Where Were You? Do You Recall? The songs that made us fans... Do you recall where you were? Share your memories! |
Where Were You? Do You Recall? The songs that made us fans... Do you recall where you were? Share your memories! |
Jan: "For me it was "Sweet and Simple", for a couple of reasons. First it is a truly beautiful song. But in addition to that, I had never heard a vocal range like that! When he hits that note at the end, man. I remember the first time hearing that in complete disbelief. I was an instant and forever fan." Sherry P: "No doubt, just the voice and the music behind it. It was lightning striking. They and Mr. Perry have always been my faves since 1978! I own more of their CD's than any other band or artist." SusieQ: "My sister became a fan of Journey before I did. This was back in '81 (OMG, has it been thaaat long already?) when their Escape album came out. She played the death out of that tape night after night. So, eventually those songs started to stick into my head. I would have to say that whole album made me a big fan." Anna: "Everytime I listen to a Steve Perry/Journey song I am reminded why I am and will remain a fan forever. His songs are the only songs I never sing along to, so that I hear nothing but The Voice." Sherry J.: "Lights" I was 7 yrs. old sitting on the floor of my room listening to the radio. I called my Mom at her office and said to buy me that album by Journey. She did and from that night on I sang my guts out with Steve. He is the reason I am a singer today." Valerie M.: "Although my first official song was "Lights" (from the radio and I didn't know their name), the first time that Journey really "grabbed my soul deep down" was when I was watching MTV for years and years on end (since they were first developed (and I was four years old when that happened)) and saw them in their Separate Ways video. **first "video/song combination" inspiration** It just expressed the raw emotion that I felt I really could not express about what I was going through in my life in general with my mom and brother and it was really frustrating until I saw that video... It was so passionate and genuine and it made me feel that I wasn't alone feeling the anger and the intense emotions that I did at that time! It blew me away (and I was only about 6 or so)! :) I also would like to add that it was the only video/song that really jumped up and caught my attention like that... (in other words, there was no song or video that seemed to be like it!) :) " J-Dreamin: "The song that opened my eyes, ears, heart, and soul was "Open Arms". I would listen to that song on the radio at night and it would fill my eyes with tears. Never had I heard a sweeter voice then that." Loretta: "It wasn't a song that made me a fan...It was an album called Infinity..... Let me tell you the story of how Journey came into my life.... The year was 1978 and I was 12.... I used to babysit this kid down the street from me...One day while I was babysitting.. I stumbled across his older brother's record collection...I looked through them...he had lots of records.. Boston.. Fleetwood Mac...and this one very interesting looking one called "Journey...Infinity"...I thought to myself hmmmmmm... I wonder what that word means(Infinity)...because I didn't really know what a whole lotta words meant back then...Anyway I pulled it out of it's cover and pulled it out of the paper sleeve it was in and...put it on the turntable...When I heard it for the first time I thought to myself "this is the coolest music I ever heard...and the guy singing it has a great voice! From that point on Journey was and is my all time favorite band and always will be till the day I pass away!... Still to this day whenever I hear Infinity.. It always takes me back to those carefree days of my childhood.....Thank you Steve Perry and the Journey of old for making those days special......I shall forever be a fan........." Loretta Beck Karen: "That was so long ago. I remember "LTS" and "Lights", and of course "Open Arms". I still have the "cassette" of Street Talk and remember seeing the video "Oh Sherrie" for the first time on MTV and I couldn't get over the love that Steve had for Sherrie, to write a song about her." Rhonda: "Patiently".. And I still get the same feeling from it that I did the very first time I heard it." Torrie: "You know, I can't really say what song made me a fan, but the first song I heard was "Don't Stop Believin'".... that should explain it all...LOL.... but I just see Steve Perry as a person who is very beautiful inside and out....I can't really find the right words to say how much I love Steve or why....it's just kinda inevitable that you at least like one song from Steve/Journey.....I even asked my Best Friend Korrie, and she said that Journey is now one of her Fave bands(thanks to me..LOL)!!!!!!! Her Fave Song is "Open Arms".....well her fave from Escape... My all time fave song would have to be "Escape". (I haven't