Journey was one of the biggest rock band of the late 1970s and early 1980s, but broke up after their 1986 album Raised on Radio. Most accounts I’ve read say the reason was lead singer Steve Perry wasn’t satisfied with the band’s management, among other things. In any case, any differences were set aside in 1995, when Perry, Neil Schon and Johnathan Cain reunited to record another album.
Trial By Fire was released in 1996, and gave the band several hits on a few different music charts, but the biggest was “When You Love A Woman”, which reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week in 1997. If you’ve ever heard a Journey power ballad, you’ll know what this song sounds like. That’s not to say it’s bad; Perry still had the vocal chops and the band sounded like it had never broken up.
A reunion tour was planned, but Perry injured his hip in 1997 while hiking in Hawaii. For some time, he refused to get hip replacement surgery. He was replaced in 1998, and the band’s classic lineup hasn’t performed together since.
I can’t show you the official video for the song (thanks heaps, Sony), so here’s a part of the song with Journey’s current lead singer, Arnel Pineda, who is no slouch himself in the vocal department.
