Good Job, Joey!

O.K., I’ve had some time to spend with this. I think Joey should really have his chest puffed over this performance. At 53, he ain’t no spring chicken and he hammers this Steve Perry-in-his-prime song. Seriously, try and sing along once, preferably in your car, alone, way out on a deserted highway in Arizona. You will feel strange muscles in your lower abdomen you previously didn’t know existed.

Steve Perry overshadows his own abilities with the success of his music. Journey’s greatest hits is an RIAA 1.5 Diamond record. I think it has gone platinum on average every 18 months since release in 1988. But lesser-known rip-roaring songs like this should remind you what a talent he truly had and don’t let the stadium lighter-waving, money-making ballads fool you.

“Keep On Runnin'” is part of an early 80s trend to sell to (read: market exploit) the blue-collar “working” man. The 60s sold you the rebellion, freedom, idealism and energy of your youth. 20 years later, you have kids, a wife, a mortgage and you’re slaving away to pay for it all with rebellion emasculated and dreams of Strawberry Fields long-forgotten. You still have to feed the entertainment machine, so here comes John Cougar, a reborn-Bruce Springteen and movies like “9 to 5” and “Take this Job and Shove it” to get you to rebel from your arm chair, drink light beer and and cut loose once in a while. We’re Fightin’ the man with ya, Johnny-boy, for just $9.98 from K-tel. Keep on Runnin’ if you ever get the carburetor fixed on that Honda 350.

This entry was posted in Music. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *