Journey "Infinity" [1978]

Forget "corporate rock" -- this group of mostly ex-Santana sell-outs brought "prom rock" front and center in the late 70's, where they'd rule the roost for the better part of an excruciatingly long decade. The pastel-colored voice of band-newcomer Steve Perry set the table nicely -- horrendously is what I mean -- for REO Speedwagon and other suburban douchebag musical corporatists to wreak havoc on Middle American FM radio like a plague of boll weevils before the harvest. Between Perry and the soulless chart-reading harmonies of Gregg Rolie and these other session-level hacks -- with the gall to, at the same time, try to fake actual hard rock -- Journey clearly sought "Aerosmith with singing talent" but they kept coming up "Boston, but even worse." Apparently the schmucks who once played Woodstock with their frontman tripping his balls off were by now angling to stop sleeping on the tour bus and cash-in upon the same beast that somehow made Rush and Foreigner relevant. Rockers were transparently shitting themselves over disco's ongoing blitzkrieg, with only Kiss smart enough to get themselves signed onto Casablanca. These were dark times, indeed. That said, as bad as "Infinity" is -- and I'm guessing this is the dollar figure their management company told them they'd earn for releasing such dreck -- Journey, and especially Perry, were just getting started. These calculated, long-haired pinheads began a blitzkrieg of their own, and took down the entire 80s with it.