Don't Stop Believin' - The Best Rock Song Ever Written?

Everyone and their cousin knows "Don't Stop Believin.'" Journey released the song in 1981 and it is on the album Escape.

I heard the song at least three separate times while I was out and about over the weekend. It dawned on me while eating at O'Charleys (the best rolls ever?) that "Don't Stop Believin'" is probably the world's most perfect rock song.

Not much in life is perfect. But there are pockets of perfection and "Don't Stop Believin'" is one of them. The song features an actual appropriate use of keyboards, there's an awesome chorus, meaningful guitar work - and a theme that touches all listeners. After all, who hasn't felt like a character in "Don't Stop Believin'" at one point or another? (In case you're wondering, I am, of course, the small town girl living in a lonely world).

Perhaps most important is that in "Don't Stop Believin,'"Journey created an approachable rock anthem, right at the dawn of the 80s. Journey is not a Glam band - make no mistake I am not arguing that they are - but they are arena rock and songs like "Don't Stop Believin'" helped make it easier for our Glam faves to hit high positions on the Billboard charts later during the decade of decadence.

I suppose "Don't Stop Believin'" haunts Journey to a degree. While the song made them rich and famous it also created an impossible standard for song writing excellence. "Don't Stop Believin'" is Journey's "November Rain" or "Dream On." You usually only get one of those songs in a career but if you do it right, the song lasts for all time.

And "Don't Stop Believin'" does last. It seems that the tune has gone through some sort of renaissance over the past few years. It was a big finale tune for American Idol when Adam Lambert and Kris Allen battled for the crown. Glee, a popular TV show, recorded the song and therefore introduced the tune to a whole new generation that had possibly never even heard of Journey. The song is, of course, a karaoke staple.

I thought for a long time and I couldn't find an 80s rock song more iconic than "Don't Stop Believin.'" Do you agree?