heard too many songs... only Greatest Hits, Infinity, Escape, and Frontiers, but I can't remember Frontiers at all except "After The Fall", and "Rubicon"....) Now that I have told everyone my whole life....LOL, I think I should give someone else a turn! Perry on!!!!" Mandy: "I have been listening to Journey/Steve Perry all my life, my brother (who is 35, born in 66) listened to them constantly (I was born in 81 the year the escape album came out) my brother use to say that when "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'" came on, and they started the "na na na na na na", I would go around the house singing that. So I give all the credit to my brother. I became a huge fan just recently though, I have just about all their albums!!! :)" Carla: "It really wasn't a song...it was seeing him on Don Kirschener's Midnight Special that made me a fan. To this day I don't know what songs were sung, I just know that the second I saw him I was hooked for life! I really haven't heard any song that I didn't immediately love, it's his voice combined with emotion that captures me each time." Cecilia: "Faithfully". Going through a marriage with a cheating husband made me think that men being faithful was just a fairy tale. "Faithfully" helped me to see that there are men out there with good and honest qualities." Martina: "The first song I ever heard from Journey was "Wheel In The Sky". I just started learning English in school and didn't really understand what the song is about, just loved the melody and voice of Steve. I remember, this voice touched me deeply. And since that day (it's almost 20 years ago) I bought every record and CD - I still like the old songs." Angel: "I grew up listening to classic rock. My mom has been playing it ever since I was born and brought home from the hospital. I always loved classic rock and mom loves it too. At certain times, she would listen to more of certain albums and songs than others. I can remember when she found Journey's Greatest Hits album and started listening to it 24/7. That was when: "Faithfully" was the song that made me a fan and from that time on..."I'm still his....". It was years ago when I first heard that. My mom was playing it the car and I was probably 8 or 9 (I think 9). I will never forget it. I use to ride around in my go-cart and listen to it in my walkman. For HOURS I would play the Greatest Hits over and over again. I fell in love with Steve Perry's voice. It was so moving and so touching. NOW I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF PERRY AND I "WON'T STOP BELIEVING"!!! PERRY FOREVER AND ALWAYS EVERYONE!!!" Kate: "Lights" made me a Journey fan. LTS (AKA: "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin') made me a Perryhead. Long Live the Voice!" Karin: "Lights" was the first song I heard of Journey and I was instantly hooked on this unbelievable Voice. And when I first saw the man behind this Voice in the video of "Oh Sherrie", I was completely in love with Steve." Pat: "I would have to say "If You Need Me Call Me" and "Lights". They are really two very beautiful songs. I listen to them a lot. I'll keep the light on if Steve needs me he knows where to find me just look for the light...Perry On!" Michael Cavacini: I remember the first time I heard Journey was on the radio, they we're playing the song "Faithfully". I loved the song but I had no idea who was singing it, the radio station wouldn't say the bands name after the song. So I continually heard them play more songs by the same band ( I could tell it was the same band because of "The Voice"). Finally one day after they played a song they said "......that's JOURNEY with "Faithfully". So I rushed to the CD store and bought their Greatest Hits CD. And since that day I've bought a bunch of Journey, Steve Perry, and Neal Schon CD's. And the most surprising thing to most people is that I'm only ............16!!! Mike: My brother bought me two tapes in the early 1980's the first on I opened was evolution....I've been hooked to those vocals ever since. The guy has been blessed with some great pipes. I never did open the other cassette. Perry on! Doug: I was in college dorm room when I was listening to "When You Love A Woman" and I asked my friend who was listening as well, what group was this? Because I enjoyed the song so much. She said JOURNEY. Now, I had a couple tapes already and they were one of my favorites. But Steve Perry and the legend that he his, it didn't register, until that song and when I heard the whole "Trial By Fire" CD. Such a strong, mature, soulful, and immensely rangeful voice. After that recording, I went on a JOURNEY and Steve Perry binge. I now own all of his solo recordings and most of Journey's recordings. If I didn't like that song so much, who knows? I would have still enjoyed JOURNEY'S music, but THE VOICE known as Steve Perry, wouldn't have been as influential as he his now to me. I have met him twice and he is truly amazing and