Music fans streaming 18 million copies of a rock classic might find it surprising that producers asked for a simple approach during early tracking sessions, GuitarPlayer reported.
“Play something dumb,” Journey guitarist Neal Schon recalled being told by producers Kevin Elson and Mike Stone while cutting the track in a new interview with Rick Beato.
Released in 1981 from the band’s seventh studio album, Escape, the song reached the top 10 and eventually became a cultural phenomenon appearing in television finales and stadium sporting events.
Schon responded to the studio request by inventing a chunky rhythm pattern that drives the third verse forward.
“It’s like a Bachman-Turner Overdrive, ‘Taking Care of Business’ kind of rhythm part,” Schon told GuitarPlayer.
The anthem was a co-write between Schon, vocalist Steve Perry, and keyboardist Jonathan Cain, who had recently joined the group.
Cain brought the initial chord progression into the studio sessions.
“Jon had the ‘Don’t stop believin” chorus, so we moved on trying to create the rest of the song,” Schon told GuitarPlayer in 2023.
Schon suggested a Motown-style bass groove to propel the progression along while developing the secondary sections.
“I came up with the B section — ‘Strangers, waiting.’ Perry goes, ‘Oh, that’s perfect,’ so we threw it together,” Schon said.
The finished arrangement breaks standard radio conventions by withholding its famous chorus until the final moments of the track.
“I don’t think any song that’s become as big has ever had that,” Schon said.
“The first rule of songwriting is, ‘Don’t bore us, get to the chorus!’ But we broke it — and had a hit!” Schon said.
During the tracking sessions, Schon played his black 1977 Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, an instrument he also used on subsequent tours and which sold at auction for $250,000 in 2021.
Aside from the anthemic solo, his main instrumental contribution included a rapidly arpeggiating guitar part introducing the second verse.
“It was like something you might hear in a symphony and it felt like it was helping the track move along,” Schon said.
Decades after its release, the recording earned a spot in the Library of Congress National Recording Registry.
Forbes magazine named the track the Biggest Song of All Time in its March 2024 issue.
“When we wrote it, I thought there was something there, you know — when we were messing around with it in the studio,” Schon said.
“I looked at the guys, and I go, ‘I think there’s something here that’s special, that’s going to be bigger than this whole record.’ And not until this many decades later, did it happen. But it did happen,” Schon said.
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