The definitive Journey reaches its final Frontiers on February 1, 1983


On February 1, 1983, Journey did two things rock bands virtually never do, and one they rarely do. Every successful rock band promises their follow-up to their breakthrough hit album will be rawer and heavier. Journey actually did it, cranking up the guitar crunch and drum hits, and Steve Perry taking a more aggressive approach vocally. Every successful rock band promises to take a new direction stylistically on their next record. Journey actually did it, with no song on Frontiers resembling their 1981 megahit "Don't Stop Believin.'" And rock bands who have success on the level Journey did with previous platter Escape rarely can sustain that level of sales and popularity on their follow-up disc. Yet Journey was among the few to stay at least as hot on Frontiers. Lead single "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" arguably became as iconic of an 80s cut as "Don't Stop Believin.'"

Despite having an easy blueprint for repeat success, Journey took a risk and went for a heavy metal edge combined with state-of-the-art synthesizer sounds, and pounding drum fills that would make Phil Collins green with envy. Oh, the audacity of it! The sheer, chrome-plated ambition! They had already scaled the peak of Mount Platinum with Escape. Most mortals would have collapsed in a heap of velvet suits and royalty checks. But not Neal Schon! Not with that Gibson Les Paul slung across his shoulder like a lightning bolt stolen from a confused Zeus! And certainly not Perry, the Voice—the man with the Golden Larynx, a man whose pipes could shatter a champagne flute at fifty paces while maintaining the soulful yearning of a street-corner crooner in a tuxedo!

And then...the shift. The tempo change of the decade.

"Faithfully."

The Zippo! The Bic! High in the air! A sea of butane flickers in the dark! Perry begins to wail about the "circus life," and suddenly every traveling salesman and suburban teenager feels the Electro-Socio-Sturm-und-Drang of the road!

From the unusual tempo and lyrical guitar solo of "Send Her My Love" to the metal thunder of "Edge of the Blade" and "Chain Reaction," Frontiers was as loaded with hits as Escape had been. In recent years it has become fashionable to criticize the band for shuffling killer tracks like "No Solutions," "Ask the Lonely," and "Only the Young" from Frontiers to movie soundtracks. But this was actually a brilliant move, as each of those songs got more attention as singles in their own right than they would have as 5th or 7th 45s from Frontiers. 

Sure, the music videos from the album were cringeworthy. And ace bassist Ross Valory and drum virtuoso Steve Smith would be unceremoniously booted from the band prior to the next record in 1986. But the Journey lineup that personified arena rock in the Reagan years was firing on all cylinders with intense musical chemistry for the final time here. This was even the last album to sustain the narrative continuity of the band's cover art since the late 70s. Heck, there was even a Frontiers arcade game, and Prince was inspired enough to cop the "Faithfully" chord progression for "Purple Rain."

Journey didn't just meet high expectations on February 1, 1983. They launched a satellite that would orbit the American consciousness forever. It was the peak of the mountain! The zenith! Frontiers wasn't just an album; it was a certificate of occupancy for the 1980s, signed in power chords and sealed with a soaring high C. The record spun on turntables from Encino to Erie, the radio waves carried Perry's voice into a million bedrooms, and for one perfect, chrome-bright season, the frontiers felt wide open, endless, and unmistakably theirs.

Location: San Francisco, CA, USA

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