Songoftheday 10/22/14 - Runnin' out of self-control gettin' close to an overload, up against a no win situation...

Journey - "Be Good To Yourself"
from the album Raised On Radio (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #9 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 10

Today's Song of the Day comes from the arena-rock band Journey, who last were on my blog with a song from the movie Vision Quest, "Only The Young", reuniting lead singer Steve Perry with the group after his successful solo album in 1984. However not long after, Perry ended up canning bass player Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith, wanting a more professional rather than organic sound for the next record. Enlisting  Randy Jackson  (the pre-American Idol guy, not the Jackson Five brother) and Larrie London, the band recorded Raised On Radio, which owed more to ZZ Top's synth-rock work than their lite-prog rock roots. The first single from the project, "Be Good To Yourself", was another generic mid-80s anthem-style rock song like "Only The Young", with pre-programmed rhythm section backing up the Perry, keyboardist Jonathan Cain, and guitarist Neal Schon..

"Be Good To Yourself" became Journey's sixth top-10 pop hit in America in May of 1986, while climbing up to #2 on the Mainstream Rock radio chart in Billboard magazine. Internationally, the song peaked right under the top-40 in Canada (#43) as it only nicked the chart in England at #90.

However the success of the track it squarely moved Journey completely away from their status of a respected rock behemoth to more of a sugary, processed product. With a blinding tempo that prevailed in the decade of cocaine. In fact, the mere presence of "Only The Young" just makes this single redundant.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


...and here's the band (with Randy, dawg) live in concert...

Up tomorrow: Boy and the boys tell you to get lost.