inspirational to me, considering I am a singer myself.........THANKS JOURNEY Kathy: In 1979, I was 12 years old and shared a room with my mother in our tiny house on the Gulf Coast of Florida. The clock radio next to the bed only got AM stations...and it was on that little radio, with the orange glow from the light on the dial, that I first heard "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin." I'd never heard the blues before, so that song altered my whole world. On a trip from our home in Florida to visit friends in Michigan, my brother and I took turns singing songs...and I sang "LTS" every time. I didn't know it then, but the magical tenor of Steve Perry would eventually see me through life's good and bad. I loved him through high school and beyond...when I first saw them on MTV...when I went away to college and was finally able to catch Journey in concert...when I fell in love and got married...and when I got divorced...Steve was there, singing to me every step of the way. And it all started with, "You make me weep...." Trina: The song that started it all for me was "Who's Crying Now", I heard it on the radio and became interested. Back in the '80's there was a music video show that came on in the afternoon and at night, I saw Steve Perry singing "Oh Sherrie", and "Foolish Heart" and fell in love with him. Heard "I'll Be Alright Without You" and felt like he totally understood the pain of a broken heart I had at the time. Kristin: The song that made me an ultimate fan was probably "Lights". I was sitting in my friend's mom's car and "Lights" came on and my friend and her mom were singing it. I listened to the song and I fell in love with it! I said "who is this?" and my friend's mom said "Journey." I had heard of them vaguely because my aunt had Greatest Hits Live. So, I went home and right away I downloaded "Lights" on Napster and I listened to it over and over and OVER again! It's still my favorite song. I went nuts when they played it at the concert! Andy Dean: I actually found a box of 8-track tapes at a local park after a homecoming parade I participated in the fall of 1979. Styx, Pablo Cruise, Fleetwood Mac were all in this case. So was Journey Infinity. The one song on Infinity that got me was "Winds Of March". All the hits did too but "Winds Of March" was the song along with "Opened The Door" that I would listen to the most. I was hooked on the melodic sound. However, it wasn't until 1981 that I was a full-fledged Journey nut. Escape sealed the deal. I couldn't and still can't get enough of that album. I play my drums still to the songs off of that album. Then to top it off, my senior year in school, 1983, Frontiers came out and I was blown away again. Those two albums sealed the deal for me. I still listen to them when times are tough and when it's time to celebrate. I am going to go out on a limb and say that the current Journey with Steve Augeri isn't as good. I don't mean to dis Steve Augeri. I wasn't that big of a Raised on Radio fan either. Just my opinion. I will always be a Journey fan from the first albums and beyond. Terri: I honestly don't remember the very first song I heard Journey sing. What I do remember is watching Solid Gold and the song "Open Arms" stands out. Journey just had it all with the power ballads! The voice, guitar and lyrics...nothing or no one could ever touch them! And "Faithfully" has the best lyric ever written..."I get the joy of rediscovering you". I think that's how a lot of Steve's fans feel. Through the years, we've had the joy of rediscovering him and we are all forever his...Faithfully! Mark: I was 12 years old when I bought the 45 record of "Don't Stop Believin'. I was blown away by Steve Perry's voice. Later, I ran cross-country in high school. Whenever I became tired during a race, I'd think of the lyrics and be able to keep going. Of course, I also slow danced to the Journey power ballads at all our junior high dances. Journey is, in my opinion, an underrated band that was never given proper credit by the critics for its immense talent. It was often dismissed for having "cheezy corporate rock" songs. But, history shows, it was so much more than that. Journey touched so many people. Lynn O. It was 1978 and I was watching Midnight Special with some friends. I was 18 and from then on I was a die hard Journey fan. Unfortunately, I never got the opportunity to see them in concert. Cindy: I was 11 years old (Summer of 1978). Anyhow, that year I had given up on music. Elvis had died and Lynyrd Skynyrd had their plane crash. All my favorite people had died. My stepbrother, Steve (I swear that's his name) brought home this album, "Infinity", and he wanted me to hear it. Of course, being stubborn and pigheaded, I said "NO". Well, Steve just turned it up. The first song he played was "Patiently". I was in love. As of this day I still have it (my brother doesn't know that though). My 11 year old plays the same album that brought me back to life. It