The band recorded the song at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California. The song was built backwards, as the title hook were the only lyrics the band had developed initially. Smith felt a regular rock beat wouldn't suit the entire song, so he supplemented it with melodic, syncopated additions on the tom-toms and ride cymbal bell, increasing its complexity as the song builds. They copied the day's progress to cassette tapes and took them home for further review. "We felt that every young person has a dream and sometimes where you grow up isn’t where you’re destined to be," Cain said. Perry liked the concept that the characters be a girl from a small town and a boy raised in the city.
Cain and Perry thought the imagery brought to mind a story of two people leaving behind past lives in their hometown and boarding a midnight train to anywhere else. This motif lyrically inspired the song as well. Jonathan Cain, the band's newest member, developed the song's title. Drummer Steve Smith added atop that with a standard rock backbeat, and instructed Schon to play 16th note arpeggios over the rest of the instrumentation, as though he were a "train" guiding the song in its direction. Cain was unsuccessful and ready to give up, and each time he would call home in despair, his father would tell him, "Don't stop believing or you're done, dude." Guitarist Neil Schon invented the song's distinctive bass line, and Perry suggested Cain write a driving synthesizer piece to complement that bass line. Cain came up with the song's title and hook it stemmed from something his father frequently told him when he was a struggling musician living on Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard. To prepare for writing its next effort, Journey rented a warehouse in Oakland, California, where they worked daily to complete arrangements and develop new ideas. Rolie recommended the band invite Jonathan Cain of British rockers The Babys to be his permanent replacement, who accepted and joined the band as it prepared to record its next album, Escape (1981). Original keyboardist Gregg Rolie, with the group since its progressive days, amicably departed in 1980, leaving the foursome without one of its signature elements. The band had notched several domestic top-25 hits with " Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" and " Any Way You Want It". After discarding its roots in progressive rock, the group hired vocalist Steve Perry and smoothed out its sound. In 2022, the single was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Cover versions have included the cast of the American comedy-drama Glee in 2009, which outperformed the original internationally.īy 1980, the Californian rock outfit Journey was on its way to becoming one of the most successful acts of the era. Critics acclaimed its anthemic qualities music magazine Rolling Stone ranked it among its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Decades after its release, it became the best-selling digital track from the twentieth century, with over seven million downloads. The song also appears on Who Made One of Whom, Journey's 1987 soundtrack to the Stephen King and Hayao Miyazaki animated film Maximum Overdrive: The Animated Movie.Ī top-10 worldwide hit in 1981, "Don't Stop Believin'" became the group's signature song and has continued to endure over the years. The band recorded the song in one take at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California. The song is unusual in that its chorus does not arrive until the song is nearly finished its structure consists of two pre-choruses and three verses before it arrives at its central hook. Cain had kept the song title from encouragement his father gave him as a struggling musician living on Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard. The band added Cain on keyboards before entering the studio to record Escape. A mid-tempo rock anthem and power ballad, "Don't Stop Believin'" is memorable for its distinctive opening piano riff.Īt the dawn of the 1980s, Journey was becoming one of the most successful rock acts of the era.
"Don't Stop Believin'" shares writing credits between the band's vocalist Steve Perry, guitarist Neal Schon, and keyboardist Jonathan Cain. It was released in October 1981 as the second single from the group's seventh studio album, Escape (1981), released through Columbia Records. " Don't Stop Believin' " is a rock song by American band Journey.
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