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Journey and the Story of American Rock
by David Hamilton Golland
Relive Journey's greatest songs and moments with this fiftieth anniversary tribute
Since exploding on the scene in the late 1970s, Journey has inspired generations of fans with hit after hit. But hidden under this rock 'n' roll glory is a complex story of ambition, larger-than-life personalities, and clashes. David Hamilton Golland unearths the band's true and complete biography, based on over a decade of interviews and thousands of sources.
When Steve Perry joined jazz-blues progressive rock band Journey in 1977, they saw a rise to the top, and their 1981 album Escape hit #1. But Perry's quest for control led to Journey's demise. They lost their record contract and much of their audience. After the unlikely comeback of "Don't Stop Believin'" in movies, television, and sports stadiums, a new generation discovered Journey.
A professional historian, Golland dispels rehashed myths and also shows how race in popular music contributed to their breakout success. As the economy collapsed and as people abandoned the spirit of Woodstock in the late 70s, Journey used the rhythm of soul and Motown to inspire hope in primarily white teenagers' lives. Decades later, the band and their signature song remain classics, and now, with singer Arnel Pineda, they are again a fixture in major stadiums worldwide.
"Golland leaves no stone unturned in this fine-grained chronicle of the rock group Journey.... Golland's passion and precision make this a pleasure." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
[Golland] provides an overdue critical take on the group's overall sound. He also discusses issues of musical influence versus appropriation. It is rare, and valuable, to find such insight in books like this." ―Library Journal (starred review)
"Livin' Just to Find Emotion: Journey and the Story of American Rock affords music lovers with a career-spanning overview of the band's achievements. In Golland's skillful hands, this book provides readers with an engaging assessment of Journey's timeless albums. From the group's early forays into jazz and progressive rock through the artistic and commercial heights of Escape and Frontiers, Golland underscores Journey's vaunted place among rock 'n' roll's pantheon of all-time greats."
―Kenneth Womack, author of John Lennon 1980: The Last Days in the Life
"A fascinating story of Journey, investigating the band dynamics, the clash of egos, and the sheer talent it took for a 1970s San Francisco band to rise to the top of the music industry. It's not just a tale of corporate rock and ambition, but also the re-segregation of rock music after the racial integration of the '60s. A compelling read that had me checking out songs all the way through!"
―Lucy O'Brien, author of Lead Sister: The Story of Karen Carpenter
"All too often, Journey is dismissed by uber-serious critics and high-minded fans as unworthy of serious analysis. Lucky for us, David Hamilton Golland disagrees. In a comprehensive and thoughtful volume, Golland skillfully traces the group's tumultuous fifty-year history. He paints complex portraits of its current and past members and cleverly unpacks Journey's identity as a "corporate" rock band by documenting the legal maneuvering and empire building that underpins its massive success. Most importantly, however, Golland never loses sight of what made Journey a household name: its magical catalog of smash hits. You won't stop reading."
―Greg Renoff, author of Van Halen Rising
This information about Livin' Just to Find Emotion was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Dr. David Hamilton Golland is dean of humanities and social sciences and Professor of History at Monmouth University. He holds a PhD from the City University of New York and an MA from the University of Virginia. Prior to his appointment at Monmouth, Golland was Professor of History at Governors State University. His first two books, Constructing Affirmative Action: The Struggle for Equal Employment Opportunity (University Press of Kentucky, 2011) and A Terrible Thing to Waste: Arthur Fletcher and the Conundrum of the Black Republican (University Press of Kansas, 2019), garnered positive reviews in the top academic history journals. Dr. Golland's third book, Livin' Just to Find Emotion: Journey and the Story of American Rock (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024), charts a new path in rock biography by adding a professional historian's touch to a genre dominated by journalists and memoirists.
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