BRITTICISMS

I didn’t realize Journey would be so controversial.

And I wasn’t trying to be mean, or anything. I also wasn’t trying to lump together or blame my friends (or say that all white people are the same). I just said that I was a black girl surrounded by white friends, but that the Journey thing seemed kind of concentrated to certain areas in Chicago (like, I’ve never heard it going out in Wicker Park or downtown).

With that said, I think Mills provided a definitive answer to the question:

I’m white, more or less, so I’ll give it a shot. For most people in my age range, Journey’s music is ridiculous without being bothersome; it is therefore ripe for “ironic” appreciation. It is dated in a very specific way and has both musical and emotional pretenses of absurd grandiosity, which are viewed with Pop-Up Video irony (am I old or what?).

But ironic critical distance from the ludicrous qualities of their music enables non-ironic appreciation of other qualities: nostalgia (both for one’s youth and for a sort of national-recent-past people know through film and television), sentimentality (cheesy feelings expressed seriously are laughed at; if taken ironically, they can be “secretly” enjoyed), and catchiness.

Journey’s songs are catchy, too; I shouldn’t minimize that, although it’s no compliment; ad jingles are catchy, and they’re no damn good. But “Don’t Stop Believing” is anthemic, dumb, and universally-known; it’s fine for drunk sing-a-longs, is ironically-powerless to make one seem “uncool” because it’s sub-cool, and has all the structures of old rock, with synths.

I personally prefer “Separate Ways,” because it’s angrier and has an even dumber video. I hope this helped, although it’s just my opinion.

Well, there ya go.