By Brad Gallagher:
Since almost the beginning of rock and roll history people have been debating over which song is the best song of all time, and of course which is worst but that is a story for another day. Several years ago my son and I had a “discussion”, as it were, about what the greatest rock song of all time was. In our discussion I stated that I had seen a study in which thousands of people were asked what they thought was the best rock song ever, and the study named “Stairway To Heaven”, by Led Zeppelin as that song. My son, however, did not agree. It was his claim that Eagles’ “Hotel California” was the best rock song ever.
Some of the younger crowd would maintain that the greatest song ever might by Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud”, or “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons. After all, both of these songs are certified 16-times platinum. While others would say it was “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X which was certifies 17-times platinum. Very impressive, but there is one song that outshines them all and was certified 18-times platinum. This song, between vinyl, cassette, CD, and digital downloads combined for the sale of over 18 million copies. And it is not “Stairway To Heaven”, or “Hotel California”.
As The Story Goes:
A young aspiring singer/song writer/musician living in Los Angeles in the 1970’s named Jonathan Cain found out the hard way that leaving Mom and Dad to go out in search of a dream of becoming rock star was a very difficult prospect. Cain struggled to get his big break during those years while living on Sunset Boulevard along with many other “strangers waitin’, up and down the boulevard”, and frequently wanted to throw in the towel and return home. Each time he got to the point of quitting he would call home and get encouragement from his parents, and each time his father would say the same words to him. But we’ll get to that in a minute.
Then finally one day in 1979, after years of struggle, he was invited to join the British band “The Babys”. A year later, in 1980, he was asked by a band by the name of “Journey”, to join their group. Journey’s keyboardist and founding member, Gregg Rolie, had just decided to leave the band and they were in desperate need of a keyboard player. Steve Perry had recently joined the group as lead singer, and they were getting ready to begin recording their album, “Escape”. Cain jumped at the opportunity to come on board and the rest is history.
Cain came up with an idea to write a song about two kids, a boy and a girl, who decided to leave their hometowns and jump on “a midnight train going anywhere” in search of their dreams. The song was inspired by Cain’s own real life story, and the title came from those words his father always said to him on the phone when he would call home all depressed and down in the dumps. “Don’t stop believing or you’re done, Dude” his father would say, and the greatest rock song of all time was born.
Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'”, the leadoff song on the “Escape” album, was almost an instant hit. Interestingly, we don’t even hear the words of the title until almost 3-1/2 minutes into the song, but they stick in our minds just as Cain’s father’s words stuck in his mind. The album, Escape, was Journey’s first album to reach #1 on the album charts, and a few months later when “Don’t Stop Believin'” was released as a single it went up to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. That was in 1982. Since then it has become the #1 digitally purchased song of any song written in the 20th century. And as far as all digital downloads go, only “Radioactive” has had more.
As for the recording of this song, Steve Perry had a cold the day of the recording and was not able to sing. The rest of the band tried to get in sync without vocals, but struggled a bit and decided to just run through the song, start to finish, one time. And that one time was all it took. The instrumentals were recorded in one take, and when Perry returned a week later, once again able to sing, he recorded his vocals also in one take.
This song has been used by professional sports teams such as the Chicago White Sox, The San Francisco Giants, and The Detroit Red Wings (after all, the “city boy” in the song was “Born and raised in South Detroit”), just to name a few. It was featured in the HBO show “The Sapranos”, and also in “Glee”, as well as the movie “Rock of Ages” staring Tom Cruise. It has been used in a Toyota commercial, and in the Disney amusement ride “Guardians of The Galaxy”. And each time it is used in a new way the digital sales soar.
Of course you may say that the number of sales does not necessarily determine that it is the greatest rock song of all time, but if so, you will just have to take that up with the 18 million people who bought a copy.
The album, “Escape”, has been said to be the album that transported Journey from being just another rock band to becoming a rock and roll legend. And Cain, being a devout Christian has not been shy about stating when interviewed that the band’s success came only by the grace of God.
So now you know. Come back and see me soon right here on As The Story Goes.
Don’t Stop Believin’ live 1981: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NQIPVqLMUg
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AS THE STORY GOES 