Tony was always listening to classic rock, so it fit the scene perfectly. But as a group......?

Suffering through high school in the early 80's, Journey, Madonna and Phil Collins were rammed down our throats, and if you watch VH1, you'd think that was pretty much it besides metal and new wave hair bands. On the other hand, the B-52's, REM, Talking Heads, the Replacements, the Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, Husker du, and U2 were at their best, and I'd argue that it was these bands that spawned Nirvana and the other great bands that suceeded them. Journey didn't suck, it was simply the music you pretended to like because you thought some girl in history class might go out with you if you took her to a Journey/Styx/Triumph concert.

"Journey didn't suck, it was simply the music you pretended to like because you thought some girl in history class might go out with you if you took her to a Journey/Styx/Triumph concert."

In my 80's teenhood, it was the opposite. I had a shoebox filled with J. Geils Band, Iron Maiden, Rush, Michael Jackson and Madonna under my bed--you can bet it stayed hidden when my cool Echo & the Bunnymen-Suicidal Tendencies-Bauhaus listening friends came over.

It’s one thing to say that Steve “The Voice” (barf) Perry was inspired by Sam Cooke – that’s all well and good – but to claim that Steve is the inheritor of Sam’s mantle or even remotely close to being the talent that Sam was... well, that’s just plain idiotic.

There are rockers who have ‘done Sam’ well. Rod Stewart, for instance, has at times been worthy of touching the hem of Cooke’s garment. But Steve? Only in some bizarro-cheesy-pouf universe.

Steve Perry bears the same relationship to Sam Cooke that Michael Bolton does to Otis Redding, while coincidentally wearing an equally ridiculous and iconic coif. So yeah, as a singer he's a pretty good Bad Hair Day.

Geez, is there anything more tiresome than the "your favorite band sucks" discussion? Why can't people accept that saying something like "Journey sucks" or "Journey rocks" is only an opinion, not something that can be proven true or false?

Me, I find the music snobs very tiresome. A typical one would probably find a few discs to admire in my collection - and a lot to sneer at. So what? As Duke Ellington said, if it sounds good, it IS good? And "sounds good" is a matter of personal taste.

I hated Journey when I was coming of age in the '80s, but occasionally I'd hear one of their songs on the radio and be surprised how good it sounded. This despite the fact that my tastes stayed pretty current up until about when the critics declared "grunge was dead."

People can say Journey sucks all they want, but Journey's Greatest Hits gets frequent play in my home. I find some of Journey's output syruppy and sythetic. But anyone who likes guitar-based maintstream really shouldn't be able to listen to a song like "Stone In Love" and say that it sucks.

"Don't Stop Believin'" is not a Journey favorite of mine, but I consider "Stone In Love" "The Lights" (what some in this thread called "When the Lights Go Down in the City"), "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" "Wheel in the Sky" and "Chain Reaction" to be classics.

This month's issue of Mix magazine's interesting Classic Tracks feature is on the making of "Don't Stop Believin." Very interesting, whether you're a fan or not.