I don’t know where the first one begins and the last one ends.  I made mention in a previous blog about a Two for Tuesday trouble a few months ago where they played songs by Journey and Foreigner in succession.  Four songs in a row and I had no idea what band started and finished.  The fact that I cannot tell Journey or Foreigner apart says much about me not being an expert on Classic Rock.  The only way to tell the two bands apart is through rigorous study and repeat listenings.  You have to know which song is by which band.

Though Journey assembled and released an album first, Foreigner had the biggest influence after releasing their eponymous album in 1977 featuring the classic rock staples Feels Like the First Time and Cold as Ice.  The album was mammoth, and with bands like Boston ushered in a new classic rock flavor of passionate tenors and slow chugging rock rhythms.  After a decade of rock and roll recklessness America was ready for…a nap.

But Journey was not to be denied entry into this new rock Xanadu, and quickly utilized the talents of Steve Perry to take the band onto a path of fearless artistic uniformity.  And the hits came at America like they were from a Filipino welterweight: Lights, Wheel in the Sky, Any Way You Want It, Lovin’…Touchin’…Squee-e-eee-e-zin’.  America was so overwhelmed with mediocrity they couldn’t buy records fast enough.

In the 80s these two bands soared to the tops.  Jukebox Hero comes at you from one side, Don’t Stop Believing from another.    Most Classic Rock stations preserve similar playlists, making it feel like you never left 1982.  Areans across the country crammed tens of thousands to watch these bands get paid.  Journey and Foreigner were blazing the trail into the new frontier for Classic Rock in the 1980s inspiring other similar sounding bands along the way.

But the ride came to a halt in the last 80s, as all performing Classic Rock musicians began singing their death ballads.  Foreigner released songs like “I Don’t Want to Live without You” and “I Want to Know What Love Is” which are pretty much the same song.  Steve Perry became bigger than Journey and broke away from the band like an electron possessed, and like that same electron, fizzled out in a little spark.

Some 20 years later it would appear that Journey has retained the most relevance in popular culture.  Though for people like me and a silent majority of people my age, without proper education, Journey and Foreigner became Journeyforeigner because never growing up with the music, we cannot tell the two bands apart.  They sound exactly the same!  Give me the Pepsi challenge all day, you’ll get results.  But if you challenge me to identify which B-side song belongs to which band, I’ll be lucky to go .500.

The legacy these two Classic Rock bands left behind is undeniable.  At least 20% of Classic Rock station playlists is Journeyforeigner.  You play these songs on Guitar Hero, you sing them in karaoke, and your mom probably lost her virginity to either of these bands.  But beyond all else these two bands taught a very valuable lesson to all aspiring musicians: If you want make it big, sound like everyone else.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 12:56 pm and is filed under Inert Rock, Paycheck Rock, Rock Your Mom Likes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.