brings those memories back to when I was 11. A time I fell not only in love with music again, but with Journey and Steve Perry. That is why today I put in my "Essential Journey" disc and chill after a hard day's work. That is why Steve and Journey still have a warm place in my heart and always will. Jena: It really is the strangest thing, but I actually do recall the instant I heard Steve's voice! I remember where I was exactly. I was 13 years old and at a friend's house. Her older brother was 16 and really scary, he would always yell at us and tell us to get lost. And, we would yell at him sometimes for playing his music too loud when we were doing our homework. One day, as we are stomping down into the basement to tell him to turn his music down I hear "Stone In Love". I had to sit down at the top of the basement stairs, on the landing, and listen to the whole song! I had to go and get the Escape album and everything that came before it, and I've been hooked ever since. Thank you for letting me share. Angel: If I remember correctly, the first song was "Open Arms". I was in junior high and was "going with" a guy. Boy does that date me. That may have been the first song, but Journey and especially Steve have been a mainstay in my life for years. "Escape" on vinyl, "Raised on Radio" my senior year out having fun with my twin best friends, "Journey's Greatest Hits" tooling down the road with another friend in her 68 Mustang (affectionately called "Baby Blue") and so many more. No matter the situation, my Journey arsenal has a range that fits every mood and/or situation. A sincerely bad day at work can be turned completely around by popping in a Journey CD on the way home. I think Jon said it in BTM, "...we write songs about real people..."; yes, they do. If I had to go through life listening to only one band...you guessed it,...it would be Journey. Marsha: I was babysitting and the radio had "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'" on, I melted immediately by his voice. Two weeks later, I bought the record [remember 45's?] and played the heck out of it until I got the LP. I've been a faithful fan since and I will always be a Steve fan, no matter what he does. Mike H.: "For me, the song that make me a fan was "Faithfully." I initially heard it when a girl I was going out with bought the 'Journey--Greatest Hits' CD, and ever since she told me, "I'm forever yours, faithfully," I was a fan." Karen W.: The song that got me stuck to Steve Perry/Journey like a tick was "The Party's Over/Hopelessly in Love". This had to be in '79 or '80. I was an avid listener of "American Top 40" with Casey Kasem on the radio every weekend. Journey had charted with this song somewhere on there--I hadn't really noticed them before then, but I'll never forget Steve Perry's voice, it was so unusual, haunting almost. The radio station I listened to at the time did not play Journey at that point, so I kind of forgot about after a day or two. All of that changed when Escape came out-Journey was all over the radio-and I was all over them! The rest is history. Deb B.: I was 14 years old and I was walking with my best friend. I had a portable radio with an 8 track... She handed me that Infinity 8 track tape and I popped it in.. "Wheel in the Sky" started playing and I heard this voice .. I could not believe it .. I asked her who it was and she told me Journey .. I was hooked on the voice and have been ever since... Of course as soon as I saw his pic ..what a beautiful man! I bought the album and played it over and over ...and have been a fan of his ever since!! Joanne: Okay, this is going back some years. I actually liked Journey before Steve Perry. I swiped my older brothers "Next" album, and really liked it, so of course when "Infinity" came out in 1978, I LOVED Journey! I also fell head over heels in love with my "first" crush...Steve Perry!! "Feeling That Way" is still one on my favorite songs, and it was my first favorite song from "Infinity". Growing up in Chicago, I was a little rocker in my pre-teens listening to Nugent, Cheap Trick, and REO Speedwagon, so I wasn't ever really into bubblegum rock...I liked the big kid stuff!! Journey was such big kid stuff, that the first Journey concert I ever went to (1979) I was only 14 years old, and could only go with my other big brother who wasn't a Journey fan to begin with, but was a fan by the end of the show!! I have known my husband since I was 8, and he was 14. When I became a big Journey fan, I used to tease him because he looked so much like Steve Perry..they both had long dark hair, big brown eyes, big lips, nose, same facial structure, same body type,...and all these years later, people still think he looks like Steve!! Needless to say, we played a lot of Journey at our wedding in 1982! My kids were raised on Journey (and our daughters think it's pretty cool that Dad looks so much like Steve!). I guess I'm just thankful to have been born at a time