Don't Stop Believing

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“Don't Stop Believing”
"Don't Stop Believing" single
Single by Journey from the album Escape
B-side	"Natural Thing"
Released	1981
Format	7" vinyl
Recorded	1981
Genre	Rock
Length	4:11
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Jonathan Cain, Steve Perry, Neal Schon
Producer	Kevin Elson, Mike Stone
Journey singles chronology
"Who's Crying Now" (1981) "Don't Stop Believing" (1981) "Open Arms" (1982)

"Don't Stop Believing" is a song by the American rock band Journey. The song debuted on their 1981 album Escape. Today, it is considered the band's signature song.

The song is well-known for its lyrics and its distinctive chorused piano introduction, described by Allmusic as "one of the best opening keyboard riffs in rock."^[1] Many compilation albums carrying the track (including some budget Journey "best of" releases) and several reissues of Escape list the track as "Don't Stop Believin'" although the original title included the "g".

Contents 1 Popularity 2 In Pop Culture 3 Scrubs 4 The Sopranos 5 Sports 6 Cover versions 7 References

[edit] Popularity

The song reached #8 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, and #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It also peaked at #62 on the UK singles chart. In 2006 it was ranked as the 11th greatest song of the 1980s by VH1. Perhaps its greatest accolade of all however is that it is the most downloaded song of the 20th century in the iTunes Music Store.

[edit] In Pop Culture

The song also has appeared in a number of film and television series, including The Sopranos, The Wedding Singer, Family Guy, Monster, Shrek The Halls, The Comebacks, View From the Top, South Park, and Scrubs. It was also referenced in the online video game Guild Wars, as players take a journey into the harsh northern parts of the game's fantasy world.

[edit] Scrubs

In the Season 3 episode "My Journey", after Turk and Carla announce that they have picked a date for the wedding, J.D. suggests "The Lovin'-Touchin'-Squeezin's" (a Journey cover band) to play at the reception. Carla informs him that not everyone is as obsessed with Journey as he is, which J.D. denies. Turk then begins to sing "just a small town girl" to which J.D. enthusiastically replies "livin' in a lonely world" thus proving Carla's point. The song also features at the end of the episode.

[edit] The Sopranos

In 2007 the song also gained additional press for its use in the final scene of HBO's The Sopranos from the series finale "Made in America". Steve Perry was initially hesitant in allowing the song to be used in The Sopranos but later agreed.^[2] The Sopranos ending was later parodied by The Daily Show, ESPN, WCBS-FM (when that station flipped from Jack FM back to Oldies), Celebrity Apprentice, a campaign video for Hillary Clinton^[3][4] and for the final episode of Tony Martin's Get This radio show.

Due to all this over-whelming popularity, the song was reborn, leading the track to the #1 song on the iTunes charts 26 years after its release. The song also again charted on the Irish singles chart, peaking at number 4.^[5]

[edit] Sports

In recent years, the song has received a major resurgence in popularity. The first evidence of this came during the 2005 World Series, when the Chicago White Sox adopted it as their unofficial second anthem (along with "Let's Go, Go-Go White Sox"), after Catcher A.J. Pierzynski was heard commenting on how much he loved the song. After sweeping the 05 Series, the lead singer of Journey was invited to Chicago's Victory celebration, and participated in a short rendition of the song along with Pierzynski, 3rd Baseman Joe Crede and Center Fielder Aaron Rowand.

In 2005, the song made an appearance on Laguna Beach. It surprisingly jumped to #8 on the iTunes charts after the unexpected exposure.

Possibly due to the Detroit mention in the song, all professional teams in the Detroit area play it extensively at their stadiums since the first release in 1981. Similar to the White Sox mention above, it was played during every game of the 2006 World Series at Comerica Park, and is also heard during Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Lions, and Detroit Pistons games. The opening stanza refers to "Just a city boy/Born and raised in South Detroit". As Detroiters know, there really is no such place; Detroit has an East Side and a West Side, but north and south are not usually referred to. "South Detroit" is more commonly known to locals as "Downriver".

A further sports association for this song came in early 2008, when "Don't Stop Believing" became a theme for the NHL's Washington Capitals during their late-season playoff push and first post-season appearance since 2003, and the song was heard frequently at the team's games.

In 2008, in a tight battle for first place with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West, the Los Angeles Dodgers began to play "Don't Stop Believing" in the middle of the 8th inning at all of their home games.

In 2008 the song has also been adopted by the Waterford Hurling Team, who, after a 45 year drought will again grace the pitch in Croke Park for the All-Ireland Hurling Final, against their arch rivals Kilkenny on the first Sunday in September.

In 2008, the song was unofficially adopted by the Washington Capitals as they won fifteen of their last nineteen games to reach the playoffs after starting the season with a 6-14-1 record. The Capitals hired Bruce Boudreau at that point who turned the Capitals season around and went on to win the Jack Adams Award for best head coach.

[edit] Cover versions

The song was covered by American indie music artist/songwriter Jon Regen in 2006. In 2007 the band Northern Kings covered the song for their album Reborn. Kanye West also covered "Don't Stop Believing" on his Glow In The Dark Tour. In 2008, it was covered by dance artist, George Lamond. It was also covered by Flight 409 on the CD We Don'T Dance track eleven. The CD came out on Nov 10, 2007. Finnish melodic death metal band Children Of Bodom are known to occasionally cover the song live.

[edit] References