From Journey’s early fusion-driven days to modern-era LPs with long-standing frontman Arnel Pineda, the band clearly aimed to set a tone with album-opening songs. More often than not, these tracks work like a cheat code for everything that’s inside.
The towering, guitar-stuffed “Of a Lifetime” and “City of Hope” tell you everything you need to know about face-melting LPs like 1975’s Journey and 2011’s Eclipse. “Don’t Stop Believin'” and “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” heralded the sleeker, radio-ready sounds to come on 1981’s Escape and 1983’s Frontiers.
As Journey leveled up commercially with the late-’70s arrival of Steve Perry, they placed the best-known tracks from 1978’s Infinity and 1980’s Departure right up front. But stalwart guitarist Neal Schon also had an instrumental moment on 1979’s Evolution.
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Band co-founder Gregg Rolie got to stretch out on more time on his final album with the group, 1980’s Dream, After Dream. Perry successors Steve Augeri and Pineda were later introduced with signature songs on 2001’s Arrival and 2008’s Revelation, respectively.
Not every introductory track necessarily met expectations, but all of them hold a place of importance in beginning the story of the albums that follow. Here’s a ranking of every Journey opening song:
No. 17. “Majestic”From: Evolution (1979)
Journey must’ve loved this minute-or-so-long instrumental, because they later opened concerts with a taped version. There’s nothing particularly offensive about “Majestic” – or particularly interesting. It’s really just a fragment of guitar and collective sighs. For some reason, “Lovin,’ Touchin,’ Squeezin,'” Journey’s first-ever Top 20 single, is still two songs away.
No. 16. “Together We Run”From: Freedom (2022)
A small army of songwriters gets credit for “Together We Run,” including Schon, Jonathan Cain and their occasional bandmate Randy Jackson. This time, however, Jackson’s presence doesn’t lead Journey to another R&B-leaning triumph like “After the Fall,” “Girl Can’t Help It” (found later on this list of Journey Album Opening Songs Ranked) or “I’ll Be Alright Without You.” “Together We Run” is instead just another typical modern-era vehicle for big-voiced Arnel Pineda to soar over a closing Schon solo.
No. 15. “Destiny”From: Dream, After Dream (1980)
Gregg Rolie’s final album with Journey wasn’t the heralded Departure, a three-times-platinum Top 10 smash LP featuring the hit single “Any Way You Want It” (found later on our list of Journey Album Opening Songs Ranked). Instead, it was a forgotten soundtrack to a film that returned Journey to their wide-open early sound. Steve Perry doesn’t do much singing on Dream, After Dream, but he adds a few soaring lines to “Destiny” – and that sets the stage for a rangy second half of throwback fusion rock.
No. 14. “Never Walk Away”From: Revelation (2008)
Pineda simply bursts out of the gates with the opening track on his first Journey studio effort, singing with power to spare. Kevin Shirley, back for his third Journey album after 1996’s Trial by Fire and 2001’s Arrival, turns everything up around Pineda – particularly Neal Schon.
No. 13. “On a Saturday Nite”From: Look Into the Future (1976)
Rolie opened Journey’s second album with an approachable, yet still tough-minded song that confidently moved the group more toward traditional classic rock, if not all the way over to the pop-leaning sound that later sent them to the top of the charts.
No. 12. “Red 13 / State of Grace”From: Red 13 (2002)
Journey returned after the soft rock-dominated Arrival with a scorching, fusion-kissed opening song. They spend two minutes easing into things before launching into a wrecking-ball groove – and Perry successor Steve Augeri is with them, step for breathless step.
No. 11. “Spaceman”From: Next (1977)
Co-written by Aynsley Dunbar and Gregg Rolie, “Spaceman” offers Journey fans some of the most obvious initial flowerings of a pop sensibility. They placed it first on the album, and released it as a single – to no avail. “Spaceman” failed to chart as a single, and Journey was ordered to rework their lineup. They briefly added Robert Fleischman — who arrived shortly after the album’s release, toured with the band and even received co-writing credit on three songs for Journey’s following album — but eventually went with Steve Perry instead.
No. 10. “City of Hope”From: Eclipse (2011)
You could say Schon is an unstoppable force on this song, except that Pineda – in one of his most impressive vocal performances – is every bit the equal of his molten riffs. At least at first. Eventually, Schon and company step forward for a floorboard-rattling, song-closing jam that edges all the way into fusion. Journey hadn’t sounded this wide open since the Jimmy Carter administration. Eclipse became their second consecutive Pineda-sung Top 20 album.
