I'm one of two teachers at my school who supervises the closed-circuit "broadcast" we have each week, during which a select group of 4th and 5th graders get together to write and rehearse a 10-minute or so news program that consists of announcements and information about the school. During this past week, one of the kids and I went down to raid the media center, looking for a book we could talk about on the broadcast last week. Rehearsal had fallen apart a little by the time we got back even though we'd been gone for maybe three minutes, and one of the anchors had taken the microphone and was singing what I can only describe as a personally-stylized mash-up of her favorite Justin Bieber/Miley Cyrus songs. Yes, this is the world I live in. At least she was able to admit that her singing wasn't measuring up, with a bit of self-deprecating, inferential humor: "This is why I'm in dance."
But to my great surprise, one of the other kids chimed in with his own song when she finished, trying to demonstrate that his music was better. Hard to argue with the boy, because the sight of this hilarious 11-year-old kid breaking in to song for just half the chorus of Journey's "Wheel in the Sky" almost knocked me over. And equally surprising was that the aforementioned Pop Princess I.D.'d the band as Journey, but quickly dismissed his choice because "this is their best song," and then picked up her mic again and started in the first few bars of "Don't Stop Believin'." That she knew the song wasn't a big surprise since there are few songs from the 80s that are as ubiquitous as that one still today, particularly with the advent of "Glee."
But it got me thinking - out of the 138 Journey songs I have on my iPod, is that REALLY the best one? It's definitely in the running for me - great song, and one of the first songs that introduced me to rock and roll. For a good year in 8th grade, my favorite homemade tape was a 120 minute cassette that had Styx's "Paradise Theater" on one side with side one of "Foreigner 4" (and I quote that as the title, because that's what all the cool 8th graders called it; nobody referred to the album as just "4"), and on the B side we had side 2 of Foreigner 4 with Journey's "Escape." Out of those albums, "Escape" is easily the one that holds up the best nearly 30 years down the road. And "Don't Stop Believin'" opens the album. Not to mention Journey has the distinction of guitarist Neal Schon, who was absolutely the first musician I was a fan of, in the sense that I could recognize he was what made the band great, and if it hadn't been for his playing the structure of the band's songs would be irreparably less. So besides being a great song, it has a lot of power for me sentimentally. But is it Journey's best song?
Here's a rundown of my personal favorites and why as I try to answer this question. And as much as I hate to do this, I have to discount anything Journey did before Steve Perry joined the band or after he left, because let's face it -- this is the classic line-up, and even if it's completely Neal Schon's band, it's also completely Steve Perry's voice.
**"Feelin' That Way / Anytime" - Even though KQRS has become the Black Hole of Classic Rock, I'll give them credit for playing a lot of Journey back in the day. It took me years to know the titles of these two songs because they were only introduced as Journey, probably because they were always played together as one continuous song, like "Well Will Rock You/We Are the Champions" by Queen often are (which irritates me to no end, by the way). Finally I saw them listed when I bought a cassette copy of the live album "Captured" at Target for $5.99. For a double album. One of my best musical bargains ever. Best song though? No.
**"The Party's Over" - The one studio recording on "Captured," which was another KQ standard. And a great song. Fast paced, rockin' love song, kind of sad, very melodic. Awesome song for driving with the windows rolled down. Best song? Eh. Top 10 probably.
**"Stone in Love" - Great, fast rocking song. Again with the melody, evocative lyrics that probably mean more to me now than they did then. Best? Maybe....
**Still They Ride" - Not "Open Arms," not "Faithfully" -- I'm going to tag this as Journey's best ballad. I always loved the contrast of the slow, beautiful melody it starts with and the power that builds throughout until it reaches an absolutely shredding guitar solo. Best? Definitely top 10.
**"Escape" - Title track. Very powerful and inspiring for me. Love this one. Definitely top 5. Best? Maybe.....
**"Troubled Child" - from "Frontiers." Not a radio song at all, but probably the darkest song Journey ever recorded. Probably why it appeals to me. Not a best candidate though.
**"Faithfully" - Not "Still They Ride," but still a killer ballad. Maybe top 10.
**"Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin" - A slow burn, bluesy song with a guitar explosion at the end. One of the reasons I loved going to my grandmother's house in Superior so much was that one of my cousins had bought the 45 single of this and had forgotten it there. So a trip to Superior meant I could hear it whenever I wanted without having to wait for KQ to get around to it. Definite Top 5, and, I'd like to point out, also a song featured in "Glee."
**"Girl Can't Help It" -- Not a great song by any stretch, but it reminds me of a crush I had one summer. It gets points for that alone.
**"Raised on Radio" -- A really fast rocking song about how great the songs were on the radio in the olden days. Which I guess I'm doing a version of right now myself, so here's my world coming full circle. It's a goofy song that cribs a bunch of classic lyrics from the 50s and 60s, but musically it's a high energy song.
Okay. I've thought it through. So, to the broadcast team, I'm sorry, but you've got it all wrong. "Wheel in the Sky" I always found kind of boring, but I give you credit for knowing it. "Don't Stop Believin'" is undeniably a classic, and anyone who would try to deny that is too pathetically enamored of their own self-appointed indie-rock cred to be taken seriously.
Both good songs, but for today, I'm going with "Escape."
Now go login to your iTunes accounts and let the downloading commence.
No comments:
Post a Comment