when Journey was around. I can relate to so many songs that sound like my life; the good, the sad, and the happy. Listening to Journey or Steve Perry can always put me in an up-beat mood. I've been fortunate enough to meet a lot of musicians, but never Steve. I will never give up the hope of someday saying to Steve in person "THANK-YOU" for sharing your life, your music, and your voice with me. And then I'll have a whole new page to add!! Andrew Batters: The song that started me being mad on Journey was a song called "Suzanne" which one of my Dad's work friends had put on a collection of American based bands. At the time, I must have been about 13 when I first heard it in the car, and I thought "that ain't bad at all", so I ended up listening to the tape more than my Dad. Also on that tape was one of Steve Perry's solo songs "Captured By The Moment", though at the time I did not know who he was. I left school and got my first job and the built up my CD collection with Journey and have not gone a day without listening to any of their songs. Many of you will be surprised to see that I live in England where Journey have only ever had two songs released, but I will always rate them, along with fellow Americans R.E.M., as my all-time favourite band. Jessica: In 1984, I was still a child and I didn't know anything about Steve Perry besides the fact that my 13 year old cousin, Laura, was in love with him. At the time, our area in Massachusetts had just recently acquired cable and, subsequently, MTV. One morning in the early summer of 1984, Laura calls me and insists that I watch MTV because the "Oh Sherrie" video was coming on within the hour. I had never seen the video, since MTV was a recent acquisition for me, and I could only vaguely recall the chorus of the song from the radio. I put MTV on, watched the video and instantly fell in love. The sweet simplicity of the video's premise (that he didn't want to corrupt his song to Sherrie with an elaborate production of a video) coupled with Steve's powerful voice and his sincere lyrics captured my young heart. Months later, when I heard that Steve and Sherrie had separated, I was heartbroken. Because I lived with unloving and dysfunctional parents, I used that video (which I had taped and watched incessantly) as my very own Cinderella story. So basically, I have been a Steve Perry fan since June of 1984. My first boyfriend strongly resembled Mr.Perry. I wonder if Laura knows how her phone call 18 years ago affected my life so much. KarenMac: Back in 1978 I was like the uncoolest kid in school - on the outside anyway. On the inside I knew I wasn't really all that different than everybody else, they just thought I was. So I stayed home a lot and listened to a LOT of music..........I originally got Infinity because I thought "Wheel in the Sky" was a cool song. But after I listened to the whole album all the way through the first time, I fell in love with Steve Perry because of "Winds of March". I am SURE I wore out the grooves in that record because I played it EVERY single night to go to sleep by, the best nights were when I drifted off to sleep during "Winds of March" dreaming that he was singing it to me........ I just couldn't get enough of that VOICE!!!! He touched something deep down in my soul with that song. Daniel Oates: I remember my first real exposure to Journey all too well. I was visiting with a friend when it occurred to us that we should take our lives into our own hands, create our own fate, our own destiny. We jumped into a Buick Regal and set out to introduce ourselves to the "popular girls" from school. On the ride over my friend's older brother's cassette was playing. We didn't really notice the music at first but then the sound which poured from the speakers became an anthem for the rest of my life. The live version of "Wheel in the Sky" from "Captured" was playing and I instantly fell in love. I have been a Journey fan ever since. I was fortunate enough to see them in Chicago (then called the Rosemont Horizon) on the Raised on Radio tour.... just before the end.... Diane Z.: My cousin brought the Escape album to my house and we listened to it over and over. I was about 12 or 13 years old at the time. I played that album so much I knew the songs by heart. Then I bought the Captured tape and played that to death. I think I still have it. Since then I have loved Journey, Steve Perry and their music. I finally got to see them in concert for the Frontiers tour. It was awesome and I have seen them in concert several times since. I also was able to see Steve in concert "For The Love of Strange Medicine" tour. It was a small venue but that is the closest I was able to get to Steve and it was the best! I will remember it forever! Kelly Benson: I am from Chester, SC. It was 1983, I was 12 years old when I first heard Steve Perry sing. It was amazing. The first song I heard him sing was "Open Arms". I have adored Steve Perry since that time. |
