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The Brain Of My Existence: The Resurgence Of Journey  By Colleen, Hipsterpad.com    |Email| A few weeks ago during a night out on the town, my evening was interrupted by the horrific sound of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin.” After two years of torture I thought that the bizarre trend had come to an end. Yet, the freakin’ song continues to haunt me. Prior to 2005, I had heard Journey maybe once as a child in the late 80s. They weren’t talented then and they will continue to remain talentless until the end of time. When the huge resurgence of “Don’t Stop Believin’” occurred I was utterly baffled. I was shocked to learn that nearly all of my friends had fallen into the Journey craze. Did I ever know these people at all?!?! The first time I heard the song as an adult was at a party in 2005. I laughed and rolled my eyes assuming that it was a joke. I was wrong. In a matter of weeks every bar was ending the night with “Don’t Stop Believin.” All of the drunk patrons would sing “she took the midnight train going anywhere,” in unison while pumping their fists high into the air. I was disgusted. Was there something wrong with me that I wasn’t in on this? Did the entire world go crazy? The final straw was when my beloved Sopranos faded into the darkness serenaded by the cheesy 80s power ballad. At first I resolved to let it go. I would never understand how or why trends spread across the country seemingly out of thin air. When I asked my friends where they had heard the song again they would say, “I don’t know. I heard it out one night.” However, my most recent encounter with the beast pushed me over the edge. I vowed that I would, at all costs, find out who or what was responsible for the resurgence of Journey among the under 30 crowd. My mission was to get to the bottom of this madness. Was it featured in a movie? Did Perez Hilton start plugging it? Did some strange subliminal brainwashing go on that I missed? While knee-deep in Journey research I realized that I would probably never find a definite, single cause for the fad. I discovered that “Don’t Stop Believin’” played at Robbie Hart’s wedding in the Wedding Singer in 1998. This was much too long ago to cause the tragic obsession that began in 2005. In 2003, the movie Monster and an episode of Scrubs featured the jam. Yet, Monster seemed a little dark to be the root of the uplifting Journey virus. Scrubs could have something to do with it, but would people really harbor their feelings for Journey for a solid two years? The Chicago White Sox adopted it as there World Series theme song. But who knows the Chicago White Sox’s theme song besides residents of Chicago and a scattering of a few random fans located in other states? As I plugged on in my quest for the truth, I found a few more promising leads: Family Guy and Laguna Beach. Those bastards. An episode of Family Guy featured the song which could explain some of the demographics of the trend. However, I truly believe that Laguna Beach may have been the final push. I hate the show but even I have seen an episode or two. Those that say they have never watched it are lying. It’s a guilty pleasure of tweens, teens and young adults alike. In a particularly riveting episode of “reality” show glory, boring LC and scrawny Stephen are hanging out in a car. “Don’t Stop Believin” comes on the radio and the two of them rock out to it. I guarantee if someone conducted a study this would prove to be the impetus for two years of music misery. Hey, I could be wrong. But, all it takes is a few million people to catch the episode. Young kids think they’ll gain street cred by liking an old song and older viewers...well they have no excuse. Those over the age of 21 go to their local bar or club and request the song. In a drunken state of camaraderie people begin to sing along. These people then go on to request it at their usual haunts, and so on and so forth. The younger ones call radio stations, start an internet frenzy, download the song onto their ipods and whatever else they do these days. And before you know it Journey is awesome again in a matter of a few days. I’m going to stick with this explanation. Otherwise, I have to assume that something was slipped in the U.S. water supply that totally obliterated millions of people’s taste in music. Some of us were not affected by this because we had the good sense to drink water from our Brita. - Colleen - Rate This Post ! Sponsor This Post Currently 3.59/5 1 2 3 4 5 Rating: 3.6/5 (54 votes cast) Comments Banana88 Journey Rocks! I didnt go with the trend of liking them..just have been a long time listener..its not for everybody though Chris L YES YES YES! This is your best post to date! "Don't Stop Believin'" makes my blood boil. You are not alone in your hatred. steve thanks colleen, i've enjoyed reading you as well. maybe it's a redhead thing... *Name: Email: Notify me about new comments on this page Hide my email *Text:

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