When I was a tween being forced to play Bach on the piano in the 1980s, pulling out my sheet music for Journey tunes from under the piano bench and working on those opening bars of "Don't Stop Believin'" instead was a forbidden pleasure. They were one of the few rock bands who could actually make you feel like playing the piano was as cool as playing the electric guitar.

So you think that Journey still sounds great and Sgt. Pepper's is dated? I think its the other way around. Journey's music has not held up very well over time. Listening to it now, I find that it sounds out of date and cheesy. There is plenty of music from the 80's that I can still listen to without cringing, but Journey is not in the category.

Look, "Don't Stop Believin'" is a guilty pleasure, and I have it along with another Journey song on my iPod. More out of nostalgia than anything else - they remind me of driving around crappy old Pasadena, Texas in a friend's sister's Mustang, having a good time but helpless in the back seat, unable to change the radio station or pop in another cassette. Say, the Police.

But "Abbey Road"? The Ramones? Sheesh. C'mon.

The song's hammy lyrics and soaring instrumentation fit nicely with the Sopranos finale. Most important, though, is that it's just the type of song a Jersey boy like Tony would punch up on a tabletop jukebox. If you watched the series all these years, you know his taste in music was pretty pedestrian.

That particular Journey song has been a gen-X anthem for a while. It’s the song that everyone seems to know the words to and at the end of a drunken night it’s a hell of a lot of fun to sing. I’ve also been hearing lots of re-mixes lately. If I see it on a juke box you bet I’ll play it.

I guess my only real problem with the song was it didn’t seem like something Tony would play.

It isn't because Journey is slickly produced that they suck (David Byrne, XTC). It isn't because they write short, punchy songs that they suck (Ramones, White Stripes, Elvis Costello, for gods sake). It isn't becuase they are technically talented and can play well that they suck (King Crimson, Santana).

It's simply because they suck, with some exceptions prior to Steve Perry's arrival. Chicago and the Doobie Brothers... even the Police followed similar arcs... a powerful performer begins to dominate the band, the writing becomes more and more tuned to big sales and the lowest common denominator, and away from meaningful individual self-expression, and the group mind that made then so creative and dynamic disappears into the cult of personality of the offending band member. (Steve Perry, Peter Cetera, Michael MacDonald, and even Sting)

There is an "it" factor that Journey, especially after they became successful, do not have. I was at the Bill Graham memorial show at Golden Gate Park, and the spectacle of Steve Perry begging the hip San Francisco crowd to "sing along, just once with me. Please!" on "When the Lights Go Down in the City" was enough to turn my stomach permanently, and yours too, had you seen it. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were as much of a different era, no more contemporary, but they didn't have to beg anyone to sing along with "Ohio". Their material stands up over time. Journey's does not.

Journey may be closer to the Ramones than Led Zeppelin, but they're closer to Christopher Cross than either. It takes a lot more than short songs to be punk. Journey is soulless because their songs are soulless, and it makes them a perfect match for Tony Soprano's dysfunctional existence and family.

One of the things that made David Chase's choice of "Don't Stop Believin'" so effective is that first moment after a viewer hears the song start... and they say, "Oh god, I can't believe they're using this song." Then, two minutes later, as the song is still playing, the incredulous, "They're still playing it!". Why does this moment occur? Why is it an unbelievable and jarring musical choice?

Because. Journey. Sucks.

See?

The hipster contingent has been into Journey for years.

Well, hip or not, reading the article brought me back to my early teenage years, sitting in the living room, listening to "Escape" on my parent's turntable, and sporting those HUGE white headphones. I recall that this album and Foreigner's "4" were what I listened to at the time.

Of course, my taste in music changed and grew over the years. And yes, even at that young age, I could smell the cheese in Journey's lyrics and music. However, their music was built well, and it still catches me on the hook (or hooks).

So don't hate, people. Accept the fact that you liked this music once (or forever), and it still brings you back to a moment in your life. That is what good songs always do.

I like punk rock. I like it a lot. I would say it's what I listen to most.

I like Journey. I like them a lot, too.

People are so hung up on "legitimacy" and "authenticity" and "artfulness" and all sorts of crap that has nothing to do with how music enters your ear and rattles the small bones there.

To me, the marriage of Journey's arena rock sound (absolutely huge) and Perry's vocals is sublime. I liked it when I was a teenager. I like it now.

You almost lost me with "In a weird way, it wasn't that different from punk." - you have it backwards, punk in the way you're envisioning it isn't really that different from pop, which is what Journey started making once Perry joined the band - but still, dead on. Discerning authenticity is a fool's pastime, and I'll take "Don't Stop Believing" over "Smells Like Teen Spirit" any day. Sure, Kurt's lyrical banalities are tucked in further, but the emotionalism of Perry's delivery just kind of renders words moot. When that track comes on in the car, the iTunes, the strip club, wherever - I go nuts like the coke dealer in Boogie Nights. ("Sister Christian" - another ostensibly trite pop slayer!)

This is why I got so pissed that Paul Rudd didn't come up with a better argument for Steely Dan in Knocked Up... they're like the fucking Beatles for me, and they routinely get slagged as yacht rock. Sheen is sometimes the time-release portion of the song capsule. Sometimes I need Half Japanese, but sometimes I need Brutal Juice. Lo-fi as an end is a joke. Fantastic post, David.