"Don't Stop Believin" is a song by American rock band Journey. 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" shares writing credits between the band's vocalist Steve Perry, guitarist Neal Schon, and keyboardist Jonathan Cain. It is a mid-tempo rock anthem and power ballad.
At the dawn of the 1980s, Journey was becoming one of the most successful rock acts of the era. The band added Cain on keyboards before entering the studio to record Escape. Cain had kept the song title from encouragement his father gave him as a struggling musician living on Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard. 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. The band recorded the song in one take at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California.
A top-10 hit in North America in 1981, "Don't Stop Believin" became the group's signature song and has continued to endure over the years. Decades after its release, in 2012 it became the best-selling digital track from the twentieth century, with over seven million downloads by 2017. Critics acclaimed its anthemic qualities; music magazine Rolling Stone ranked it among its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. 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.
Background By 1980, the Californian rock outfit Journey was on its way to becoming one of the most successful acts of the era. After discarding its roots in progressive rock, the group hired vocalist Steve Perry and smoothed out its sound. The band had notched several domestic top-25 hits with "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin" and "Any Way You Want It". Original keyboardist Gregg Rolie, with the group since its progressive days, amicably departed in 1980, leaving the foursome without one of its signature elements. 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).
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. Cain came up with the song's title and hook; it stemmed from something his father had frequently told him back when he had been a struggling musician living on Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard. At that time 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 Neal Schon invented the song's distinctive bass line, and Perry suggested Cain write a driving synthesizer piece to complement that bass line. Drummer Steve Smith added a standard rock backbeat behind that, 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.
This motif lyrically inspired the song as well. 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. Perry liked the concept that the characters be a girl from a small town and a boy raised in the city. "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. They copied the day's progress to cassette tapes and took them home for further review. 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. The song was built backwards, as the title hook was the only lyric the band had developed initially.
The band recorded the song at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California. Perry had a cold on the day of recording and was unable to make it, so its instrumental was tracked without him. The musicians found the song's tempo and varying sections difficult to record, especially Cain and bassist Ross Valory's intro. Co-producer Mike Stone turned on a verbal click track for the group to practise to; after about twenty minutes, they turned the machine off and recorded the song live in one take. Perry rejoined Journey the next week and also completed his vocals mainly in one take. Altogether, the song and its corresponding album came together under its budget and in about two months. Cain was grateful that Perry gave his ideas equal weight given his status as a new member of the band.
Musical style
Composition While a majority of songs have a refrain that is repeated several times throughout the song, the true chorus to "Don't Stop Believin" (as well as the first mention of its title) is not heard until the end of the song, with only 0:50 left. The song's writers designated the musically similar sections before the chorus as the "pre-chorus". The song's structure is: Introduction (instrumental) (0:00–0:17) Verse 1 (0:17–0:49) Instrumental (0:49–1:05) Verse 2 (half-length) (1:05–1:20) Pre-chorus 1 (1:20–1:54) Instrumental (1:54–2:01) Verse 3 (2:01–2:33) Pre-chorus 2 (2:33–3:05) Instrumental (chorus) (3:05–3:21) Chorus until fade (3:21–4:11) "Don't Stop Believin" has been described as an arena rock anthem. The song is played in the key of E major at a tempo of 118 beats per minute. The vocal range is E4–C#5. The chord progression, played by the piano in the introduction and continued throughout most of the song, is eight chords long, following a I–V–vi–IV–I–V–iii–IV progression.
Lyrics While the lyrics mention being "born and raised in south Detroit", there is no place in the Detroit, Michigan area commonly called "South Detroit". The city lies mainly on the north bank of the Detroit River, and directly south of its downtown area lies the Canadian city of Windsor, Ontario. Steve Perry has said, "I tried north Detroit, I tried east and west and it didn't sing, but south Detroit sounded so beautiful. I loved the way it sounded, only to find out later it's actually Canada." Jon Cain said of writing the song, "... the 'South Detroit' thing I got a lot of flack [sic] for. Because there was no South Detroit. And I said, 'Because it’s a mystical place, it doesn't exist!' It's the city of possibilities in your mind. That's what South Detroit is. So, leave it alone." Another lyric, "streetlight people living just to find emotion", came from Perry watching people walking in the streets of Detroit at night after a show.
