Gideon wrote:Us Journey fans are fortunate that such a talented songwriter turned a no-name singer that no one wanted into one of pop music's biggest stars.
Thank you, Mr. Cain for the career of Steve Perry.
Wheel in the Sky
Lights
Walks like a Lady
Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'
Anyway You Want it
Those songs were all over the radio in constant rotation. TV performances, Budweiser commercials and movie placement of anyway you want it at the time it came out -- Yeah, Perry was a no-name before Cain.
You know, I can't blame you for not understanding Gideon. You're reading about history and drawing conclusions from what you read. But the fact is, you didn't experience it. You didn't experience the time period and everything that came with it. Experiencing what happened, when it happened, would give you the understanding the rest of who lived Journey in their heyday have.
We who lived it, saw what was happening. We felt the buzz building. We watched the upswing of Journey take place. Perry was unique for his time. He was groundbreaking. He stood out in ways you can't imagine. No one was singing like him and that's what made people take notice. He was very influential on other singers because he set the trend. You're hearing him long after many other singers have emulated what he brought to the table, so you've experienced Journey in a very different way than most of us, so for you, I'm sure Perry is less unique.
What I remember HAPPENING was, at the time Escape came out, Journey was reaching its peak. The timing of that peak was happening just as the music scene was shifting from 70's blues based rock to 80's pop. The singer/songwriter movement was over. Hair bands were around the corner. Cain brought the more commercial songwriting into the mix just at the right time, so the timing was perfect, but make no mistake, Journey were on there way without him. Hopelessly in Love was written between Perry and Schon, without Rollie and without Cain, and was not indicative of the songs they did in the Rollie era at all. It has the same commercial vibe as everything you'll find on Escape. Perry and Schon were already shifting in that direction. What Cain brought to them was the shortcut and luckily, it was a perfect creative marriage between the 3 of them.
Giddy, you can attack this, you can dice it up and split all the hairs you want, but at the end of the day, intelligence is different than wisdom and you only gain wisdom through experience. We experienced that time, you didn't. We understand things about that time you can't possibly fathom, and those things can't be clarified or proven or conveyed with the written word. It had to be experienced. So it's not your fault, but you need to let this go, because you just don't understand.
I said my peace. I won't respond. Have fun.
.
