Yesterday, while most of America was honoring the men and women who served our country so that we may have the freedom to enjoy hot dogs, BBQs, beaches and the security of wearing white pants through Labor Day, somewhere in Minnesota, a small handful of people celebrated Memorial Day another way.
Straight from the files of WTF, please enjoy Journey's Steve Perry as he picks this particular long-weekend to come out of a 20 year retirement to join the Eels for a rendition of the Eels "It's A Motherfucker."
When Perry asked why the Eels hadn't done any of his songs, Mark Everett Oliver said that they were waiting for him, and so for the encore, the Eels and Perry take on "Open Arms" and "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'."
And there you have it. For reals, as the kids say.
11 comments:
I don't know what to say. I didn't get all the way through the clip because frankly, I never was a fan, Journey being the most hated group next to Toto I can think of, and his pipes are a bit rusty. Some painful notes in there.
Yeah, I wasn't really posting because I loved it or hated it. I just find it all so bizarre. The combo and the timing wouldn't even look right in The Onion.
It is rather an odd combination, and him popping up after all this time. Question is, should Perry rejoin Journey? Probably not. Maybe because the Filipino guy they have presently sounds way far better than Perry does now. But then again, who knows. Although, Journey during the Perry reign had some good tunes though.
The key change had me wondering if he's long out of practice, or just can't do hit the high notes any more...
Sal - there is a very interesting article on New York Magazine's website about "shlock" music. Long but worth reading. Journey/Steve Perry is a key part of it.
I am a big believer in the power of baseball and here is another reason why.
Your team goes on a post-season tear in 2010 and the fans adopt "Lights" as the team song. In game two the TV cameras capture you leading the fans in the song. Steve Perry finds out that he is still remembered.
Two years later, in Minni/St. Paul, he has Eeels fans singing na-na-na-nan-na.
I see that there are a few un-Journey and un-Toto fans in the group and that's Ok. Like Miles Davis said, "Good music is good no matter what kind of music it is."
I forgot to add what the song was that Tony Soprano punched into the juke box at Holsten's.
Journey's "Don't Stop Believing"
There are many enigmas in music.
@Kevin M.
Thanks for the heads-up. Pretty exhausting piece by Jody Rosen, but some truly great stuff in it. Maybe a bigger discussion here tomorrow.
That last episode/scene of The Sopranos went a long way towards repositioning Journey culturally -- maybe not with their already massive fan base, but with people who sees themselves (and most likely are) hipper and more tasteful. Made it OK to like Journey! We all have our own histories with the band. I went from enthusiastically buying Infinity after seeing them on The Midnight Special to loathing them because everyone in high school who didn't give a shit about music was a Journey fan. (I came around somewhat in the early 90s ... like Eddie Money, they knew what they were doing.)
That said, I thought that was a fantastic film clip. Steve Perry made it clear he was there because he was a huge Eels fan, which is very cool to here. So am I -- the new album is very good.
When can we expect the Lou Gramm/Arcade Fire duet?
Nothing go will come of this discussion!
Allan R.
I dunno - I thought this was pretty cool and the man can sing!
It's cool when people do things when they feel right - we should all learn from this ...
Atlas
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