After losing his bandmate in a tragic car crash, rookie Steve Perry was ready to throw it all away. His music career, as far as he was concerned… it was over. He had come so close to that big break too many times. And it always fell apart. It was a mic drop in the worst way possible. But then, if you can believe it, him mom talked him out of quitting. She promised him something good would happen. And she was right. Not long after, he was recruited by Journey’s manager Herbie Herbert to be their frontman. Only, there was a catch. They already had a lead singer. So going undercover as part of this band’s road crew, Steve Perry laid low until Herbert could fire the other singer. And when Steve finally his chance, he didn’t disappoint. Six, multi-platinum albums later, Steve Perry is recognized as one of the greatest rock voices of all time… And today we’re telling the story of his first song with Journey... Lights, including an interview with the great guitarist Neal Schon, who he wrote it with. NEXT on the Professor of Rock.

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Hey music junkies, Professor of Rock, always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time. If you ever had a member only jacket from back in the day, You’ll dig this channel of potent musical nostalgia Make sure to, subscribe below right now. We also have a patreon you'll want to check out. There you’ll find an additional catalog of exclusive content and you can even become an honorary producer to help us curate this music history.

So, it’s time for another edition of #1 in Our Hearts. This show honors songs that were so unbelievably great, they absolutely should've been #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. But for whatever reason, be it radio play, lack of marketing, label support or just sheer stupidity, the song came up short. On today’s episode we’re going with a band that had 18 Top 40 hits in the US, but never a #1. The closest they ever got was #2. Well today we’re going to rewrite history as it should have been and give Journey a #1 hit. The song? It’s Steve Perry’s debut track with the band: Lights.

So by the summer of 1977 Journey was three albums into their young career. Their self-titled debut dropped in April 1975. ‘Look into the Future’ was released in January 1976. And ‘Next’ came next in February 1977. All three records struggled here in the US, averaging 108 on the Billboard 200. Since their formation in 1973, Journey had already been through some lineup changes moving on from drummer Prairie Prince and guitarist George Tickner. That meant at this point the band consisted of Santana alumni Neal Schon on guitar and Gregg Rolie on keys and occasional vocals, plus Ross Valory on bass and Aynsley Dunbar on drums.

The reason for Journey’s struggles to break through on both the album and the singles charts was simply that they weren’t a commercially-driven band. On their first few albums, Journey was replicating Santana’s approach: instrumental rock fusion with lyrics and vocals as an afterthought. Journey was opening for big time acts like Emerson Lake and Palmer and yes, Santana. And they were playing all these big outdoor shows. But really the exposure wasn’t translating to record sales. And that wasn’t sitting well with their label Columbia Records.