02 Neal Schon Loves Me So Much
Music of the 80s
Music of the 80s Song of the Week
Stone in Love set up important circuits - not just the high voice over crunchy guitar rock, but also my lifelong love of “blue jean girls” as a concept.
JOURNEY set up many more. They had an interesting history (Schon’s played guitar professionally since he was 15 years old; the original core were in Santana together); their rock family tree was expansive, and led me to, for better or worse, to The Tubes, Sammy Hagar, Santana, The Babys, and a back catalogue to save up for and collect.
I think this was important to the way I engaged with music for years: I became a Career follower, a Band follower, and an Album Guy - as opposed to the other main way of communing with music available to teens, which was to follow the charts and the singles on the radio. This suited my already over-serious self-concept, and my outsider sensibility. It attached me to a small group, still the only size group I really enjoy.
ALBUMS were currency, not songs. Albums have weight - they’re among my favourite art forms. Albums were how I follow a band - though I know for other people, it’s hits, or tours. And likely because of my age, I like them on vinyl, with other formats only really for convenience.
And while I still enjoy learning about bands in some detail - I’ll read any stupid “band bio” if it’s around, and still enjoy finding connections - the compulsive need to interact with all parts faded pretty quickly. It became pretty clear pretty quickly, even while I was doing it with Journey, that not all the side and solo projects are worth anything. Lol.
I still HAVE all these records - up till about 1983 or so. I still have the “half-speed mastered” Japan-only release by Journey that I paid double for and listened to maybe twice. I even, in the heat of it, bought a second copy of a Journey live record because it had pictures on the inner sleeves I hadn’t seen.
Weirdly from today’s perspective, I never got to see the band except in photos while my love ruled me: small town kids don’t have the same access to concerts, and the closest we got to videos at that time was Casey Casem’s America’s Top 40, where if you were lucky he’d play a minute of a video. I distinctly remember a portion of the Faithfully video blowing my mind - Steve Perry melancholically shaving his moustache! - and then waiting and waiting and never seeing it again. When YouTube happened and I saw them, it felt very strange. At least one Journey video is deeply embarrassing.
And, of course, the box of knowledge I collected about Journey and Neal Schon is largely useless, although it still takes up space in my brain. Your first favourite band rarely deserves the love you give it - you’re just NEW to the whole thing. Journey didn’t stay with me, except in that “First X” kind of way. Subconscious shit, tied to all the other things going on at 12 or 13.
I do like the way the Journey story played out - I watched the movie about how they finally found a faithful singer on YouTube, and love that. But I’m not going to go see them when they come to the local casino with Cheap Trick and Styx.
Anyway: Take a moment and raise a glass to teenaged fanhood, and YouTube, and Neal Schon, and whatever band swept you up when you were 12. Tell us in the comments if you dare.
There’s plenty more of this sort of nonsense - comics, music, stories - over at www.misterjep.com. Always open, free, cheap.
Thanks for reading. Listening. Whatever.