Journey - Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)

“Hey, Eddie, you been watching a lot of popular serialized entertainment recently, by any chance?”

Yes, Stranger Things has done two things in abundance – introduce characters we fall in love with and then kill them not too long afterwards a la Game of Thrones (no spoilers here, but, if you know you know) and popularised 80s bangers with the sort of frequency reserved for an actual 80s radio station on Free Fireworks Day. But seeing as Kate Bush doesn’t quite fit the MO here (despite being, scientifically speaking, “totally fuckin’ rock and roll”), we’ve plumped for the next best thing. And it’s still a very good thing!

American rockers Journey, born presumably from some sort of lab that also makes earworms and tasty guitar riffs in 1973s San Francisco, were actually very much a supergroup of the day - featuring members of Santana and the Steve Miller Band, they brought a mix of sensibilities and obvious musical talent to the ears of people around the world with stone cold megahits like Don’t Stop Believin’ and Any Way You Want It remaining huge to this day.

We’re taking a look, or a listen at least, to another one of their bigger hits this week, as it so happens and at time of writing it is probably as big as it’s ever been. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) might be more awkwardly named than a billionaire’s child but there’s certainly no lack of rhythm and flow in the song itself. It flaunts a real sense of 80s pride and not just in a ‘five white guys with big hair’ sort of a way, either; there are more hooks in it than a fisherman’s shed and the recent remix from the aforementioned Stranger Things trailer might be cool and imposing, but it will always lack the sheer soft-rock fun of the original track. Plus, there’s not nearly enough Steve Perry, lead singer of the band during their most successful years, positively wailing at us in the show’s brooding battle remix. There’s not enough Steve Perry full stop these days, but I digress.

Without further ado then, here’s our totally not at all recency biased Rock Song of the Week. Turn this one up to Eleven (sorry, I couldn’t resist).