Release The song reached number eight on Billboards Mainstream Rock chart, and number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It sold over a million copies in vinyl. It is the number one paid digital download song originally released in the 20th century, and was also the 72nd most downloaded song of 2008, and 84th most downloaded song of 2009 in the store, over 27 years after its release. On August 31, 2009, the song topped the 3 million mark in paid downloads. It is the best-selling digital song from a pre-digital-era, and it was also the best-selling rock song in digital history until it was overtaken by Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive" in January 2014. It was placed just outside the top twenty best selling digital songs of all time in September 2010. It has sold over 7 million digital units in the US as of July 2017, and was certified eighteen-times Platinum by RIAA.
"Don't Stop Believin" has entered other charts across the world in recent years, following a gain in popularity. In Ireland, the song peaked at number 4, and remains one of the most popular rock tracks and in the top ten most downloaded songs in the country.The song was used by Waterford people to support the Waterford hurling team in a bid to win the All Ireland title in 2008.iTunes 2008: Top Overall Songs It peaked at number 25 in Sweden after many chart runs, and at number 50 in the Netherlands.
UK chart success The song was released in the United Kingdom in December 1981 and peaked only at number 62. "Don't Stop Believin", never re-released as a physical single in the UK, retained a cult following and re-entered the UK Singles Chart in February 2009 at number 94 due to digital downloads. On November 1, 2009, following a performance on The X Factor, "Don't Stop Believin" re-entered the chart peaking at number 52, and it rose to number 19 a week later. The song stayed in the charts for three weeks, before dropping out of the top 40. On December 20 that year, "Don't Stop Believin" re-entered the chart at number nine after the song was performed again on The X Factor. The song remained in the top 10 for another seven weeks in 2010, hitting a peak of number six in the process.
In early 2010, it was announced that the song had been the 65th best-selling single of 2009, this nearly three decades after its initial release. "Don't Stop Believin" spent a total of 21 non-consecutive weeks in the top 40 during its November 2009 – April 2010 run. "Don't Stop Believin" was the 25th best-selling track of 2010, selling just over 435,000 copies. It re-entered the charts in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and to date has spent 95 weeks in the top 100.
Critical reception The song was a commercial success and is known for its widespread use, but the song (along with Escape by Journey), initially received poor critical reviews (being criticized for its slick, inauthentic and derivative nature in both the musical and lyrical areas), but it has been retrospectively acknowledged as a staple of classic rock radio and 1980s rock music; for instance, Billboard called it an "uptempo, melodic track" and praised the "fluid guitar and vocal." Record World said that the "piano intro anticipates a powerful rock chorus for maximum airplay." Mike DeGagne of AllMusic has described "Don't Stop Believin" as a "perfect rock song"Escape. AllMusic. and an "anthem", featuring "one of the best opening keyboard riffs in rock."
In 2012 it was the best-selling digital track from the 20th century, with over seven million copies sold in the United States by 2017. In 2021, it was ranked No. 133 on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and received the Grammy Hall of Fame award.
In popular culture
The song gained press coverage and a sharp growth in popularity after its use in The Chicago White Sox 2005 World Series championship and in 2007, the famous final scene of HBO's The Sopranos series finale "Made in America".
Steve Perry was initially hesitant to allow the song to be used in The Sopranos but later agreed. Digital downloads of the song soared following the episode's airing, and the exposure motivated the band members to overcome the struggles they were having at the time and find a replacement lead singer after former lead singer Steve Augeri's departure.
"Don't Stop Believin" has for years been commonly played at Detroit Red Wings home games. During the last minutes of playoff victories, the volume is lowered during the "born and raised in south Detroit" line, which is instead sung by home fans. It was played at the closing ceremony of the Red Wings long-time home Joe Louis Arena in 2017. It is also used at other Detroit sporting events.
The song is played during the 8th inning of every San Francisco Giants home game. Steve Perry is a Giants season ticket holder and memorably led the crowd in the song during a game in the World Series in 2014. In addition, after the Giants won the 2010 World Series, Fox Sports used the song to close out their postgame coverage of the fifth and deciding game of the series.