Journey

Journey started out in San Francisco in 1973 as a band of serious players with serious résumés, put together by former members of Santana, the Steve Miller Band and Frumious Bandersnatch: Neal Schon on guitar, Gregg Rolie on keyboards and vocals, Ross Valory on bass, George Tickner on second guitar, and Prairie Prince, then Aynsley Dunbar, on drums. It was progressive rock for the most part, long on chops and short on radio hits.

Then they found a singer. Robert Fleischman passed through in 1977, Steve Perry arrived the same year, and on Infinity, their fourth album, in 1978, Journey traded the long jams for pop arrangements and a voice that could shatter glass from the back of the arena. "Wheel in the Sky" and "Lights" came off that record. Steve Smith took over the drums, Evolution brought "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" in 1979, and Departure gave the world "Any Way You Want It", a fist-pumping stomp built for arena lights.

Jonathan Cain replaced Rolie on keyboards in 1980, and with him came the big one. Escape, in 1981, was their seventh album and their most successful, going to number one on the Billboard 200 with "Don't Stop Believin'", "Stone in Love", "Who's Crying Now" and "Open Arms" on board. Frontiers followed in 1983, climbed to number two in the US and number 6 in the UK, and carried "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)", all synth stabs and heartbreak, and the power ballad "Faithfully".

The run from 1978 to 1987 was the peak. They regrouped in the mid-'90s for Trial by Fire, then carried on with Steve Augeri singing from 1998 to 2006 and Arnel Pineda from 2007, with Schon, Cain and drummer Deen Castronovo keeping the engine running; Revelation came out in 2008. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted them in 2017, the 1988 Greatest Hits collection went diamond, and in 2024 "Don't Stop Believin'" was certified 18 times platinum, making it the top-selling digital track in US history.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.