No. 9. “Message of Love”From: Trial by Fire (1996)
Journey got back together after nearly a decade apart, with Perry still firmly in control of their sound. “Message of Love” isn’t just a continuation of the untroubled sleekness of Raised on Radio-era Journey. This could have easily passed as a Perry solo track.
No. 8. “Higher Place”From Arrival (2001)
Journey boldly moved beyond Augeri’s similarities with Perry on this composition by Schon and Jack Blades, which at one point had an almost proggy feel. In that way, “Higher Place” smartly referenced the group’s previous successes, but ultimately used them as a foundation for something new.
No. 7. “Faith in the Heartland”From: Generations (2005)
The urge to return to an everyday working-stiff theme has been almost unavoidable for a group best remembered for “Don’t Stop Believin.'” And yet “Faith in the Heartland” never slips into tribute – or, worse still, parody. Credit goes most of all to Augeri, who strikes a visceral pose on upbeat tracks like this one, singing every line as if his whole heart is in it. Unfortunately, Generations went nowhere, and Augeri – citing throat problems – was gone after just two albums with Journey.
No. 6. “Girl Can’t Help It”From: Raised on Radio (1986)
Perry essentially took control of Journey in the run-up to this album, switching out band members for sidemen with whom he’d worked before then serving as the project’s de facto producer. That led them to some song treatments that moved well away from anything Journey had done before, or since. “Girl Can’t Help It,” one of three Top 40 singles from Raised on Radio, was the exception. This was classic Journey, spit-shined up for a new era.
No. 5. “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)”From: Frontiers (1983)
Cain and Perry looked on, feeling a little helpless, as bassist Ross Valory and Schon endured painful divorces. “There’s got to be a more soulful way of looking at this,” Perry countered in long-time San Francisco Chronicle music writer Joel Selvin’s liner notes for the Time3 box set. Just like that, the pair had the makings of the Top 10 opening single from Frontiers. “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” so energized Journey that they began performing it onstage before Perry had completely learned the words.
No. 4. “Of a Lifetime”From” Journey (1975)
Journey’s recorded output begins here, with a seven-minute jazz fusion-influenced, at times Pink Floyd-ish excursion that boldly stepped away from Rolie and Schon’s previous work in Santana. “It was based on jams, real eclectic – very different,” Rolie said in the band bio Journey: Worlds Apart. “That’s still really valid today. It’s almost like, ‘What, are we ahead of our time?’ You know, in a way – yeah.”
No. 3. “Lights”From: Infinity (1978)
Perry had an early version of this song in his back pocket when he joined Journey, and it’s a good thing. Rolie has said that the rest of the band wasn’t sold on Perry until they harmonized on “Lights” while backstage in San Bernardino. “It dawned on me right then,” Rolie admitted in the Time3 notes, “that this could really be great.” Oddly, however, this radio favorite stalled out at No. 68 on the Hot 100. “Journey achieved the almost unprecedented feat of earning a platinum album for one million units sold,” longtime San Francisco music writer Joel Selvin marveled back then, “without the aid or benefit of a hit single.”
No. 2. “Any Way You Want It”From: Departure (1980)
Perry said his vocal interplay with Schon’s guitar on “Any Way You Want It” was inspired by Phil Lynott, after Thin Lizzy opened for Journey: Perry sang “she loves to laugh” and Schon answered on guitar. “She loves to sing” and “she does everything” then led to more riffy responses. Perry and Rolie brought a tight focus to the bursts of shared vocals that close things out, fashioning Journey’s second-ever Top 40 hit.
No. 1. “Don’t Stop Believin'”From: Escape (1981)
The story of “Don’t Stop Believin'” will always be about waiting: Waiting until the song revealed itself: Cain had been carrying around the phrase for years. Waiting for the right vocalist: Who else besides Perry could have carried this song to such heights? And waiting for the chorus: Its unusual song structure has given “Don’t Stop Believin'” an utterly timeless feel. And yet this anthem, despite becoming so rightfully ubiquitous, somehow only barely cracked the Top 10. What’s up with that, 1981?
Nick DeRiso is author of the Amazon best-selling rock band bio ‘Journey: Worlds Apart,’ available here and at all major bookseller websites.
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