POINTERPOINT: It's True, Journey DOES Fucking Rule

well said, Lucas. to further your point, look around and ask yourself how many bands are rocking RIGHT NOW. really think about it. what type of rock is happening right now?

-stylized, repetitive, sharp, aloof Blazer-Rock (i mean that in a good way, as in Interpol--but not their derivatives)
-treble-heavy, energized, punk mutations are still kind of hanging on
-a kind of offshoot of Blazer-Rock with more makeup and more melody (The Killers)
-hella-rad orchestral, 20-person-band freakouts a la Arcade Fire and New Pornographers

i think those 4 broad categories pretty much sum up music being made right now in the genre of "rock." (i'm pretty oblivious to the radio so i could be totally wrong, but that's what i gather from the snippets of tv i see in public and the stuff my friends hand me.)

none of those genres--many of which describe bands i really like--NONE have anything on Journey in the way of pure, unadulterated rock & roll. as much as i like them, i guarantee you there will never be an Arcade Fire song to unite total strangers the way Don't Stop Believing does. the closest anyone's come to touching their legendary style is The Darkness, and even they couldn't squeeze out more than one hit song.

there's an arc most hits follow, wherein some will reach the height of their popularity long after radio play has ended. others will peak during radio saturation and then disappear into oblivion. the thing that continually amazes me about Journey is that they've consistently stayed at the top of that arc. Separate Ways will make you stop what you're doing and pump your fist the EXACT same way it made some chick in 1983 drop her cokestraw and pump her fist when it played on the local top 40's station.

Journey. hands-down greatest rock band of the 70's and 80's. POINT-POINTERPOINT.

POINT: Journey Fucking Rules.

Okay, I'll say it. I mean, somebody has to. I know who the best rock band of the 70's and 80's was.

I was listening to the radio the other day and "Wheel in the Sky" by Journey came on, and I thought to myself, Now this is a fucking great song. It's got this awesome hook and this powerful rhythm section thing going on, and vocals that sound like a majestic eagle swooping down onto the back of a fierce and mighty panther, and the two of them rushing off together to fight crime on the streets of Detroit to keep the citizens safe from worry.

And then I thought something else. This isn't even Journey's best song. Not even close. Not even by a long shot. I mean, there's "Open Arms," there's "Faithfully," there's "Any Way You Want It" and frat-house favorite "Don't Stop Believin'," not to mention my personal favorite, the explosive, profound "Separate Ways." There's a whole canon of material that rocks as hard today as it did the day it was recorded.

No. Even fucking harder.

What other band has a catalog that consistent and that intense? Is there another band whose fourth or fifth best song rivals the best from the other bands of their era? "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" puts to shame the best of Foreigner and Boston, and "Who's Crying Now" can hang with "Crazy Train" and "Here I Go Again" at the same time, not to mention pretty much anything written since.

This isn't to say that Journey could hang with Elvis Costello and Jackson Browne (they can't), or that if Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings were playing across the street from Journey I would go see Journey (I wouldn't), but if I had to pick only one rock band from the 70's and 80's to ever listen to again, well, let's just say I'd know exactly who it'd be.

I mean, see what I mean?