American rockers Journey were at their commercial and creative peak in the early 1980s. Their 'Escape' album of 1981 was a huge success, spawning numerous hit singles and established them as leading lights of the AOR (Album-Oriented Rock) scene which at that time, dominated radio in their home country.
Their next studio album, 'Frontiers' also boasted a strong collection of songs, written predominantly by singer Steve Perry and keyboardist Jonathan Cain, with several tracks also co-written with founding member, guitarist Neal Schon. Cain was still relatively new to the band; having been recommended to the group by his predecessor Gregg Rolie, he'd joined in time to contribute to 'Escape' and having made an immediate writing impact, he'd established himself as a key member of the band. 'Frontiers' was produced by the same team as had been the case on 'Escape' (Mike Stone, Kevin Elson) and expectations were high that this record would at least do as well as the previous offering.
Lead-off track 'Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)' was a riff-heavy hard rocker, led by Cain's keyboard intro before Schon's guitar smashed in alongside slamming drums from Steve Smith, it became a firm favourite among the group's fans. The video for the song however, has gone down in notoriety as one of the worst promo videos ever made. Persuaded (against their better judgement) to make a concept video for the song, they shot the clip on a wharf by the Mississippi River. The concept was of the band performing before a young woman, who appeared oblivious to what they were doing throughout, until it was revealed to have been all a dream. With the music video medium itself still relatively new in the early 80s, the group (made up of seasoned, accomplished musicians, none of whom had acting experience and by their own admission, were not exactly telegenic) were uncomfortable with the entire experience.
The director came up with the (hilarious in hindsight) idea of having the band sync to the music playing imaginary instruments; that may have seemed like a good idea at the time but has gone down in legend as one of the most unintentionally hilarious shots ever put in a music video. Matters were not helped by the presence of Perry's then-girlfriend on the set; the band members had been asked not to allow wives or girlfriends on set, but the singer's partner was nonetheless present, and objected strongly to the girl depicted in the video, demanding she be removed. The finished clip nonetheless aired on MTV, and did not stop the group from scoring a hit with the song nor did it stop their album from becoming a success, which went on to go platinum six times over in their home country.
The 'Frontiers' album had two tracks pulled from it at the last moment; both 'Only The Young' and 'Ask The Lonely' were intended to feature but were switched with 'Back Talk' and 'Troubled Child' at the instigation of their A&R man. The two axed songs later emerged on soundtrack albums; 'Ask The Lonely' appeared on the 'Two Of A Kind' soundtrack while 'Only The Young' was included on the soundtrack to 'Vision Quest' (retitled 'Crazy For You' in the UK) in 1985. Both tracks also appeared on their mega-selling Greatest Hits compilation which came out in 1988.
Meanwhile the video for 'Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)' has gone down in folklore as one of the most ridiculed, and parodied, videos ever. Lampooned on MTV's 'Beavis and Butt-head', it has also been remade shot-for-shot in tongue-in-cheek fashion by numerous amateur film-makers. Jonathan Cain has since said that he will never live down 'those air keyboards'; it is to be hoped that the enduring appeal of the song itself (still a live favourite) compensated for that.
To close, both the original video and a well-received YouTube parody/remake of 'Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)' is presented:
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