My Top 23 Favorite Journey Songs.
1978 - 1986
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You don't have to be a Journey fan to know at least a few of their songs. Journey dominated the 1970's and 80’s pop radio airwaves. With Steve Perry's iconic high vocal register, Neal Schon's incredible guitar work, and Steve "machine gun" Smith's solid rock drumming style helped catapult Journey into superstardom with a seemingly endless list of hit songs. The following is a list of my top 23 favorite Journey songs. Maybe you like these songs too.
Infinity (1978)
1) "Lights" - The 1970's boasted a lot of popular songs written in 12/8 time signature, including this one.
2/3) "Feeling that way"/"Anytime" - Every rock radio station back in the day, always played these two songs back-to-back - and because there was almost no space between the songs, many people began to believe that it was actually one song.
4) "La do da" - Great rock jam. The live version of this song is even better as it includes bonus bass and drum solos.
5) "Wheel in the sky" - If I remember correctly, this was the hit from this album that truly launched the band into the pop mainstream spotlight that year.
Evolution (1979)
5) "Lovin', touchin', squeezin" - Oh look, another song in 12/8 time.
6) "Just the same way" - This is my favorite song on this album.
Departure (1980)
7) "Anyway you want it" - How many of you remember Rodney Dangerfield dancing on the golf course to this song being played in the classic hit comedy movie, "Caddyshack"?
8) "Walks like a lady" - Kind of a cool blues groove.
9) "Where were you" - Just a great rock song.
Escape (1981)
10) "Don't stop believing" - Arguably, Journey's biggest, most popular hit song.
11) "Stone in love" - I have always liked this song because of the layered guitars and the bass guitar stuff happening towards the end of the song.
12) "Who's crying now" - Huge ballad, break-up song.
13) "Keep on runnin" - Try stomping your feet to this one. The verses kinda feel like the beat slides around a bit.
14) "Still they ride" - Another great ballad, prom dance song.
15) "Open arms" - With songs like this, I think you can see why this album was arguably Journey's biggest, most successful release.
Frontiers (1983)
16) "Separate ways (Worlds apart)" - Welcome to the MTV era. This video was huge on MTV back in the day as it introduced the washing of seemingly endless synthesizers and keyboards into 1980's pop rock music.
17) "Send her my love" - I have always connected strongly to this song - and yes, it was because of a girl I once knew.
18) "Faithfully" - Wanna be a rock star and live on the road? Another huge Journey ballad.
Raised on Radio (1986)
19) "Girl can't help it" - One of the biggest reasons that this album is one of my favorites from Journey is because of the amount of harmony vocals used throughout the album. This song is layered in a lot of it.
20) "Suzanne" - Way 80's sound on this track. This song could have been part of the "Breakfast Club" music soundtrack.
21) "Be good to yourself" - The first time I heard this song, I thought it was Bryan Adams.
22) "I'll be alright without you" - So many of these songs are truly the soundtracks to my youth in the 1980's. So many memories.
Captured - Double live (1981)
Honorable mention
23) "The party's over (Hopelessly in love)" - This song was the only studio recorded release from this double-live album, and it was the only song that made it to the radio.
There are so many other songs from Journey that didn't make this list, but so easily could have. When Steve Perry left Journey, honestly, I stopped listening to any new Journey material. What was the point? The Steve Perry/Journey era presented so much amazing music for nearly a decade. I was lucky enough to grow up with all of it.
I hope you enjoyed this list and it brought back some memories for you as well.