc.) and 80s popular rock. In the opening credits to season 8, he was seen banging his head (something most people attribute to metal music, made mainstream in the '80s)

• Steve Perry is portrayed in several episodes of the mockumentary series Yacht Rock

• In the season 10 episode of Stargate SG-1 "Bounty", a request is made at the school reunion for Journey to be played.

• In a third season episode of Soul Food, the character Teri Joseph, visits a therapist; this therapist believes the song "Don't Stop Believin'" is good for the soul. At the end of the episode, Teri, fired from her job at her second law firm, gets emotional when "Don't Stop Believin'" plays on her car radio.

• Journey gained new attention in the 2000s due to Randy Jackson, who since his Journey involvement had become a successful recording-industry figure and then an American Idol judge. Film clips of Jackson with the band on tour have appeared on the show, and various contestants on Idol attempted to measure up vocally by singing Journey numbers. The best remembered of these attempts were Clay Aiken's take on "Open Arms" in a key semifinal round of the show (and later in a duet with fellow Idol Kelly Clarkson on their joint concert tour), and Elliott Yamin's praiseworthy performance of the same song in the 2006 semifinal round.

• In the series finale of The Sopranos, David Chase had "Don't Stop Believin'" run over the final scene where Tony picked it from a table jukebox.[2]

• "Don't Stop Believin'", "Open Arms", "Only the Young", and "Separate Ways" have all been used by Cold Case in various episodes.

• In an episode of "Still Standing" the character Judy Miller, played by Jami Gertz, can be seen wearing a T-shirt from the Journey album "Frontiers"

• Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' was featured at the end of a "My Name Is Earl" episode. (Earl and Joy's Anniversary, 2008)

Advertisements

• On February 6, 2005 "Don't Stop Believin'" was heard in a FedExKinko's commercial starring Burt Reynolds that aired during Super Bowl XXXIX.

Literature

• "Don't Stop Believin'" provided a plot device in Dave Eggers' novel, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

• In his book I Rant, Therefore I Am, comedian Dennis Miller mentions that, while in the process of buying a house, Journey was at said house for unknown reasons; Steve Perry helped "save [Miller] $3000 by spotting a leak in the water heater."

• In "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto" by Chuck Klosterman, Journey is equated to "Dynasty" in a brief segment in which several bands are compared to television series that would represent them.

• Journey is briefly mentioned in several novels by Luanne Rice

Sports

• "Any Way You Want It" features as the title song for Almost Skateboards first team video Almost Round Three.

• The anthem "Don't Stop Believin'" became a public rallying cry for the 2004 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox after they fell behind 3 to 0 against the Yankees in the American League Championship Series and again for the 2005 World Series champion Chicago White Sox (Perry was invited to the celebration parade in Chicago, where he sang the song with members of the team).

• In 2008, in a tight battle for First Place with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West, the Los Angeles Dodgers began to play "Don't Stop Believing" in the middle of the 8th inning at all of their home games.

• Starting in 2008, the Minnesota Twins have used the karaoke version of "Don't Stop Believing" periodically during the 7th inning stretch.

• Steve Brown, a professional yo-yoer, used the song "Faithfully," to his 3rd place routine at the World Yo-yo Contest in 2007.

Music

• British Rock Band Half Man Half Biscuit paid homage to the band on their hit single "A Lilac Harry Quinn", from the album MacIntyre, Treadmore and Davitt, with the lyric "Six weeks to live, but at least I'm not in Journey"^[28].
• Judy Torres released a cover of Journey's "Faithfully" as a single CD in late 2005.
• Petra Haden released a cover of "Don't Stop Believin'" on a compilation album called Guilt By Association.
• Rise Against released a cover of "Any Way You Want It" on their album Revolutions Per Minute released in 2003.

Video games

• "Any Way You Want It" is featured as a playable song in the game Rock Band 2, released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2008, and coming soon for the PlayStation 2 and Wii. It was also featured as downloadable content for Guitar Hero 3.

• An Atari 2600 game, Journey Escape.

Discography

Main article: Journey discography

See also

• Best selling music artists

References

External links

Official Sites:

• Journey's Official Site
• Journey's Official Site @ Legacy Records
• Gregg Rolie's Official Website
• Ross Valory's Official Website
• George Tickner's Official Website
• Steve Smith's Official Website
• Jonathan Cain's Official Website
• Robert Fleishman's Official Website
• Steve Perry's Official Website
• Prairie Prince's Official Website

Independent & Fan Reviews, Interviews, etc.:

• The Journey Zone
• E5C4P3.com's Herbie Herbert Interview

Journey Neal Schon • Ross Valory • Jonathan Cain • Deen Castronovo • Arnel Pineda Gregg Rolie • George Tickner • Aynsley Dunbar • Robert Fleischman • Steve Perry • Steve Smith • Randy Jackson • Steve Augeri Studio musicians: Stevie Roseman • Larrie Londin • Bob Glaub / Touring musicians: Prairie Prince • Mike Baird • Jeff Scott Soto Studio albums Journey • Look into the Future • Next • Infinity • Evolution • Departure • Dream, After Dream • Escape • Frontiers • Raised on Radio • Trial by Fire • Arrival • Red 13 • Generations • Revelation Live albums Captured • Greatest Hits Live • Live in Houston 1981: The Escape Tour Compilations In the Beginning • Greatest Hits • The Ballade • Time³ • The Essential Journey • Open Arms~Greatest Hits DVDs Journey 2001  • Greatest Hits 1978-1997  • Live in Houston 1981: The Escape Tour  • Revelation