If You Love Journey, You’ll Love These 4 Other Rock Hits From Similar 80s Artists

There’s something unquestionably epic about 80s rock music. If you love “Don’t Stop Believin”, here are four other hits that will give you that same magic 80s feeling.

Videos by American Songwriter

“Livin’ On A Prayer” by Bon Jovi

The chorus of this song is perhaps one of the most well-known choruses of this decade. Even years later, we’re all still “Livin’ On A Prayer” when this one comes on. However, as Bon Jovi later told People magazine, the rocker wasn’t initially all that excited about the song that would eventually become his biggest hit.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to record it, but I wasn’t all that impressed on the day that we wrote it,” Jovi admitted. “We knew what we wanted, we just didn’t have it, and so I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s good. Good day. Good day at the office,’ and I was wrong. It’s one of the biggest songs in our catalog.”

“Heat Of The Moment” by Asia

As epic as this song sounds coming through the speakers, the lead vocalist of Asia, John Wetton, actually admitted that the song’s story is kind of tragic.

“The whole song is just an apology,” Wetton revealed to Songfacts. “It’s just saying ‘I f–ked up. I hold my hand out, and I got it wrong. I never meant it to be like that, I didn’t want it to be like that. And so I’m sorry.’”

“Heaven” by Bryan Adams

This song is one of my personal favorite 80s hits, and it’s really no wonder as to why. Apparently, Adams was actually feeling inspired by Journey’s “Faithfully” when he wrote this track with Jim Vallance. Adams had spent a significant amount of time touring with the rock band by that time, and you can definitely hear their influence on “Heaven”.

“Born In The U.S.A.” by Bruce Springsteen

You can’t be American and not have heard this song. It practically made Springsteen into a musical diplomat for the U.S.

Ronald Reagan even used this patriotic song for part of his campaign in New Jersey in 1984. In 2005, Springsteen touched on this use of the track. “This was when the Republicans first mastered the art of co-opting anything and everything that seemed fundamentally American, and if you were on the other side, you were somehow unpatriotic,” he explained. “I make American music, and I write about the place I live and who I am in my lifetime. Those are the things I’m going to struggle for and fight for.”

Photo by George Rose/Getty Images